"EPA has begun the slow process of reopening offices despite its employees' worries about potential exposure to COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus."
The coronavirus pandemic continues to wreak havoc on….everything. Right when the public needs accurate information the most, journalism has been hit particularly hard. Yet environmental journalism remains essential, especially since the pandemic continues as we enter hurricane, cyclone and wildfire season, and an atmosphere of deregulation persists. Yet impacts on publications are translating to staffing cuts, furloughs and slashed freelance budgets. Here’s a brief update on all SEJ is doing to stay ahead of the impacts, from SEJ President Meera Subramanian.
"Ohio yesterday [Thursday] unanimously approved the Icebreaker wind farm, North America's first offshore freshwater project, planned for just off the Cleveland shore in Lake Erie."
"Despite the pandemic environment, states and fleets push forward on electric tractors." "With 1.3 million electric vehicles on the road in 2020, and with lawmakers pushing for more adoption, fleets have been looking at Class 7 and Class 8 vehicles carefully — kicking the tires and doing the math."
"The oil and natural gas capital of the world is going all-in on solar power. Houston will begin a new five-year contract in July with NRG Energy Inc. to power all of its city-owned properties, from fire stations to airports, with renewable energy."
"Oil and gas companies have proposed more than 150,000 acres of federal land for potential development in the canyons of eastern Utah, some as close as a mile and a half from the famous Arches National Park."
"The Trump administration is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to allow the government to keep certain endangered species records out of the public eye."
"More than 15,000 dams in the US would likely kill people if they failed, and at least 2,300 of them are in poor or unsatisfactory condition, according to recent data from the federal government’s National Inventory of Dams."
With the world’s eyes and media coverage turned to recent global changes in air pollution from the economic downturn, NASA offers a free two-part webinar series (May 26 and 28, 1.5 hours each) in both English and Spanish.
"The coronavirus scuttled plans and forced officials to ask people to get out of the woods. Of the thousands who hoped to hike the trail this year, only a few hundred remain."
