"Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler is headed to Costa Rica for an official visit less than two weeks before the end of the Trump administration."
"A landmark decision delivered by the Trump administration late last month gives five oil and gas companies the green light to forge ahead in drilling 5,000 wells over the next decade in northeastern Wyoming. Though cheered by state officials and industry groups, leaders of several tribal nations with enduring ties to the land remain concerned the development will compromise air and water quality, violate existing treaty rights and destroy cultural resources."
"A new government report says gas mileage for new vehicles dropped and pollution increased in model year 2019 for the first time in five years."
"President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has promised to help communities prepare for the effects of climate change. A new demand for tougher building standards could test that commitment."
"The impending power shift in the Senate means Congress will once again turn to the Congressional Review Act to scrap a bevy of regulations."
"In a blow to the Trump administration’s efforts to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to fossil fuel development, only half of the oil and gas leases offered for sale Wednesday received bids, and all but two of those came from the state of Alaska itself."
"The Trump administration gutted protections for migratory birds on Tuesday, delivering the second of two parting gifts to the oil and gas industry, which has long sought to be shielded from liability for killing birds unintentionally in oil spills, toxic waste ponds and other environmental disasters."
"A federal judge in Alaska ruled late on Tuesday that the Trump administration’s planned auction of oil drilling leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) could proceed as planned on Wednesday morning."
With razor-thin margins and the last votes still being counted, Democrats appear to have taken control of the U.S. Senate. This would enable the incoming Biden administration to pass aggressive climate legislation and reverse many environmental deregulatory actions of the Trump administration.
"The Trump administration on Monday finalized plans to open more than 80 percent of Alaska’s National Petroleum Reserve (NPRA) to oil drilling, pushing ahead over objections from environmentalists who have already challenged the plans in court."
Advertisement 
