(AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN)
"The Pentagon is behind the first-ever request to convene the “God Squad” to exempt all oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico from the Endangered Species Act due to national security reasons, the Justice Department said in a Wednesday court filing."
"New research shows the carbon absorbed by the Everglades is equal to 10 percent of the emissions coming from Florida roadways, but the watershed’s methane emissions complicate the picture."
"Folklore dating to ancient Egypt has held that cats have nine lives and in modern times that mystique certainly seems true for the Florida panther. Sometimes it feels like everything in the world is trying to snuff out the panthers — everything human, that is. The panthers, a mountain lion subspecies, nearly went extinct in the 1990s, when the population dwindled to 20. That would have been embarrassing for Florida, which — thanks to a 1981 vote by schoolchildren — had designated the panther as the official state animal."
"Now, parish lawsuits, including one in front of the Supreme Court, could make oil giants pay to restore the state’s vanishing marshes."
"The Trump administration on Friday approved a $5 billion oil drilling project in ultradeep waters of the Gulf of Mexico over protests from Democrats and environmental activists who said the venture posed significant risks to wildlife and communities."
"A major environmental justice case tying slavery’s legacy to Cancer Alley reached a new phase after a judge rejected defendants’ motion to dismiss last month."
"Florida conservation groups say they plan to sue after the federal government greenlit another development that threatens the habitat of the panther, the official state animal."
"Complaints become part of the record only if a violation is found, but the state has only 14 inspectors for thousands of hog, poultry and cattle farms known as concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs."
"Brenntag Mid-South continues to amass serious environmental violations related to its chemical repackaging plant in East Durham, where state inspectors cited the company in November for failing to clean up leaking barrels on the property."
