Natural Resources

"On Wednesday, lawmakers on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held the first hearing on President Trump’s nomination to lead the US Fish and Wildlife Service. If confirmed, Brian Nesvik, a former game warden turned Wyoming Game and Fish director, would lead the federal agency whose primary charge is to protect the plants and animals most in need of conservation."

"Six Michigan tribes have withdrawn from federal discussions over the controversial Enbridge Line 5 project after learning that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are fast-tracking approval for the massive oil tunnel under the Straits of Mackinac."

"Earth has lost enough soil moisture in the last 40 years to change the planet’s spin and shift the location of the North Pole, according to a new study published today in Science that tracks how human activities have disrupted the global water cycle. The persistent loss of water from land to oceans has dried out huge portions of every continent and may be irreversible, scientists describing the new research said this week."

"Miners and their advocates worry that DOGE's cuts to the Mine Safety and Health Administration will put them at risk."

"When Leslie Stewart moved to her home in a rural expanse of Lincoln County outside of Oklahoma City more than 20 years ago, she thought she’d found a slice of heaven. ... But several years ago, her neighbor began applying sewage sludge, which consists largely of human waste left over from municipal wastewater treatment facilities, as a fertilizer on his farmland, causing a rancid smell so powerful it nearly took her breath away."

"The Trump administration's efforts to end federal diversity, equity and inclusion programs has hit an unexpected target: In February, communities around the country learned that funding was canceled for a nationwide tree-planting program aimed at making neighborhoods cooler, healthier and more resilient to climate change."

"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, although battered by Trump administration attempts to impose massive staff and budget cuts on the agency, nevertheless continues to publish critical climate information, including some dire drought warnings in the spring outlook published March 20 by NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center."

"Advocates fear the agency will “justify avoiding any enforcement whatsoever” of millions of tons of coal ash nationwide."

"With the release of its fourth and final round of color-coded hazard maps this morning, California’s firefighting agency is showing just how much of the state is prone to wildfire — and how much that computationally-modeled danger zone has grown since the state issued its last round of local hazard maps more than a decade ago."