Laws & Regulations

"Last week, the US Department of the Interior announced that it would speed up the approval process for certain fossil fuel projects, proclaiming that environmental analyses that previously would have taken years must now be taken down to, at maximum, a month. While the new procedures are seemingly a gift to the industry, this may actually be terrible news for pipeline developers, drillers, and miners."

"After years of attempts, Ohio lawmakers voted Wednesday to end the subsidy for two unprofitable Cold War-era coal plants that had cost Ohio ratepayers nearly $400,000 a day, after they were tucked into the tainted energy bill at the center of the largest corruption scandal in state history."

"The biennial Conference of the Parties to the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm conventions will consider banning the controversial pesticide and two other toxic compounds"

"Current regulations date back to the Carter administration, and a planned overhaul could help fast-track gas export projects."

"House Republicans are looking to use their massive party-line bill to strip federal agencies of their power to unilaterally approve all major rules."

"The House on Wednesday voted to axe California’s clean truck rules — defying Congress’s own internal watchdog in doing so."

"As ecologists debate what to do about “invasive” swans in New York City, volunteers fight to keep them alive."

"A Canadian company announced Tuesday that its U.S. subsidiary submitted applications to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to mine the seafloor, sparking outrage by bypassing a U.N. agency that regulates deep international waters."

"The Trump administration temporarily rehired as many as 40 employees who screen coal miners for the deadly and incurable disease."

"A top official in the Department of Labor this week informed all staff members that they could face criminal charges if they speak to journalists, former employees or others about agency business."