"Bill Wehrum, the Environmental Protection Agency’s top air policy official, continued to stay in close touch with employees at his former law firm after joining the Trump administration, according to documents released this week under the Freedom of Information Act."
"Protesters in Alaska urged federal officials to keep oil rigs out of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge despite a federal law requiring lease sales in the wilderness area."
"The U.S. president has joined Kentucky's governor and the coal state's U.S. senators in trying to pressure the Tennessee Valley Authority to keep a 49-year-old coal-fired power plant operating, even though the nation's largest public electric utility has concluded that the plant is unreliable, no longer needed and too expensive to repair and operate."
"EPA air chief Bill Wehrum refused for 10 months to release a recusal letter detailing his past work representing chemical manufacturers, refiners, oil drillers and coal-fired power plants."
Our latest Issue Backgrounder looks at the potentially historic impact of the ambitious climate action agenda known as the Green New Deal — not just on this Congress or the next, or even on the race for the White House in 2020, but for the soul of the Democratic Party. An analysis of a public policy program in the making, the political maneuvering it’s engendering and its prospects to sow division or prompt a united front.
A former head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission has written a powder keg of a book, “Confessions of a Rogue Nuclear Regulator.” Author Gregory Jaczko left the post in 2012, far more critical of nuclear power’s safety claims than he came in, his concerns amplified by the Fukushima meltdown in Japan in 2011. Now, he worries that its lessons have not sunk in deeply enough with an industry that he believes is headed toward catastrophe. Read our latest BookShelf review.
The Green New Deal may be just a broad outline, even after the recent introduction of a resolution in Congress. But don’t think the lack of specificity means the Green New Deal won’t be news for the long term. This week’s TipSheet explains the reasons the Green New Deal may endure and why it matters, plus story ideas and resources for journalists covering climate, environmental politics and more.
"Solar power has long been a pet issue for progressives and environmentalists. But in Florida, utilities are starting to embrace the technology for economic reasons."
"Energy Transfer, the company behind the Dakota Access pipeline and other controversial projects, has failed to fix problems that were uncovered after an explosion on one of its projects in Pennsylvania, state regulators said."
"The Congressional Leadership Fund, a political action committee with ties to House Republicans, launched ads today against two Democrats over the 'Green New Deal.'"
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