ELI In the News
EPA, Agriculture leaders rally farmers in Wilson County for clean water rule replacement
Top federal officials traveled to the Wilson County fairgrounds outside of Nashville Tuesday to promote the Trump Administration's proposal to weaken a federal clean water regulation. Andrew Wheeler, acting administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue called on Tennessee farmers to engage in the contentious debate. Trump officials want to limit which bodies of water are subject to the Clean Water Act, the 1972 landmark legislation that protects streams, rivers and other bodies of water from uncontrolled development and pollution. . .
Read More >Movers and Shakers
The Environmental Law Institute has added six new members to its leadership council: Jeanne Cohn-Connor, William J. Jackson, J. Scott Janoe, Shailesh Sahay, Fred Wagner and Peter H. Weiner. Read their bios here.
Read More >Rights Groups Call for Greater Attention to Environmental Security in Armed Conflicts
Amnesty International released two public statements on Tuesday regarding environmental security during war and armed conflicts. One statement addressed to the Chair of the UN General Assembly First Committee called upon the Chair to address environmental impacts of particular weapons and military practices and identify measures to minimize harm. The statement notes that in addition to the cost of human life, weapons destroy water, sanitation, and energy infrastructure and creates hazardous waste that has further impacts on human health.
Read More >Trump’s plan to have Jim Mattis fast-track part of the border wall could backfire
President Trump's plan to have the Pentagon quickly build part of the wall on the U.S. border with Mexico is now facing years of potential delays because of environmental reviews.
Read More >Obama team assembles again to toast Lisa Jackson
Lisa Jackson's fan club had a reunion last night. The Obama-era EPA administrator returned to Washington, where she was surrounded by her former team and celebrated for her work at the agency, even as some of her efforts are being rolled back by the Trump administration. Trump EPA officials were at the swanky hotel dinner, too, where Jackson — now an executive at Apple Inc. — steered clear of criticizing the administration. Jackson, who led EPA from 2009 until early 2013, was given an environmental achievement award by the nonpartisan Environmental Law Institute.
Read More >Daily on Energy
ENVIRONMENTAL LAW INSTITUTE BOOSTS BOARD’S RANKS: The non-partisan Environmental Law Institute boosted its ranks in Monday with the addition of six new members to its board of directors. “I look forward to working with these renowned experts to advance ELI’s important mission of improving the environment though the effective rule of law,” said the group’s board chairman, Benjamin Wilson. The new members include Rachel Jacobson, Rick Leahy, John Lovenburg, Peggy Otum, Hilary Tompkins, and Wei “Kevin” Wei.
Read More >Count on Blockchain to Bolster ESG Truthfulness ... Eventually
Even though Morningstar reported recently that investment flows into sustainable funds nearly doubled each month this year compared to 2017, financial advisors and other stakeholders continue to express lukewarm sentiments about the transparency and trustworthiness of ESG-related investment data. “Overall, we were disappointed by the lack of transparency and rigor of ESG ratings,” Shiva Rajgopal, the vice dean of research at Columbia Business School, writes in a recent Reuters opinion article.
Read More >Environmental cooperation as a pathway to resolve Nigeria’s deadly farmer-herder conflicts
Nigeria’s central Middle Belt region is home to a diverse cultural population of semi-nomadic cattle herders and farming communities. For decades, the region has experienced increasingly violent attacks that have been partially attributed to direct competition over access and use of natural resources. According to a report released by the International Crisis Group in July, the violence between Nigerian farmers and herders killed at least 1,300 people in the first half of 2018, claiming “about six times more civilian lives than the Boko Haram insurgency”. . . .
Read More >Scientists, Economists Call for ERS, NIFA to Stay in Washington, D.C.
More than 1,100 scientists and economists are opposing Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s proposed USDA reorganization that relocates the Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture outside the nation’s capital.
Read More >Trawling for Peace in a Warming Planet
From the South China Sea to the English Channel, Lake Victoria to the Pacific Ocean, the last few decades have seen increased competition for fish stocks. Unlike many other agricultural products which are stationary, many species of fish are highly migratory across various maritime boundaries.
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