“An internal audit by the U.S. Forest Service says the federal agency mismanaged two timber sales. The report blames pressure to meet timber harvest targets. The result was it cost taxpayers around $2 million, failed to outline planned restoration work and potentially violated ...

“For Tom Vilsack, being confirmed as the Biden administration’s agriculture secretary may prove the easiest part of the job ahead. One group, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said Vilsack’s record on scientific integrity isn’t encouraging, a ...

“Pressure to meet timber sales goals contributed to mismanaged contracts on Alaska’s Tongass National Forest and a $700,000 refund to a timber sale purchaser, a Forest Service audit found. The environmental groups Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) and the ...

“That’s according to a release from the Southeast Alaska Conservation Council which says the audit was obtained via a lawsuit filed by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and a Freedom of Information request it filed. Sally Schlichting is a policy analyst for ...

“The ranks of scientists who carry out environmental research, enforcement and other jobs fell in several agencies — sharply in some — under former President Donald Trump, federal data shows. Veteran staffers say many retired, quit or moved to other agencies amid pressure from an ...

“On top of concerns about his close industry ties, corporate-friendly policy record, and alarming civil rights history, President Joe Biden’s Agriculture Secretary nominee Tom Vilsack is also facing scrutiny over what one watchdog organization on Friday characterized as “ ...

“U.S. Senators Cory Booker (D-NJ) and I along with Senators Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Tom Carper (D-DE) today reintroduced our Preventing Future Pandemics Act, a bipartisan bill that would direct the State Department to work with international partners to shut down commercial wildlife ...

“Florida’s Collier County is a place of conflict and contradiction. Its southeastern flank features sprawling public landscapes like Big Cypress National Preserve, that wild redoubt of rare orchids and alligator wallows. Its western edge is home to some of the state’s most ...

“Sanctions imposed on organizations that tested caulk taken from California schools without permission for chemicals known as PCBs should be reconsidered, the Ninth Circuit ruled Friday. There are “insufficient grounds” for finding that the testing was done in bad faith, even if ...

“Seventh District Democrat Abigail Spanberger is reintroducing legislation to prevent insider trading by members of Congress. The bipartisan TRUST in Congress Act has been endorsed by many key advocacy and government accountability organizations, including the Project on Government ...

“Sen. Jesse Kiehl and Rep. Sara Hannan, both D-Juneau, say they plan to introduce bills during the current legislative session to protect Alaskans from adverse health impacts of unregulated toxin substances. On Friday, Jan. 15, the EPA acknowledged that the agency has found toxic ...

“Last June, as part of a concerted campaign to dismantle the environmental policies of the Obama administration, Donald Trump met with fishermen in Maine and signed a proclamation that allowed commercial fishing in nearly 5,000 square miles of federally protected waters southeast of ...

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has confirmed that PFAS (per and polyfluorinated alykyl substances) ‘forever chemicals’ are contaminating containers that store pesticide products, and subsequently the products themselves. The confirmation comes after preliminary testing ...

“Just before leaving office, the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency announced some changes regarding the regulation of a group of chemicals known as PFAS, or sometimes branded as “forever chemicals.” Most recently, just a day before the end of Trump’s only ...

“Technology obviously can be a strength for bringing the world to one’s fingertips. But for a large segment of our population, natural areas are only infrequently, or not at all, part of their lives. Is being wired in necessary to having a better experience inside a national park? ...

Reprinted with permission from Government Executive “The Environmental Protection Agency celebrated its 50th birthday last month. While most people at 50 are at their prime, this is not the case for EPA, now greatly weakened after four years in the bulls-eye of the Trump ...

“Donald Trump spent four years railing against a “deep state” of career federal workers he claimed was undermining his administration from the inside. When Joe Biden takes office this week, he may actually have one. And just last week, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard ...

“Environmentally persistent chemicals discovered in an insecticide aerially sprayed in more than half of US states leached into the pesticide from plastic shipping containers, the Environmental Protection Agency says. An assortment of toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) ...

“Environmentally persistent chemicals discovered in an insecticide aerially sprayed in more than half of US states leached into the pesticide from plastic shipping containers, the Environmental Protection Agency says. “Shipping containers may be a significant source of PFAS ...

“The state Department of Environmental Conservation is blocking the use of a popular pesticide for mosquito control upstate and in New York City following the revelation that the chemicals’ containers were made with hazardous PFAS compounds. Late last year, the Maryland-based ...