Trump Clamps Down On Independent Agencies’ Power
"President Donald Trump is expanding White House control over independent agencies in a move his critics view as an alarming power grab."
Source: E&E News, 02/20/2025
EJToday: Top Environmental Politics Headlines
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"Washington Post Backs Out Of ‘Fire Elon Musk’ Ad Order"
"The Washington Post this week backed out of a “Fire Elon Musk” advertising order that was to run as a wrap on some of its Tuesday editions, according to the advocacy group Common Cause."
Source: The Hill, 02/20/2025"WWF Helping Facilitate Trade In Polar Bear Fur, Investigation Reveals"
"The wildlife charity WWF has been maintaining policies that work to support the trade in polar bear fur at the same time as using images of the bears to raise money, it can be revealed."
Source: Guardian, 02/20/2025"Louisiana Gas Export Terminal Gets Key Approval to Move Ahead"
"The U.S. Department of Energy has granted conditional authorization for a contested project to export liquified natural gas in southwest Louisiana, potentially the first in a string of such moves in the second Trump administration."
Source: Inside Climate News, 02/20/2025"Feds Approve Another Deepwater Oil Export Terminal Off Texas"
"The Trump administration on Friday approved plans for a second deepwater oil loading terminal off the Texas coast, opening another door for continued long-term growth in American crude production and exports." "An export infrastructure buildout will enable further growth in American oil production as momentum fades on a phase-out of fossil fuels, even as global temperatures continue to break records."
Source: Inside Climate News, 02/20/2025"How Corporate Manipulation of Science and Regulation Makes People Sick"
"Scientists launch a new research center to study what they say is now a leading disease risk factor: corporations."
Source: Inside Climate News, 02/20/2025"High-Ranking D.C. Federal Prosecutor Resigns Over Order To Freeze EPA Funds"
"The head of the criminal division in the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. resigned Tuesday morning after declining to comply with an urgent Trump administration demand to freeze the assets of a multibillion-dollar Biden administration environmental grant initiative, according to the official’s resignation letter and two people familiar with the matter."
Source: Washington Post, 02/19/2025"Trump Administration Moves to Fast-Track Hundreds of Fossil Fuel Projects"
"The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has created a new class of “emergency” permits for fossil fuel projects, raising the possibility that pipelines, mines, power plants and other facilities could be fast-tracked for approval as part of President Trump’s demand to increase oil, gas and coal production."
Source: NYTimes, 02/19/2025USDA Accidentally Fired Officials Working On Bird Flu, Now Trying To Rehire
"The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tuesday that, over the weekend, it accidentally fired "several" agency employees who are working on the federal government's response to the H5N1 avian flu outbreak. The agency said it is now trying to quickly reverse the firings."
Source: NBC News, 02/19/2025"FEMA Restricts Media Communications"
"The agency’s acting administrator directed employees to not engage with the media without “prior authorization.”"
Source: E&E News, 02/19/2025"Climate Aid Projects Fighting Extremism and Unrest Are Closing Down"
"Numerous programs aimed at averting violence, instability and extremism worsened by global warming are ensnared in the effort to dismantle the main American aid agency, U.S.A.I.D."
Source: NYTimes, 02/19/2025"Food Head At FDA Quits Citing Trump Administration’s Mass Staff Cuts"
"The head of the food division at the US Food and Drug Administration has quit in protest over sweeping staff cuts that he warns will hamper the agency’s ability to protect public health."
Source: Guardian, 02/19/2025"National Science Foundation Fires Roughly 10% Of Its Workforce"
"The National Science Foundation fired 168 employees on Tuesday. According to an NSF spokesperson, the firings are to ensure compliance with President Trump's executive order aimed at reducing the federal workforce in the name of efficiency."
Source: NPR, 02/19/2025"Another Casualty Of Trump’s Funding Freeze: New Orleans’ Tree Canopy"
"When President Donald Trump issued a series of orders that froze billions of dollars in federal climate funding late last month, he also slammed the brakes on the most ambitious replanting initiative in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina wiped out more than 200,000 trees across the city. The blocked funding could also spell the end of the nonprofit group spearheading the restoration of New Orleans’ tree canopy, which has suffered an almost 30 percent decrease over the past 20 years."
Source: Verite News, 02/19/2025"As Trump Vents About Covid, Experts Worry His Moves Could Worsen Next Threat"
"The president, still angry about the pandemic response, may be cutting into the country’s fundamental ability to identify emerging diseases and head them off."
Source: Washington Post, 02/18/2025
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