Natural Resources

"Farmer Rafik Danwade had been pumping more pesticides on his acre-long field in Jambhali village in India’s Maharashtra state, but the chemicals were getting less effective at protecting his 3,200 chili plants from nematodes and other bugs. So Danwade, 56, turned to a practice his grandfather taught him in the 1970s: He planted 1,000 marigolds on the border and alternating rows of the field."

"The Biden administration on Thursday withdrew a proposal to expand protections for an endangered whale species. The rules would have required some ships along the Eastern Seaboard to slow down." "The proposed rules would have slowed more ships to prevent collisions with endangered North Atlantic right whales."

"Legislation was introduced Thursday in the U.S. House of Representatives to strip presidents of their authority under The Antiquities Act to designate national monuments. The measure, introduced by Reps. Celeste Maloy, R-Utah, and Mark Amodei, R-Nevada, would rewrite the act to say only Congress has the authority to designate national monuments."

"President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for interior secretary told a Senate panel Thursday the U.S. can leverage development of fossil fuels and other energy sources to promote world peace and voiced concerns about the reliability of renewable power sources promoted under the Biden administration."

"Landlords and real estate agencies are jacking up the rent on houses as demand outstrips supply in fire-torn LA."

"House Republicans are eying a process called reconciliation to boost oil and gas drilling, and approve specific mining projects, which would only require a simple majority for passage."

"The growth of homes in areas primed to burn played a major role in the disaster."

"Ants — yes, ants — could protect apples, nuts, cocoa, and other beloved crops from disease and climate change."

"The Yarmouth town council voted unanimously this month to remove two town-owned dams on the Royal River and consider fish passage improvements at a stretch of rapids in between them, a historic vote more than two decades in the making."

"An Indonesian forensic scientist whose testimony has proved crucial in securing rulings against environmental violators faces a third potential lawsuit."