Park Service Calls for New Review of Dunes Pavilion Plan Revisions
From: Chicago Tribune “In a recent letter to an attorney for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, Jeffrey Reinbold, assistant director for Partnerships and Civic Engagement with the NPS, said updated plans for renovation of the pavilion, which as proposed includes a number ...
Greene the Disruptor — Putnam’s Admits He’s Losing — DeSantis on ‘this girl’ Ocasio-Cortez — No, Youth Voters Aren’t Surging (Yet?) — Buchanan hits Shapiro from the left
From: Politico / Florida Playbook “Environmentalists opposing Scott already are pointing to a lack of DEP enforcement in throwing their support behind Nelson. Florida PEER Director Jerry Phillips told POLITICO the timing of the annual report, issued Monday, wasn’t political.” ...
Carper, DeFazio Want Wheeler to Reverse Pruitt Memo on Vetoes
From: E&E News “Top Democrats on the Senate Environment and Public Works and House Transportation and Infrastructure committees are asking acting EPA head Andrew Wheeler to revoke a June memo restricting the agency’s ability to nix water pollution permits. Under the Clean Water ...
Violence Against Federal Workers Drops After Trump’s Election
From: Boise State Public Radio “You’ve got a signal now from this administration that has probably calmed down a lot of people,” says Freemuth. “I guess you could say the more vocal opponents of the Obama Administration are probably pleased right now, so they’ve settled down.” ...
National Park Service Puts the Brakes on Revised Pavilion Partners Dining Plans
From: Chesterton Tribune “NPS’ conclusion: “Ultimately, we found the plans have changed enough to require a new review because the Pavilion project no longer appears to be secondary and supportive of outdoor recreation,” Reinbold told PEER. In particular, Reinbold characterized the ...
Selfie Nation vs. Park Solitude
From: Lone Peak Lookout “Yellowstone National Park’s decision to close the popular trails to the summit of Mt. Washburn has triggered a backlash from those disappointed by what they perceive as an over emphasis on providing visitors with a strong cell signal. The national advocacy ...
Feds Promise Human Health Risk Assessment to Measure Harm to Community
From: San Francisco Bay View “With no evidence-based human health risk data to support its pronouncement, the Navy is the lead voice in a deafening echo chamber of government officials, health department representatives and mainstream media outlets who absurdly claim no risk to public ...
These Birds — and Federal Red Tape — Could Harm Great Lakes Fish Populations
From: Detroit Free Press “A federal judge’s ruling in 2016 halted wildlife management agencies from their practice of killing limited numbers of double-crested cormorants — sleek, black, diving, fish-eating seabirds — to control their populations. That ruling — and the lack ...
Improved Yellowstone Cell Service On the Way, Despite Objections
From: Yellowstone Insider “Improved Yellowstone cell service is on the way, as trails are closed to allow the installation of new antennas at the Mount Washburn Fire Lookout — but some groups are decrying the upgrades as an unnecessary intrusion into the Park’s bucolic nature.” ...
Yellowstone Park Continues to Improve Cell Service
From: Flathead Beacon “Bret De Young, the park’s telecommunications chief, said the Verizon Wireless project will improve the speed of wireless service, but won’t go so far as to allow streaming movies. He says people want to be able to check hotel reservations or use National Park ...
Is The Public Being Cut Out of Public-Land Decisions?
From: WyoFile “Congresswoman Liz Cheney and U.S. Sen. John Barrasso are contributing to an agenda that marginalizes or ignores citizen input on and participation in public land, wildlife and environmental issues, a chorus of critics says. Cheney’s recently introduced bill that would ...
Could New Software Speed Up FOIA Responses?
From: Government Executive “The Environmental Protection Agency, for example, recently told one requester that a spike in FOIA inquiries under now-departed Administrator Scott Pruitt has extended average processing times to 388 working days, according to the nonprofit advocacy group ...
Yellowstone National Park Continues to Improve Cell Service
From: The News Tribune “Cellular phone service in Yellowstone National Park will see improvements this summer despite criticism from some that argue increased connectivity takes away from the serenity of the country’s first national park. “Hiking and communing with nature has ...
Hammond Pardons Raise Fears of Emboldened Anti-Government Extremists
From: The Hill “Agencies like the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and the Interior Department have thousands of employees in Western states, many of whom say they feel endangered when in the field; a 2017 survey by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility found 49 percent of BLM ...
Science Under Siege: Behind the Scenes at Trump’s Troubled Environment Agency
From: Nature “When Trump put his hand on the Bible to take the oath of office on 20 January 2017, many EPA scientists kept their heads down. They wondered who might be fired first, and they warned each other to censor their e-mails, for fear that the new administration would monitor ...
How the U.S. Government Is Aggressively Censoring Climate Science
From: Audobon “The more you remove [climate change] from public documents and the public eye, the less inclination there is for people to worry about it and want to do something about it.” Pretending the problem doesn’t exist also permits agencies to ignore it in policymaking.” ...
Environmentalists File Suit for Federal Protection of Louisiana Black Bear
From: Times Picayune “In 1992, the Louisiana black bear was listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. The listing was justified by the loss of bear habitat and human-related mortality. It is estimated that 80 percent of the bear’s bottomland forest habitat was ...
States Continue to Bolster Whistleblower Protections: PEER Analysis
From: Safety+Health Magazine “Most states have expanded their whistleblower protection laws over the past 12 years, including 10 states that have done so in their most recent legislative sessions, according to an analysis by watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental ...
Louisiana Black Bear Needs Renewed Federal Protection
From: HoumaToday.com “Environmental groups, including Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, and others filed the lawsuit June 28 in Washington. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service acted prematurely, “based on flawed assumptions and shoddy science,” when it took ...
Greens Sue for Protections on Louisiana Black Bear
From: E&E news “The suit says there are fewer than 700 in the wild, since other black bears are breeding with the Louisiana bears. “They’re actually making things worse rather than achieving a recovery of this species,” said Paula Dinerstein, counsel for Public ...
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