Header Picture Link

---

News Highlights
A quick review of top environmental news stories updated twice a month

---

​In Washington

• Democrats demand details on planned Energy Department layoffs
• DOE cancels more than $700M in battery, manufacturing projects
• Ramifications of Trump Funding Cuts Continue to Hurt R.I. Environmental Justice Efforts
• Committee plans review of federal chemicals oversight
• Trump urges court to pause battle over DOE climate report
• Clean energy project cancellations surge above $24B
• When it comes to Trump's energy cuts, California's the biggest loser 
• Trump says NJ offshore wind halt will be permanent​

---

Around the Nation

• Appeal Filed to Strengthen Colorado's Disproportionately Impacted Community Permitting Rule
• AI robot keeps Penn Waste workers safe while recycling smarter
• Scientists find rare plant species, unseen in almost 70 years, in middle of California park
• 40 Minnesota waterways test positive for microplastics pollution 
• California takes action against plastic bag makers over recycling claims
• California invests big in battery energy storage — and leaves rolling blackouts behind
• Officials unveil gargantuan energy plant spanning 2,000 acres
• New York packaging bill: Over 100 corporations lobby against plastic pollution regulation
• Bill Gates org alums launch new green energy group
• Two Florida coral species declared 'functionally extinct'
• Environmental justice groups sue over Trump's CAA rollback for chemical companies
• Exxon Mobil sues California over climate disclosure laws 
• NY Supreme Court Rules the State Must Issue Climate Regulations
• Delaware River Watershed Forum Unites Conservation Organizations, Advocates
• Philadelphia City Council passes legislation to improve city-wide plastic bag law​

---

Local

• Ridgewood Residents to Vote on Referendum to Expand Open Space Funding
• Hundreds Of Trees Chopped Down At Washington Valley Park, Bridgewater 'Deeply Concerned'
• Discolored Water Reported In Somerset County: Here's Why 
• Judge Approves $4.9M Settlement Over PFOA-Contaminated Water In Middlesex Co.
• Somerset County Art Exhibit Celebrates Open Space Preservation Program
• South Orange Dedicates Rain Garden Behind Middle School 
• Group to fight 500-foot cell tower proposed for Ramapo Valley Reservation Bergen County
• Voters to Decide if Trust Fund Will Support Open Space Stewardship
• Mercer Co. Town, NJ Partner To Save Historic Farmland
• Burlington County Recommended to Receive $750000 Grant For Preservation Work at Smithville
• Burlington County Commissioners Approve Agreement to Preserve Van Wagoner Farm
• Redevelopment Projects 'Not Consistent' With Master Plan Says East Windsor Planning Board
• Monroe Township to Launch an Extensive Energy Savings Project 
• N.J. county connects greenway with purchase of vacant, wooded land
• Princeton Hydro's 43-Page Document Explains Why West Essex Highlands is a Danger
• Smithville 19th-century industrial village gets $750K historic preservation grant
• Phillipsburg secures historic 33-acre land preservation deal on site eyed for warehousing
• What is community solar? Fair Lawn program lets residents get power without panels​

Global

• ​More than 4,000 freshwater species are on the brink of extinction
• Nature-based solutions are tackling climate displacement in the Global South
• Mystery heatwave warms Pacific Ocean to new record
• Sea turtles in Nigeria are released back to the wild after being rescued
• In UK oil and gas workers offered cash to retrain, in major plan for future clean energy workforce
• A city in India enacts sweeping ban that will have major impact on stores and restaurants
• Nigerian Monarch Takes On Oil Giant In Search Of Environmental Justice 
• UNDP and Jordan unveil project to phase out single-use plastic in F&B packaging
• American e-waste causing 'hidden tsunami' in Southeast Asia, watchdog report says
• Ten years after Paris, the world is still failing to meet its own climate promises, warns report
• UAE Breaks Ground on World's First Gigascale Round-the-Clock Renewable Energy Project
• You can walk faster than Tropical Storm Melissa is moving. It's a new, troubling tendency for storms
• Indonesia's most vulnerable push for nation's first Climate Justice Bill 

---

In New Jersey

• N.J. sues Trump administration over cancelled solar energy grants
• Nor'easter Caused 'Major' Erosion To Jersey Shore Beaches, Initial Report Says
• Tiny forest in N.J. squeezes an entire ecosystem into a small space
• NJ Transit creates real estate master plan. For Railroad Career Professionals
• NJEDA Announces First Executive Director of NJ Green Bank
• NJDEP, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation And Arcadis Commence Lead Poisoning Prevention Week
• Commissioner Latourette Invites Feedback On New NJDEP Doc Miner Online Tool
• Jack Ciattarelli Pledges to Expand Access to Wharton State Forest 
• NJDEP Renews Groundbreaking Solar Panel Recycling Permit for Commercial Solar
• Murphy Administration Awards Nearly $8 Million In Water Quality Restoration Grants 

---

Analysis & Research

• Perovskite: The 'wonder material' that could transform solar 
• World's oceans losing their greenness through global heating, study finds
• Planning and governance of peri-urban parks for environmental justice 
• A yellow warbler is for the climate as a canary is for the coal mine 
• Scientists discover groundbreaking way to use old plastic bottles
• Chemists discover clean and green way to recycle Teflon 
• Scientists issue warning after discovering disturbing underwater 'snow' phenomenon
• Bioflocculants for microplastics remediation in aquatic environments
• Microplastics are everywhere – and raising urgent health questions, new study finds
• Scientists Convert Plastic Waste Into Battery Materials ​

Opinion & Commentary

• Why countries struggle to quit fossil fuels, despite higher costs and 30 years of climate talks
• Your neighborhood could actually change how your brain works
• Solar energy is going to power the world much sooner than you think
• The NEPA Rollback Is a Direct Assault On Democracy, Here's What You Need to Know
• Why Nations That Bet on Renewables Will Win the Next Energy Era
• Our next NJ governor must protect clean water, clean air and open spaces ​​​

---

The views expressed in these articles do not necessarily represent positions held by ANJEC.