"The Trump administration on Thursday will finalize a rule to strip away environmental protections for streams, wetlands and other water bodies, handing a victory to farmers, fossil fuel producers and real estate developers who said Obama-era rules had shackled them with onerous and unnecessary burdens."
As part of our “2020 Journalists’ Guide to Energy & Environment” to help reporters track the stories coming their way this year, SEJournal Online looks ahead to major developments on the beat — from Washington, D.C. to the Arctic, from public lands to fossil fuels. We also explore pending news on transportation, agriculture, nukes, federal funding, freedom of information and even algae. Also under our gaze, key facets of the climate story. Read our overview analysis and then dive deep into the full offering of special Backgrounders, TipSheets and WatchDogs.
"Just after sunrise, elk are grazing in a misty field in Washington's Skagit Valley, an hour and a half north of Seattle. ... These elk are at the center of a conflict that's unfolding between Native Americans and farmers in northwest Washington."
"The Bureau of Land Management is preparing to overhaul grazing regulations, including how it addresses scofflaw ranchers on public lands."
"A swath of land in the Everglades at the center of a fight between a family determined to drill for oil and a constellation of parties urging them not to might finally have a new future. The state intends to buy the 20,000-acre tract outright and halt the threat of oil drilling on the protected lands near Broward County’s western suburbs, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday."
"Plans to build Minnesota’s first copper-nickel mine suffered a major setback Monday when the state Court of Appeals reversed three permits issued to PolyMet Mining Corp. and kicked them back to state regulators for additional review."
"Among 20 of the most powerful people in government environment jobs, most have ties to the fossil fuel industry or have fought against the regulations they now are supposed to enforce."
"Almost a third of the world’s oceans and land should be protected by the end of the decade to stop and reverse biodiversity decline that risks the survival of humanity, according to a draft Paris-style UN agreement on nature."
"The snowy owl was first spotted just beyond the 18th hole of one of the most expensive golf courses ever built."
"House Natural Resources Chairman Raúl Grijalva (D-Ariz.) has rejected Interior Secretary David Bernhardt's offer to meet and discuss the lawmaker's concerns over the Bureau of Land Management's move out West."
Advertisement 
