In a reprieve for the waterways of West Virginia and the communities that depend on them, the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said in a document on Monday that EQT Midstream Partners would halt work on the parts of its controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) that cross 591 streams and wetlands in the state, […]
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Scott Pruitt directed staff to delay or withhold the release of requested public records relating to his scandal-ridden tenure at the agency, according to the top Democrat on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. “Your actions are particularly troubling in light of multiple reports that you have […]
By Carly Nairn Five countries are responsible for the majority of fishing in the high seas—international waters that are not under one country’s jurisdiction. All five depend on enormous subsidies to keep high seas fishing economically sustainable, concludes a study released Wednesday in the journal Science Advances. Overfishing in the high seas is already ecologically […]
By Jason Daley There’s little question that air pollution is toxic for the human body. Studies have shown that particulate matter in the air can lead to lung disease, heart disease, strokes, and lung cancer. But researchers thought the brain might be protected due to the blood brain barrier—a natural system that filters out foreign […]
Scott Pruitt, the embattled head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), tasked a taxpayer-funded agency staffer with securing a “business opportunity” for his wife with an executive of the fast-food chain Chick-fil-A, the Washington Post reported. According to emails obtained by the Sierra Club under the Freedom of Information Act, Pruitt’s former scheduler, Sydney […]
Dozens of activists with the Poor People’s Campaign were arrested and hundreds more blocked from entering government buildings across the country Monday during more than 30 nationwide protests at state capitols. Many of the protests focused in the government’s lack of response during disasters like Hurricane Maria and the Flint water crisis and the disproportionate […]
The Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management office in Alaska received a plan to conduct extensive, 3-D seismic testing in search of oil on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) this winter. The plan—submitted by surveying services SAExploration, Inc. and its partners Arctic Slope Regional Corporation and the Kaktovik Inupiat Corporation—is […]
By Sam Schipani “Save the bees” is a rallying cry we’ve been hearing for years now—one that conjures up images of fuzzy black and yellow honeybees, sipping nectar from colorful flowers or swarming with their bee brethren among tessellated combs while human defenders spread the word about dwindling bee populations. But honeybees are at no […]
By Andrea Germanos Spotlighting the terrible human impact of the nation’s continued reliance on coal, new research shows the most severe form of black lung disease, progressive massive fibrosis (PMF), is on the rise—big time. “This is history going in the wrong direction,” said lead researcher Kirsten S. Almberg, Ph.D., an assistant professor at the […]