Environmental Politics

"Desert ranchers in New Mexico are hoping the new GOP administration in Washington will dramatically shrink a recently designated national monument in the south of the state where outlaw Billy the Kid and Apache leader Geronimo once sought refuge."

"With wildfire season raging in western states, Congress is embroiled in a battle over how best to fight the fires. Many Republicans want to help prevent and fight wildfires by giving the agencies that manage the federal forests more money and greater ability to thin out the forests. Most Democrats, as well as environmental groups, say the bill would lead to more logging without first considering potential damage to the forests."

"Another trip to Capitol Hill for Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, another reminder that lawmakers from both parties have no intention of approving the deep cuts President Trump is seeking at the agency."

"The Trump administration took a big step Monday toward clearing the way for construction of two giant tunnels that would siphon water from the Sacramento River and send it south to farms and cities."

"Department of Energy research and renewable energy programs would see a major funding reduction under the fiscal 2018 House energy-water appropriations bill released today, while the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E) would be eliminated entirely."

President Trump's efforts to upend the trade treaty known as NAFTA could jeopardize the U.S.-Mexico trade in natural gas -- on which the U.S. energy industry depends.

"A U.S. watchdog group filed a lawsuit in a federal court on Tuesday to force the Environmental Protection Agency to release communications with billionaire investor Carl Icahn, who it says tried to influence biofuels policy for personal gain."

"The Trump administration's top environmental official met privately with the chief executive of Dow Chemical shortly before reversing his agency's push to ban a widely used pesticide after health studies showed it can harm children's brains, according to records obtained by The Associated Press."

"The Trump administration on Tuesday took a major legal step toward repealing a bitterly contested Obama-era regulation designed to limit pollution in about 60 percent of the nation’s bodies of water."