What makes styrofoam good — like its insulating, shock-absorbing qualities that make it suitable for hot coffee cups, coolers, helmets and packing material — is also what makes it bad … for the environment, that is. This month’s Backgrounder looks at the technical and environmental aspects of this long-troubling plastic pollution source.
"President Trump’s pick for Interior Department secretary, former oil and gas lobbyist David Bernhardt, was approved by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee by a 14-6 vote Thursday."
"Legal challenges abound for Daniel Jorjani, formally nominated yesterday to fill the long-vacant position of Interior Department solicitor."
"The Interior Department’s Office of Inspector General is reviewing allegations that acting secretary David Bernhardt may have violated his ethics pledge by weighing in on issues affecting a former client, the office confirmed Tuesday."
Does the military use ecological restoration as a means to “green” over the complex relationship between nature and culture, undermining the impacts of history and warfare? Our latest BookShelf review of the new volume, “Bombs Away: Militarization, Conservation, and Ecological Restoration,” explores one author’s argument that it does.
"President Trump’s choice to lead the Interior Department, David Bernhardt, a former oil lobbyist who has been accused of conflicts of interest, faced questioning Thursday from senators who must decide whether he is the right person to oversee some 500 million acres of public land and vast coastal waters."
The Society of Environmental Journalists is backing right-to-know lawsuits brought by journalism groups, and a collaborative press freedom tracker gets new funding. Meanwhile, at the Interior Department, one watchdog group angles for environmental impact statements on ANWR drilling, while others track possible conflicts of interest by the acting secretary. That and more in the latest WatchDog roundup.
"Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler is reportedly recusing himself from agency reviews of a proposed mine whose developer his former law firm represented."
"The White House has decided on a new chief for the agency overseeing the Trump administration's deregulatory agenda. Paul Ray has been named acting head of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a senior administration official confirmed, though there has been no public announcement."
"The EPA’s yearslong, tenuous effort to ease air pollution limits on trucks with rebuilt engines can be traced back to a day early in Scott Pruitt’s tenure as administrator."
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