federal | Environment.org

For Immediate Release

Contact: Laura Zaks

National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition

press@sustainableagriculture.net

Release: New JAFSCD Commentary Highlights Urgent Need for Federal Investment in Urban Agriculture

Washington, DC, October 31, 2024 – In a new commentary published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development (JAFSCD), authors Hagan Capnerhurst of Michigan Food and Farming Systems, Hannah Quigley of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC), and Jake Hawes of the University of Wyoming (UW), emphasize the vital role of urban agriculture in fostering local food sovereignty, driving economic development, and enhancing community well-being.

“Despite the significant growth of urban farming, federal support has not kept pace, with funding remaining critically low in relation to the pressing needs of urban growers,” said Hannah Quigley, NSAC Policy Specialist, adding that “NSAC Urban agriculture initiatives, often led by communities of color, have become essential

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For the first time in a century, the US is raising fees for drilling on federal lands

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The rules for oil and gas extraction on public lands have been stagnant for decades. Oil and gas companies have paid 12.5 percent in royalties to the federal government for drilling on public lands for more than a century, significantly lower than the rates many Western states charge. Companies must also post bonds, financial instruments that guarantee taxpayers aren’t left holding the bag for environmental cleanup if a driller goes bankrupt. But those bonds were set in 1960 at $ 10,000 per lease, a small fraction of the true cost of plugging and cleaning up oil wells that businesses leave behind.

Good governance groups and environmentalists have long argued that these rules have functioned as a subsidy for fossil fuels, shortchanging taxpayers and encouraging oil and gas extraction at a time when the planet is warming at a dangerous rate. …

After FEMA overhaul, hundreds of thousands of Americans are forgoing federal flood insurance

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Hundreds of thousands of Americans have dropped their flood insurance through the National Flood Insurance Program, or NFIP, since last October, E&E News found in a review of federal records. The sharp decline in coverage comes after the Federal Emergency Management Agency overhauled the program’s insurance pricing system, a move that was meant to make premiums more accurately reflect the flood risk of a property.

When the agency reviewed the NFIP last year, it discovered inequities in the way that insurance premiums were priced. Homes in the less risky areas of flood zones were overpaying for their premiums, and shouldering a higher burden of the costs of flood risk. The system overhaul was meant to address these inequalities, adjusting premium rates according to level of risk.

“[W]e have a responsibility to make sure that we have actuarily sound, fair, …