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"Lee Zeldin Didn’t Ask To Head EPA. Here’s Why Trump Picked Him."

"When he served as a Republican congressman from New York, Lee Zeldin delighted environmentalists by championing efforts to protect critical wildlife habitat from potential development efforts, including a golf course proposed by Donald Trump." "Now, as Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, Zeldin is pledging to deliver on the president-elect’s promise to eliminate several environmental regulations that the fossil fuel industry views as burdensome, according to half a dozen Senate Republicans who met with Zeldin this week."

Source: Washington Post, 12/09/2024

Biden Proposes Raising Acceptable Threshold For Common Agricultural Pesticide

"The Biden administration is proposing to raise a key threshold determining how much of a pesticide that’s commonly used in the agriculture industry the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finds concerning in the environment — spurring ire from some environmental advocates."

Source: The Hill, 12/09/2024

"Rat Poison Harms Endangered Wildlife Up and Down the Food Chain, EPA Warns"

"In humanity’s war against rats, other animals are often collateral. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released its final biological evaluation on rodenticides on Nov. 22 and found that the rat poisons are jeopardizing at least 78 endangered species such as black-footed ferrets and California condors."

Source: Inside Climate News, 12/09/2024

"The Climate Risk to the Mortgage System"

"As sea levels rise and natural disasters become more intense, homes in low-lying coastal areas or tinder-dry mountains are starting to lose value. That’s a problem for the finances of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored enterprises that back half of the nation’s outstanding mortgages — and keep the residential real estate market liquid by buying mortgages from banks and repackaging them into securities."

Source: NYTimes, 12/09/2024

"E.P.A. Bans Cancer-Causing Chemicals Used in Dry Cleaning"

"The Environmental Protection Agency on Monday banned two solvents found in everyday products that can cause cancer and other serious diseases. It was a move long sought by environmental and health advocates, even as they braced for what could be a wave of deregulation by the incoming Trump administration."

Source: NYTimes, 12/09/2024
January 10, 2025

DEADLINE: Brechner Freedom of Information Award

The Brechner Freedom of Information Project at the University of Florida College of Journalism and Communications annually recognizes excellence in reporting that centers on the public’s right to know and draws on government documents and data that uncover official secrecy. $3,000 prize. Deadline: Jan 10, 2025.

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Will Trump 2.0 ‘Come After’ Journalists?

If the idea of an FBI director targeting journalists seems oh so last century, then Donald Trump’s prospective pick for the post has news for you. And that isn’t even the all of it. As WatchDog Opinion writes, the incoming administration bodes a litany of woes for free speech advocates, starting with the misuse of the law to try to silence a critical press. What should be done?

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Trump’s Public Health Agency Picks, Looking Peaked?

Public health is an environmental story (think links between infectious disease and climate change, for example). So Trump administration nominees to head leading U.S. public health agencies — including vaccine skeptics, COVID-19 contrarians and physicians with little public health experience — are a story for environmental journalists to watch closely. The latest EJ TransitionWatch helps with a rundown of five top picks. Plus, the latest health headlines from EJ Today.

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