While Kamala Harris has provided little detail about what her environment and energy policies would be as president, her record has been enough to win her the quick support of most major environmental groups, finds the latest Issue Backgrounder. A look at her record on the Green New Deal and fracking, her presidential environmental platform and her contrasts with GOP rival Donald Trump.
A serious air pollutant prevalent in underserved communities, Superfund hazardous waste sites nearby, public drinking water systems out of compliance. All are new or enhanced insights found in an improved version of the federal government’s EJScreen data tool. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox reviews the changes and how they can be used to tell stories of real people’s daily lives.
"The Department of Energy gave the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation what seemed like very good news earlier this year: It had won a $32 million grant for a novel solar energy project in Washington state. ... Months after announcing the grant, the same department is making it nearly impossible for the tribal nation to access the money."
"How schools, hospitals, prisons and other institutions in 15 states profit from land and resources on 79 tribal nations."
"Former President Donald Trump has said he would cancel all unspent funds from President Joe Biden's signature climate law if he wins the presidential election on Nov. 5. But the vast majority of grants will be spent by the time a new president takes office in January, and targeting what remains would be a massive legal challenge, according to Biden administration officials."
"The concept designs are for D.C.’s first public memorial to celebrate press freedom and honor the journalists who have been slain while doing their jobs."
Project 2025, which many consider a blueprint for a second Trump term, calls for breaking up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and pivoting its National Weather Service to commercial operations, shutting down its free flow of data to news outlets and others. WatchDog Opinion column argues a not-so-hidden motive is at the heart of these sweeping changes: the desire to obscure evidence of climate change.
Is carbon capture a climate solution or a dangerous distraction? That was the question that Inside Climate News reporter Nicholas Kusnetz asked in his award-winning explanatory series, “Pipe Dreams.” For Inside Story, Kusnetz talks of the challenges of writing about a technology that largely doesn’t yet exist, and the variety of story forms he used to explore the reality of industry promises.
A sweeping array of satellites observes our planet and sends vast amounts of data back — data that the powerful NASA Worldview website can translate into graphic form to help journalists tell some of the environment beat’s most central stories. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox explores the strengths and weaknesses of Worldview in covering everything from wildfires and floods to climate.
"Some foreign leaders have ruthlessly curtailed journalism. U.S. politicians could draw from their playbook."
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