"A major scientific report issued by 13 federal agencies on Friday presents the starkest warnings to date of the consequences of climate change for the United States, predicting that if significant steps are not taken to rein in global warming, the damage will knock as much as 10 percent off the size of the American economy by century’s end."
"Leading House Democrats, weeks away from taking over the majority in the lower chamber, are demanding records and information from the Trump administration’s rollbacks of numerous climate change policies at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)."
Bears, particularly the plentiful black bears that are the source of much human-bear conflict, can serve as a opening to larger environmental stories, such as habitat destruction and the challenges of the “wildland-urban interface.” This week’s TipSheet has some of the good news/bad news on bears, with story ideas and resources for your reporting.
SEJ's leadership transition reached another milestone Friday, November 16, 2018, as SEJ's founding and long-time executive director Beth Parke completes her two-month executive director handoff to Meaghan Parker. Over the last year, Beth made an encore performance, serving as interim co-executive director with Chris Bruggers. We'd like to honor Beth for her more than 27 years of service with SEJ as the "heart, head and soul of this organization," as a former board member once put it. Please enjoy this video montage, courtesy of JHopey Productions.
"EPA's press shop is taking a page from President Trump's playbook. Since the new administration entered office, the staff in EPA's press shop has gotten personal with reporters — calling out their alleged mistakes in press releases, keeping them off advisories and blocking some from agency events."
The Society of Environmental Journalists last week objected to the White House suspension of CNN reporter Jim Acosta after a contentious briefing with President Donald Trump and the release of a doctored video of the incident. SEJ joined numerous other journalism groups in fighting what it called unacceptable censorship. Details in this month’s WatchDog TipSheet. Plus, science writers host an “info access summit,” a look at issues around secrecy at the Interior Department and the CNN pipe bomb.
What will a divided Congress mean for environment and energy issues? This week’s TipSheet explores the question by looking at the Democrats who will now lead key House committees once the new Congress is seated next year. Take a lightning tour of a half-dozen top panels, their anticipated leadership and the issues they tackle, including drinking water safety, environmental justice and climate change, infrastructure, science policy, natural resources and more.
"Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke took to a conservative talk show to slam reporting on his ethics scandals as “B.S.”"
"Environmental advocates are suing Donald Trump’s interior department for using what they call a secretive process that ignores science in refusing protections for at-risk species."
"Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has been exploring potential roles with Fox News, the energy industry or other businesses amid growing signs that he will leave President Donald Trump's Cabinet as he faces investigations into his ethics, according to people knowledgeable about the discussions."
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