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"A former Florida Department of Health employee has received whistleblower status a year after being fired for repeatedly violating the agency’s policy about communicating with the media."
"The Western monarch butterfly is disappearing before our eyes. The number of graceful, black-and-orange winged insects overwintering in coastal California this year dropped to under 2,000, compared with more than 29,000 the year before. And that was already a fraction of its previous population."
"Texas’ biggest fix to February’s deadly winter blackout that left more than 4 million people without power puts new attention on projections by the state’s climatologist but does not dwell on climate change after a deep freeze buckled the state’s unprepared electric grid."
"Biden is making a big push to produce electric vehicles and batteries in the U.S. with “good-paying union jobs.” But the details of how that’s all going to work are still fuzzy."
"From city centres to rural fields, human activity has decimated populations of France's most common bird species, scientists warned on Monday, citing data collected over 30 years by volunteer ornithologists."
"Environmental groups in Florida are warning that unusually high numbers of manatee deaths in the first five months of the year, blamed in part on resurgent algal blooms contaminating and destroying food sources, could threaten the long-term future of the species."
"President Joe Biden’s fiscal 2022 budget lays out a 24.1% boost to the EPA’s core rule-writing and enforcement programs and a 7.5% increase in staffing to get the work done, according to a detailed blueprint released on Friday."
"The true number of people killed by the disastrous winter storm and power outages that devastated Texas in February is likely four or five times what the state has acknowledged so far. A BuzzFeed News data analysis reveals the hidden scale of a catastrophe that trapped millions of people in freezing darkness, cut off access to running water, and overwhelmed emergency services for days."
"As the extreme drought causes various agencies to squabble over dwindling water supplies, conservationists say the state is still not doing enough to prevent an endangered run of salmon from dying in the Sacramento River."
"Brazil’s Supreme Court granted search warrants for the homes and financial records of Ricardo Salles, who accelerated deforestation during the Covid-19 pandemic."
"Fishermen and environmentalists say a plan to export crude would require dredging mercury-laced sediment in a Superfund site, imperling oyster reefs and the natural habitat."
"As hurricane season approaches, experts say the country is still not adequately prepared."
"The Senate Finance Committee late Wednesday deadlocked on legislation that would overhaul energy tax breaks in an effort to address climate change."
"NEW YORK -- Gasoline prices are at a seven-year high, just in time for travelers to hit the road for Memorial Day.
A gallon of regular gas costs just under $3.05 on average across the United States, according to AAA. That's up from $2.89 a month ago and $1.97 a year ago.
But some Americans are feeling more pain at the pump than others.
California has by far America's highest gas prices -- $4.20 a gallon. Hawaii's the only other state in the same ballpark, with regular gas prices averaging $3.93 a gallon."
"For years, the people of Mead, Nebraska, have worried about the ethanol plant that moved into their small rural community a little over a decade ago. They feared the terrible smells and odd illnesses in the area might be connected to the plant and its use of pesticide-coated seed corn in its biofuel production process."
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