Government

"Camille Touton, a veteran congressional water policy adviser, has been nominated to lead the agency that oversees water and power in the U.S. West."

"As mid-year online climate talks end, officials admit there is still much work for November's COP26 summit to succeed amid concerns about COVID-19 vaccinations for delegates".

"The head of the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday he has fully reinstated one of two key advisory boards he dismantled earlier this year in a push for “scientific integrity” at the agency."

"The Senate confirmed President Biden’s pick for the No. 2 role at the Interior Department on Thursday with broad bipartisan support, but opposition from one progressive and a handful of Republicans."

"The Senate voted 55-43 Wednesday to confirm Radhika Fox as head of the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of Water."

"The Electric Reliability Council of Texas says a large number of power plants are offline, but it could not provide details as to what may be causing the “very concerning” number of outages. At the same time, the state is experiencing near-record demand for electricity in June."

"The Brazilian government on Monday authorized the employment of the National Security Force (FNS) to protect the Yanomami indigenous people and their reservation lands for 90 days in the northern state of Roraima bordering Venezuela."

"The Oregon House on Tuesday passed a bill to redirect funding from a tax-funded institute created 30 years ago to inform residents about forestry, after an investigation found that the organization sought to discredit scientists and acted as a lobbying and public relations arm for the timber industry."

"When the U.S. Park Police led law enforcement officers into a crowd of mostly peaceful protesters outside Lafayette Square on June 1, 2020, including officers equipped with chemical irritants and officers on horseback, they did so as part of a plan made days earlier to build a fence around the park to protect officers, not to facilitate the visit minutes later by President Donald Trump to a nearby church, an inspector general’s report released Wednesday concluded."