"A national heat wave pushed high temperatures across the country on Tuesday to an average of 105.6 degrees. Even more heat is in the forecast." "It is so hot, birds are abandoning the sky."
"Business has blossomed at Interior Secretary David Bernhardt's former law and lobbying firm in the 31 months since he was first nominated to a Trump administration post, a new study by an environmental group shows."
"The acting chief of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) who backed the agency for siding with President Trump over its own scientists when the president claimed Alabama was in the path of Hurricane Dorian is being nominated for a position at the Department of Commerce, the White House said Wednesday."
"Congress is providing a little more budgetary heft to EPA's inspector general, which has been fighting with the agency's leadership over access to staff and information."
"As his coal mining company hurtled into bankruptcy, Robert E. Murray, the former chief executive, paid himself $14 million, handed his successor a $4 million bonus and earmarked nearly $1 million for casting doubt on man-made climate change, new court filings show."
"A coalition of twelve mid-Atlantic and Northeastern states and the District of Columbia on Tuesday released a draft plan for an ambitious cap-and-trade program to curb tailpipe emissions from cars, trucks and other forms of transportation, tackling what has fast become the largest source of planet-warming gases."
FOIA is under fire. And for journalists who rely on open records to do their work, the coming year may prove a crucial test of policies at key federal agencies on the beat. This special WatchDog TipSheet takes a deep dive on looming FOIA controversies at Interior and EPA, flagging potential flashpoints for 2020.
"A historic graveyard in Texas lies within the barrier’s 150ft ‘enforcement zone’ the government has said it plans to raze".
"The EPA would get $9.06 billion in the current fiscal year ending next September under a spending bill that Congress will vote on this week.
The agency would receive $208 million more in fiscal 2020 than the current $8.8 billion budget. That’s nearly $3 billion more than President Donald Trump’s budget request, but less than the $9.53 billion offered in the House bill that passed the chamber in June. It’s similar to the levels in the Senate-passed bill."
"When it comes to testing toilets, it turns out the appropriate substitute for human feces is miso paste. That's what EPA uses to ensure that commodes earning its WaterSense efficiency label flush effectively."
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