"Brazil’s right-wing government has ordered environmental enforcement agency Ibama not to respond to requests from the media, stoking fears that President Jair Bolsonaro may be rolling back environmental protections out of the public eye."
The vast Colorado River, recently in the news over a troubled drought deal, is at the heart of numerous environmental problems in the American West, where water is scarce and the legal complexities of water rights voluminous. The latest Issue Backgrounder offers an explainer on the story, which involves at least seven states, the federal government, Native American tribes, a hornet’s nest of irrigation districts and even Mexico.
"The White House fiscal 2020 budget for the Interior Department would prioritize funds for a departmentwide reorganization as well as for land and wildfire management."
"The cutting and disposal of a dozen mature trees into the Potomac River nearly two weeks ago at the Trump National Golf Course violated Loudoun County’s zoning ordinance, the county said, and could cost the organization at least $600."
"Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Tuesday said climate change is "directly impacting" her home state's way of life."
"As thousands of hydroelectric dams are planned worldwide, including 147 in the Amazon, a new study finds that the true socio-environmental and cultural costs of dams are rarely evaluated before construction. Were such factors counted into the lifetime cost of the dams, many would not be built."
"An environmental disaster is unfolding in the Pacific after a large ship ran aground and began leaking oil next to a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Solomon Islands, Australian officials said Friday."
"A federal appeals court today [Friday] rejected the Army Corps of Engineers' approval of a 17-mile transmission line across the James River, determining the corps did not properly analyze the full impacts of the power line that critics say degrades the site of the first permanent English settlement at Jamestown, Va."
"The House of Representatives Tuesday overwhelmingly passed legislation aimed at safeguarding nearly 2 million acres of public lands and permanently continuing a federal fund that supports conservation projects around the country."
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