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"The German energy company RWE has reached a $1.22bn deal with the US government to relinquish its offshore wind leases and instead redirect funds towards fossil fuel investments. The agreement marks the fifth deal the Donald Trump administration has struck with energy companies, offering payouts in exchange for abandoning renewable energy projects and redirecting investment towards fossil fuels."
"A federal judge on Thursday ordered the Pentagon to lift its freeze on reviewing onshore wind projects and to end some of the delays that have brought U.S. wind power development to a standstill."
"Every single English water body is polluted with toxic chemicals, new government data shows, while just 14.3% of surface waters achieved good ecological status."
"William Lawrence, a data center moratorium supporter who co-founded the progressive Sunrise Movement, won a critical Michigan congressional primary Tuesday over two more-moderate and better-funded Democrats."
"The data center capital of the world is shifting more transmission costs onto the energy-hungry sector." "The decision is expected to shift hundreds of millions of dollars in transmission costs away from the public."
"The case, Suncor v. Boulder, has spurred calls for two of the justices to recuse themselves as they weigh whether federal law or the Constitution bars local governments from suing fossil fuel companies over the costs of addressing climate change."
"A late add to try to unseat Sen. Susan Collins, the Democratic Senate hopeful blends a progressive streak with roots in the timber industry."
"Dust storms that blanketed the Phoenix area in thick haze this week were among the most intense to hit the region in years, scientists said Thursday. The storms — called haboobs — occur throughout the U.S. Southwest when strong downdrafts from thunderstorms stir up loose dust and dirt that get blown along in front of the approaching storm cell."
"As Australia prepares for the H5 bird flu to potentially rip through hundreds of species, residents of the Limestone Coast are already seeing the impacts"
"In 2023, the Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration proposed creating stronger cybersecurity guidelines to better safeguard the nation’s water supply from hackers. ... The E.P.A. rescinded the order, however, after Republican-led states and industry groups sued to block its enforcement."
"Winners this week either want to crack down on new data centers or enact a moratorium."
"The president’s push for data centers is driving a boom in gas-burning power plants. Texas is leading the way."
"The Senate on Wednesday voted mainly along party lines to confirm Erica Schwartz to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The vote ends months of leadership uncertainty at the nation’s premier public health agency but leaves unresolved the central question that dominated her confirmation process: Will she preserve the agency’s scientific independence under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.?"
"Trump has lashed out at U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro after she dropped vandalism cases and blamed damage at the pool on rushed and flawed work by a contractor."
"An environmental group argues Louisiana officials did not account for all of the harmful emissions Meta’s data center in Richland Parish will produce when it approved the facility’s Clean Air Act permit revisions in June."
