"Washington DC residents breathed in “unhealthy” air for hours after a 40-minute Independence Day fireworks show over the National Mall on Saturday night, with the country’s capital briefly recording the worst air quality of any major city in the world."
"Aaron Szabo, the head of EPA’s air office who has overseen a dramatic scaling back of climate regulations, is leaving the agency."
"On a warm summer morning, two fire officials navigate an SUV along a narrow road that switchbacks high into the hills above the town of Fairfax, California, where thickets of trees conceal hundreds of homes. When the road dead-ends, they head back down through the same hairpin turns, pointing out where a wildfire would roar into the path of fleeing vehicles."
"Federal officials will begin rounding up wild horses in the Eastern Sierra on July 8, citing trampled wetlands and highway hazards, with the animals to be offered for adoption. The helicopter-assisted operation is praised by some environmentalists but condemned by others, including local tribes and animal advocates."
As if it’s not already hard enough for reporters to talk to civil servants, the Trump administration wants all federal government employees to sign a nondisclosure agreement that could cost them their jobs if they do. The new WatchDog Opinion column spotlights the dangers of such a policy and details the widespread opposition it has engendered.
"A massive heat wave is sending temperatures into the triple digits in much of the eastern United States, just as the World Cup enters the crucial knockout rounds."
"This summer, Yosemite national park has been rife with traffic jams and throngs of visitors. Can these popular national treasures withstand a future of strained resources?"
"The deaths of three U.S. government firefighters in a Colorado wildfire are casting a spotlight on the Trump administration’s creation of a new federal fire service and its revival of a previously discredited policy to stomp out all wildfires quickly."
"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Tuesday that it will host a roundtable to hear from scientists, farmworkers, community advocates, and others to discuss the “documented safety challenges associated with the chemical,” and explore “potential solutions and alternatives.”"
"The Nuclear Regulatory Commission plans to end longstanding guidance that radiation exposure be “as low as reasonably achievable.”"
