Environment

The West Side Rag reports: If you don’t own reusable shopping bags, now is the time to invest in some. You may also want to stockpile your favorite take-out plastic bags. Starting March 1, stores in New York State will be banned from giving single-use plastic bags to customers at checkout as the New York State Bag Waste Reduction Law …

Roll Call reports: Mining, logging and drilling in areas of southern Utah once part of two national monuments would be allowed under plans finalized Thursday by the Interior Department, igniting the anger of conservation groups and congressional Democrats. President Donald Trump drew the ire of tribes and environmentalists when he issued proclamations in December 2017 significantly reducing the size of …

Bloomberg Green reports: There are dozens of climate models, and for decades they’ve agreed on what it would take to heat the planet by about 3° Celsius. It’s an outcome that would be disastrous—flooded cities, agricultural failures, deadly heat—but there’s been a grim steadiness in the consensus among these complicated climate simulations. Then last year, unnoticed in plain view, some …

Time Magazine reports: The Trump administration on Thursday will finalize a rule to strip away environmental protections for streams, wetlands and other water bodies, handing a victory to farmers, fossil fuel producers and real estate developers who said Obama-era rules had shackled them with onerous and unnecessary burdens. From Day 1 of his administration, President Trump vowed to repeal President …

The Sacramento Bee reports: The state of California is suing President Donald Trump’s Bureau of Land Management in an attempt to block the opening of more than 1 million acres of public land to oil and gas drilling, including hydraulic fracturing or fracking. The lawsuit, filed Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, seeks to …

The New York Times reports: Last year was the second-hottest on record, government researchers confirmed on Wednesday in analyses of temperature data from thousands of observing stations around the world. They said that 2019 was only slightly cooler than 2016 and the end of what was the warmest decade yet. The independent analyses by researchers at the National Aeronautics and …

CNN reports: Almost a third of the Earth will need to be protected by 2030 and pollution cut by half to save our remaining wildlife, as we enter the planet’s sixth era of mass extinction, according to a United Nations agency. The UN Convention on Biological Diversity released a draft plan on Monday, which sets global goals to combat the …

The Associated Press reports: Inga is troubled: His reindeer are hungry, and he can do little about it. Climate change is altering weather patterns here and affecting the herd’s food supply. “If we don’t find better areas for them where they can graze and find food, then the reindeers will starve to death,” he said. Already pressured by the mining …

Politico reports: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sought to assure nations at the U.N. conference in Madrid today that the U.S. would join its efforts to fight climate change despite President Donald Trump’s move to pull the U.S. out the Paris agreement. “By coming here we want to say to everyone, we’re still in,” Pelosi said at a press conference in …

Reuters reports: Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro claimed on Friday that Hollywood star Leonardo DiCaprio financed fires being set in the Amazon rainforest, without presenting any evidence, the right-wing leader’s latest broadside in casting blame over forest fires that have generated international concern. Bolsonaro appeared to be commenting on social media postings claiming that the environmental organization the World Wildlife Fund …

The Los Angeles Times reports: At the urging of a controversial team of advisors, the Trump administration is mulling proposals to privatize national park campgrounds and further commercialize the parks with expanded Wi-Fi service, food trucks and even Amazon deliveries at tourist camp sites. Leaders of the Interior Department’s “Made in America” Outdoor Recreation Advisory Committee say these changes could …

The Columbus Dispatch reports: Murray Energy Corp., the U.S. coal giant that had pressed the Trump administration for help, has filed for bankruptcy. The largest closely held coal miner in America failed to make multiple payments to lenders this month, prompting a deal with creditors that will see them make a “stalking horse” bid under Chapter 11 bankruptcy to exchange …

The CBC reports: A group of oil and gas supporters is planning a counter-rally when Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg shows up at the Alberta legislature in Edmonton on Friday. Glen Carritt, who organized the United We Roll convoy that travelled to Ottawa in February, said a similar convoy will start in Red Deer, Alta., on Friday morning and make …

The Washington Post reports: The Trump administration Tuesday proposed allowing logging on more than half of Alaska’s 16.7 million-acre Tongass National Forest, the largest intact temperate rainforest in North America. President Trump instructed federal officials to reverse long-standing limits on tree cutting at the request of Alaska’s top elected officials, on the grounds that it will boost the local economy. …

Trump’s rape of the environment proceeds unchecked: “The Trump administration is dedicated to enhancing the exploration and development of federal solid mineral resources in an environmentally conscious manner,” said Interior Secretary David Bernhardt in a statement. “By eliminating burdensome regulations, the U.S. will have a stronger foothold to compete globally in non-energy, solid, leasable commodities markets and increase job opportunities …

The Los Angeles Times reports: California and 17 other states on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration’s weakening of the Endangered Species Act, a landmark law that has ensured the survival of the California condor, the grizzly bear and other animals close to extinction. The lawsuit is California’s latest in a blitz of legal challenges to the president’s …

The Sacramento Bee reports: The Trump administration is ratcheting up its threats against California with a letter warning the state faces sanctions – including cuts in federal highway funding – over its “failure” to submit complete reports on its implementation of the Clean Air Act. In the letter to the California Air Resources Board, Andrew Wheeler [photo], administrator of the …

The Sacramento Bee reports: California and 22 other states sued the Trump administration Friday over the federal government’s revocation of California’s authority to impose stricter limits on greenhouse gas emissions from cars. The suit came a day after federal officials formally revoked California’s powers under the federal Clean Air Act. Gov. Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Xavier Becerra and other state …

The Washington Post reports: Weakening the Obama-era water rule had been a central campaign pledge for Mr. Trump, who characterized it as a federal land-grab that impinged on the rights of farmers, rural landowners and real estate developers to use their property as they see fit. Environmentalists say Mr. Trump’s push to loosen rules on clean water regulations represents an …

Bloomberg reports: The Trump administration is preparing a plan to strip California’s authority to set tougher auto efficiency regulations than the federal government, even while agencies continue finalizing a rollback of national standards, according to a person familiar with the matter. The matter is still under consideration and no final decision to proceed has been made but is expected in …