Natural Resources

"The House Natural Resources ranking member is worried Elon Musk could stand to benefit if parts of NOAA were privatized."

"Microplastics contamination is widespread in seafood sampled in a recent study, adding to growing evidence of the dangerous substances’ ubiquity in the nation’s food system, and a growing threat to human health."  "The peer-reviewed study detected microplastics in 180 of 182 samples comprising five types of fish and pink shrimp".

"Aid projects were designed to help Central Americans withstand extreme weather at home. Their end could undercut Trump’s goal of reducing  migration."

"The data, which appeared fleetingly online on Wednesday, confirmed transmission in two households. Scientists called on the agency to release the full report."

"Pesticide company efforts to push through laws that could block litigation against them is igniting battles in several US farm states and pitting some farm groups against each other. Laws have been introduced in at least 8 states so far and drafts are circulating in more than 20 states, backed by a deluge of advertising supporting the measures."

"National park visitors could be confronted by "chaos" this summer if the Trump administration does not lift its hold on season hirings — soon —, says former National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis."

"Dairy cows in Nevada have been infected with a new form of bird flu that is distinct from the version that has been spreading through herds over the last year, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced on Wednesday."

"National monuments, migratory birds, endangered and threatened species: Some of the nation’s most vulnerable natural resources are in jeopardy after Doug Burgum issued—on his first full day as secretary of the Department of the Interior—a seven-page directive weakening their protections to further fossil fuel development."

"New research by an international team of climate scientists documents a surge of global warming during the past 15 years that risks shutting down a key ocean current by 2050."

"More than 30,000 small dams currently block river tributaries from Maine to Maryland. New initiatives to remove them are aimed at restoring natural flows, improving habitat for aquatic life, and reopening thousands of river miles to migratory fish, from shad to American eels."