Environmental Politics

"Sen. Elizabeth Warren called on the country’s top securities regulator to examine the pay practices of large energy companies, citing a report in The Washington Post that revealed how some fossil fuel giants reward executives for meeting environmental goals even in years when their companies caused significant environmental harm."

"Six environmental organizations on Tuesday called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take more aggressive action in response to reports that an agency office manipulated assessments of chemical safety."

"Water leaders in Arizona, Nevada and California signed an agreement Wednesday to voluntarily reduce their take from the Colorado River to help stave off mandatory cuts in the upcoming years."

"A push by Senate Democrats to pass a roughly $2 trillion tax-and-spending measure before Christmas appeared in dire political peril Wednesday, as talks soured between President Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin III (D-W.Va.) over the size and scope of the economic package."

"Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is ramping up the pressure to finish his party’s climate and social spending bill by Christmas, but it looks like an increasingly difficult task given continued concerns from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and the lengthy process of clearing the legislation with the Senate parliamentarian."

"President Joe Biden on Wednesday is set to tour the damage in Kentucky caused by tornadoes that ripped through the state and several others over the weekend." "Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said 74 people have been confirmed dead and more than 100 are unaccounted for."

"Almost a decade after a Chalmette fuel plant admitted responsibility for most of the toxic sulfur dioxide emissions in St. Bernard Parish, federal regulators are taking steps that might finally force Louisiana and the plant to clear the air."

"Russia has vetoed a first-of-its-kind UN security council resolution casting the climate crisis as a threat to international peace and security – a vote that sank a years-long effort to make global heating more central to decision-making in the UN’s most powerful body."

"The Biden administration admitted that a court decision did not compel it to lease vast tracts of the Gulf of Mexico for oil and gas drilling, shortly before claiming it was legally obliged to do so when announcing the sell-off, the Guardian can reveal."