Climate Change

"In March, the Arctic sea ice pack is supposed to reach its greatest extent - but this year it's far below average, off by an area about the size of Texas and New Mexico combined. Satellite observations currently reveal how much of the ocean surface is covered by ice, but there is another critical measurement to make. Researchers are already anticipating using NASA's Ice, Cloud and land Elevation Satellite-2, or ICESat-2, to measure sea ice in the third dimension."

"President Donald Trump's outspoken doubts about climate change and his administration's efforts to roll back regulation to combat it have stirred a sleepy faction in U.S. politics: the Republican environmental movement."

"Lawyers for a group of teenagers suing the U.S. government in a climate change case have asked the government and the oil industry's leading trade group to turn over emails sent and received by U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson using an alias address while he was running Exxon Mobil."

"The U.S. would have had to ramp up its climate ambitions to help slow global warming to the 2 degrees C goal, but under Trump, it's going in the opposite direction."

"The GOP’s effort to roll back contentious Obama-era regulations is hitting a snag. Some Republican senators are coming out against a resolution that would repeal an Interior Department regulation governing oil and natural gas drilling on federal land. The rule is designed to cut down on the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas."

"German officials included the offices of both Volkswagen’s chief executive and the head of the Audi division when they raided company premises last week as part of an investigation into emissions fraud, according to a copy of the search warrant."

"Opposition from the United States, Saudi Arabia and others has forced Germany to drop a reference to financing programs to combat climate change from the draft communique at a G20 finance and central bankers meeting."

While the Energy Department's nuclear weapons program get an 11% increase under the Trump budget, "clean energy, smart grid and electric vehicle initiatives favored under the Obama administration are singled out for elimination or sharp cutbacks."

"If there was any doubt over President Trump's views on climate change, those doubts evaporated with the unveiling of his proposed federal budget on Thursday."

"No agency in the federal government fared worse under Thursday’s proposed budget than the Environmental Protection Agency."