"In a blunt deregulatory maneuver, the Trump Administration in its waning days is attempting to adopt a regulation that, if finalized, would have a cataclysmic effect on the public health and consumer protection regulatory landscape."
"Many observers see Biden's Council on Environmental Quality nominee as a sign that he will prioritize redoing the National Environmental Policy Act rules — not only to undo President Trump's recent changes but also to boost requirements on issues like climate change."
"Officials have taken the extraordinary step of closing the Washington Monument starting Friday as a precaution after Interior Secretary David Bernhardt — who gave a private, nighttime tour to other Trump appointees this week — tested positive for the coronavirus."
"Construction of President Trump’s border wall moved forward last year even after government scientists said it could harm a nearby wildlife refuge, according to an internal report obtained by The Hill. The report, obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, showed that the construction of the wall would pull water from the San Bernardino National Wildlife Refuge."
"The Trump administration wrongly tweaked a grant process when forwarding $2 million in funds to the state of Alaska as officials pushed to open the state’s Tongass National Forest up to more logging, a government watchdog found."
"Congressional negotiators inserted a bipartisan measure to curtail planet-warming chemicals used in air-conditioners and refrigerators in the huge government spending and coronavirus relief package that is expected to head to President Trump’s desk on Monday."
"Rep. Deb Haaland's selection to lead the Interior Department has energized the progressive base, mobilized tribal communities and thrilled politicos who want to see President-elect Joe Biden make history with his first round of Cabinet picks. In Congress, however, the New Mexico Democrat is about to run the gantlet of a confirmation process in a Republican-led Senate."
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"Officials in multiple states said they were alerted late Wednesday that their second shipments of Pfizer-BioNTech’s vaccine had been drastically cut for next week, sparking widespread confusion and conflicting statements from Pfizer and federal officials about who was at fault."
"Republicans and Democrats together approved the Great American Outdoors Act, but the administration has ignored planned projects and imposed rules restricting spending."
"The partisanship poisoning Washington made it hard to imagine the sharply divided Congress coming together over anything in this year, let alone environmental legislation. And fallout from the pandemic made it seem even more unlikely that Democrats and Republicans could agree on something like spending hundreds of millions of dollars on parks and conservation.
"President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has selected Michael S. Regan, North Carolina’s top environmental regulator, to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, Mr. Biden’s transition team announced Thursday. The decision elevates for the first time a Black man to lead the powerful department, which is central to achieving the new administration’s climate change agenda."
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