"American soil. Those are two words that are commonly used to stir up patriotic feelings. They are also words that can't be taken for granted, because today nearly 30 million acres of U.S. farmland are held by foreign investors."
"A nonprofit that tracks pollution in the Chesapeake Bay lambasted Pennsylvania on Tuesday, saying that the state is failing to protect the nation’s largest estuary from farm manure and dirty stormwater."
The rise of the modern environmental and food movements has shifted urban farming into high gear. For environmental journalists, that could yield a bumper crop of local stories. The latest TipSheet has more, along with questions to ask, story angles to follow and reporting resources to tap.
"The Environmental Protection Agency has canceled registration of a dozen pesticides, from a class of chemicals known to harm bees. The cancellations are effective as of May 20 for 12 neonicotinoid-based products produced by Syngenta, Valent, and Bayer."
SEJ joined with several dozen other journalism groups to support the right to film police activity in a public place, and bills to block information of importance to environmental reporters failed in Louisiana, California and Iowa, but a Colorado paper was blocked from covering a wild horse roundup. All that in this month’s WatchDog Tipsheet.
"The Chesapeake Bay’s recovery took a step back in 2018, but the estuary retained its “C” grade on an annual report card from the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science."
"Water is a currency in California, and the low-income farmworkers who pick the Central Valley’s crops know it better than anyone. They labor in the region’s endless orchards, made possible by sophisticated irrigation systems, but at home their faucets spew toxic water tainted by arsenic and fertilizer chemicals."
"The American Midwest is at a turning point as it confronts the global climate crisis. It's a landscape of opportunity, where investment is starting to pour into renewable energy, farmers are turning to climate-friendly practices, and automakers are introducing new electric vehicles. But its path forward is still cluttered with obstacles."
"In its decision to approve two drugs for orange and grapefruit trees, the E.P.A. largely ignored objections from the C.D.C. and the F.D.A., which fear that expanding their use in cash crops could fuel antibiotic resistance in humans."
"A coalition of environmental groups is mounting a legal challenge to former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's controversial decision to reinstate grazing rights for Oregon father-and-son ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond following President Trump's pardon of their arson convictions."
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