February Environment & Climate News:

Trump Moves to Open U.S. Offshore Waters for Oil and Gas Drilling

The February issue of Environment & Climate News reports Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke announced plans to make more than 90 percent of the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) acreage available for oil and gas exploration and development. The area is estimated to contain 98 percent of the federal offshore area's undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and gas resources. "While we're not likely to see the fruits of this important decision for a number of years, this is just one more example of the commitment of the Trump administration to maintain U.S. energy dominance,” Heartland Institute Policy Analyst Tim Benson said.

Also in this issue:

• A resolution calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reopen and review its finding that carbon dioxide poses a danger to human health and the environment was presented to an American Legislative Exchange Council Task Force at the organization's States and Nation Policy Summit in Nashville, Tennessee and was withdrawn amid controversy.

• Unable to see an end to court battles and local objections, Energy Management Inc. announced it was cancelling Cape Wind during the final week of November 2017, ending its battle to erect what it intended to be the nation's first offshore wind farm off the coast of Massachusetts.

• A Pima County, Arizona Superior Court judge ordered the University of Arizona to release emails related to the "Climategate" scandal.

• Former Czech Republic President Vaclav Klaus warns the world will suffer an extreme economic decline unless world leaders embrace climate realism and reject policies that would end fossil fuel use.

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The full text of the issue is available online in Adobe Acrobat's PDF format: February 2018 Environment & Climate News. 

All issues of Environment & Climate News are archived here: Environment & Climate News Issue Archive.