Tag: Environmental

Trump targets federal employees working on conservation and environmental protection

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| Pollution

The Trump administration moved last Monday to slash federal jobs across two key environmental and conservation agencies, targeting employees who work on scientific research and the enforcement of anti-pollution laws. 

At the Environmental Protection Agency, staff received a new round of furlough notices as funding dwindles amid the government shutdown. The Department of the Interior disclosed plans to permanently cut more than 2,000 positions, according to a court filing by its chief personnel officer. 

The Interior Department layoffs, also known as a “reduction in force,” are at the center of ongoing litigation over President Donald Trump and his administration’s efforts to further gut the federal workforce.  

Monday’s filing came in response to a judge’s order requiring the Interior Department to disclose its layoff plans for unionized employees. The administration said it intends to eliminate 2,050 Interior Department positions, a decision …

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Can weaker environmental rules help fight climate change? California just bet yes.

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| Pollution

Earlier this week, California lawmakers passed among the most sweeping reforms to the state’s environmental regulations in more than half a century. The measures were primarily intended to boost housing construction and urban density in the Golden State, which faces among the most severe housing shortages in the U.S.

Though the move was celebrated by Governor Gavin Newsom as he signed the bills into law, it has exposed tensions between the progressive priorities that motivate Democratic lawmakers. Housing affordability advocates have clashed with those promoting environmental justice, with the former boosting the bills and the latter remaining wary. More broadly, the move exposes divisions between those who want more tools to mitigate climate change and environmentalists who would rather maintain strict limits on what can be built and how.

The reforms target the California Environmental Quality Act, which then-governor Ronald …

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Closures of EPA’s regional environmental justice offices will hurt rural America

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| Pollution

Environmental justice efforts at the 10 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency regional offices have stopped and employees have been placed on administrative leave, per an announcement from EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin last month. Former EPA employees involved with environmental justice work across the country say rural communities will suffer as a result. 

Before being shuttered in early March, the EPA’s environmental justice arm was aimed at making sure communities were being treated fairly and receiving their due protection under the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. Zealan Hoover, former senior advisor to the EPA administrator under the Biden administration, told the Daily Yonder that this work had big implications for rural places since there are pollution concerns in rural areas across the country. 

“EPA was very focused on making sure that not just on the regulatory side, but also on …

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Increased environmental drying risk for anurans globally under projected climate change

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| Climate

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 29 October 2024; doi:10.1038/s41558-024-02169-x

Climate change is exacerbating the severity of drought for life on land, especially for drying-sensitive species such as anurans (frogs and toads). Evaporative water loss rates for anurans are expected to double in areas with increased aridity. Increased drought severity combined with climate warming will likely reduce activity time for anurans owing to physiological limits.
Nature Climate Change…

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Release: Taxpayer, Farm, and Environmental Advocates Urge Congress to Reject Farm Subsidy Increases

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| Sustainability

For Immediate Release

Contact: Laura Zaks

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

lzaks@sustainableagriculture.net 

Release: New Grant Programs Offer Targeted Funding for Food Sovereignty and Local Processing

Washington, DC, May 10, 2023 – Today, a diverse group of taxpayer, agriculture, and environmental organizations held a press conference at the National Press Club to urge Congressional leaders to reject attempts to increase reference prices for covered commodity crops as Congress debates the farm bill. The organizations participating in the press conference included the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), Environmental Working Group (EWG), Rural Coalition, FreedomWorks, National Taxpayers Union, Taxpayers Protection Alliance, Taxpayers for Common Sense, R-Street, and Farm Action. 

“The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition stands with this alliance to oppose raising Price Loss Coverage reference prices in the 2023 Farm Bill, at a time when gross farm income is higher than ever.

…

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Tipping points of marine phytoplankton to multiple environmental stressors

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| Climate

Nature Climate Change, Published online: 10 October 2022; doi:10.1038/s41558-022-01489-0

The authors establish machine learning models to identify multifactor tipping points of global marine phytoplankton. They show that temperature and carbon dioxide dominate risks, and project crossing tipping points in tropical area production (50%) and resistance (41%) by 2100 under high emissions.
Nature Climate Change…

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