An effort by the Trump administration to tank a highly useful data source on climate change trends has met impressive resistance — in the form of a group of fired NOAA staffers who have rebuilt the climate.gov website stripped by the federal government. And as the latest Toolbox notes, it’s a great resource. Reacquaint yourself with it.
SEJournal welcomes two additions to our Publications masthead — veteran data/multimedia journalist Geoff McGhee and early-career freelancer Julie Zenderoudi. McGhee joins us as co-editor of our visual journalism column, EJ InSight. And Zenderoudi comes aboard as co-editor of Freelance Files. Learn more about them and watch for their contributions to our pages in the near future. Plus, two farewells.
"President Donald Trump on Friday threatened to impose tariffs on Canada in retaliation for wildfire smoke, but it was not clear that he has the legal authority to impose such a levy."
"For decades, fishers, swimmers and environmental groups have complained that mud and silt from dredging operations in the Mobile Bay shipping channel have been smothering seagrasses, choking out oysters and clouding water that was once pristine." "A measure to permanently ban the practice of “thin-layer disposal” of dredged sediment nationwide has advanced through a House committee with bipartisan support."
"After a nearly two-year inquiry, Colorado’s Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC) approved deals allowing firms owned by its largest oil and gas companies to avoid the majority of assessed penalties for falsified data submitted by their contractors."
"In a case that has become a local flashpoint, environmental groups seeking to halt a lithium operation in Imperial County until it gets further review argued before a state appeals court in San Diego on Thursday."
"The contamination of a Cheyenne water system by a Meta data center underscores the worries residents have about more than two-dozen data centers that are and could be consuming Wyoming’s energy, water and landscape."
"The state will tax data center electricity but plans to reduce emissions at the facilities and secure environmental protections went nowhere."
"The U.S. government plans to auction off massive sections of water surrounding American Samoa for potential deep-sea mining in an unprecedented move that is expected to draw criticism from many countries."
"Newly revealed documents from inside the most powerful farming lobby in Europe show how it delayed, gutted and overturned some of the most sweeping farming reforms in EU history, including a plan to cut pesticide use in half."
