"Andrew Wheeler, the acting administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, on Monday signed a plan to weaken regulation of coal-fired power plants, advancing a proposal that the coal industry has hailed as an end to burdensome regulation and environmentalists have criticized as a retreat in the battle to address climate change."
As people grow tired of congested commutes, many are opting to zip around cities on dockless electric scooters. Several brands have already sprung up to meet their needs, including Bird and Lime. With lower carbon footprints than cars, electric scooters are seen as a good choice by some eco-conscious consumers."
"EPA is working on a regulation to limit the agency's ability to nix water pollution permits."
"On a warm morning in April, workers at a Wisconsin oil refinery were conducting a routine shutdown for maintenance. Suddenly, a gasoline cracking unit exploded, and the workers watched in horror as a huge fireball ripped through the plant. They ran for their lives, barely escaping the blast."
"Militia violence in Democratic Republic of Congo has prevented aid workers from reaching some potential cases in an outbreak of Ebola that has so far killed 47 people, the World Health Organization said on Friday."
"As temperatures rise in the U.S. West, so do the flames. The years with the most acres burned by wildfires have some of the hottest temperatures, an Associated Press analysis of fire and weather data found. As human-caused climate change has warmed the world over the past 35 years, the land consumed by flames has more than doubled."
"The Interior Department canceled a proposal to potentially sell public land that was once protected inside the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument before its boundary was redrawn, saying it contradicted Secretary Ryan Zinke’s assurance last year that he would not do so."
"Prominent US climate scientists have told the Guardian that the Trump administration is holding up research funding as their projects undergo an unprecedented political review by the high-school football teammate of the US interior secretary."
"As a corporate lawyer, William L. Wehrum worked for the better part of a decade to weaken air pollution rules by fighting the Environmental Protection Agency in court on behalf of chemical manufacturers, refineries, oil drillers and coal-burning power plants. Now, Mr. Wehrum is about to deliver one of the biggest victories yet for his industry clients — this time from inside the Trump administration as the government’s top air pollution official."
