Natural Resources

"The National Park Service has started closing orphaned wells using money provided under legislation signed by President Biden."

"The Australian government plans to make an area about the size of Germany in the Southern Ocean a marine zone, strengthening protections around Macquarie Island for millions of penguins and seals."

"A new wind energy lease sale plan released Wednesday by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management slashes the Gulf’s offshore wind energy development areas by two-thirds, potentially reducing the amount of jobs and clean energy the region’s leaders had hoped wind farms would generate in the coming years."

"Wildlife crossings are getting more go signs, on Capitol Hill and beyond."

"Don’t look now, but the divided Congress could pass a major climate change bill."

"A group of 24 Republican-led states is suing the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to try to knock down a rule governing which waters get federal protections."

"With many developing nations facing a triple whammy of rising debt loads, climate change and nature loss, conservationists say the answer could lie with a financial instrument enabling them to tackle all three at once: "debt-for-environment swaps".

"Against the backdrop of a severe drought linked with global warming, conservation advocates and Native Americans in California are calling for a temporary emergency stop to all surface water diversions from Mono Lake, contending that continuing to drain the watershed, along with the long-term drought, threaten critical ecosystems, as well as the Kootzaduka’a tribe’s cultural connection with the lake."

"Researchers have found that planting hedgerows helps farmers sequester carbon in the soil, manage pests, and provide habitat for pollinators and other wildlife."