Environmental Politics

"When President Donald Trump issued a series of orders that froze billions of dollars in federal climate funding late last month, he also slammed the brakes on the most ambitious replanting initiative in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina wiped out more than 200,000 trees across the city. The blocked funding could also spell the end of the nonprofit group spearheading the restoration of New Orleans’ tree canopy, which has suffered an almost 30 percent decrease over the past 20 years."

"The National Science Foundation fired 168 employees on Tuesday. According to an NSF spokesperson, the firings are to ensure compliance with President Trump's executive order aimed at reducing the federal workforce in the name of efficiency."

"The head of the food division at the US Food and Drug Administration has quit in protest over sweeping staff cuts that he warns will hamper the agency’s ability to protect public health."

"Numerous programs aimed at averting violence, instability and extremism worsened by global warming are ensnared in the effort to dismantle the main American aid agency, U.S.A.I.D."

"The agency’s acting administrator directed employees to not engage with the media without “prior authorization.”"

"The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Tuesday that, over the weekend, it accidentally fired "several" agency employees who are working on the federal government's response to the H5N1 avian flu outbreak. The agency said it is now trying to quickly reverse the firings."

"The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has created a new class of “emergency” permits for fossil fuel projects, raising the possibility that pipelines, mines, power plants and other facilities could be fast-tracked for approval as part of President Trump’s demand to increase oil, gas and coal production."

"The head of the criminal division in the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. resigned Tuesday morning after declining to comply with an urgent Trump administration demand to freeze the assets of a multibillion-dollar Biden administration environmental grant initiative, according to the official’s resignation letter and two people familiar with the matter."

"The National Park Service has removed transgender references from its website commemorating the 1969 Stonewall Uprising, erasing transgender activists such as Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera who were central to the movement for LGBTQ+ rights."

"Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) introduced legislation on Thursday to rename North America’s highest mountain “Denali,” after President Trump issued an executive order on his first day in office changing its name to Mount McKinley."