Weekend Reader:  Award winners, Southern delusions & top news.

Weekend Reader: Award winners, Southern delusions & top news.

SEJ recognizes the year's best in environmental journalism; a few observations from our Weekend Editor on the Solid (and Trumpian) South; and more

The Society of Environmental Journalists annual awards shows the strength and depth of environmental journalism; talk of a Democratic overthrow in the midterm elections is hard to find in the American South.


Forget about that Southern Blue Wave

In the off-year 2017 elections, Doug Jones was just the Dreamland candidate for Southern Democrats' comeback.

Relatively telegenic and a civil rights prosecutor, Jones faced the best odds an Alabama Democrat had in years: His Republican opponent, Roy Moore, had twice been bounced from the Alabama Supreme Court for ignoring Constitutional mandates. And Moore was buried in a dozen complaints that he trolled, stalked, or groped young women decades earlier.

Although Moore denied all accusations, his campaign wallowed in an epic pit of creepiness.

The relatively unassailable Jones managed a 1.7 percent victory for a partial-term Senate seat he'll be hard-pressed to keep in 2020.

One-point-seven percent, over a guy dragging credible child molestation charges to the polls.

Read the full story here.

The best environmental journalism

For almost two decades, the Society of Environmental Journalists has been recognizing the best environmental journalism published in the United States. They announced winners this week for this year's journalism awards. Some of the strong contenders showed both the vibrancy and urgency of environmental reporting.

Among the winners:

"Bombs in Our Backyard" by Abrahm Lustgarten, Lena Groeger, Ryann Grochowski Jones, Sisi Wei, Ashley Gilbertson, Ranjani Chakraborty and Lucas Waldron for ProPublica.

"Toxic Secrets: Pollution, Evasion and Fear in North Jersey" by James M. O'Neill, Scott Fallon, Chris Pedota, Daniel Sforza, Michael Pettigano and Susan Lupow for The Record (Bergen County, NJ) and NorthJersey.com.

"Marshall Islands Project" by Kim Wall, Coleen Jose, Jan Hendrik Hinzel, Brittany Levine, Andrew Freedman and Alex Hazlett for Mashable.

Links and the full list of winners and runners-up are here.

Top weekend news & opinions

Payback? A major past donor to Jeff Sessions's campaigns gets some alleged payback in a dispute with EPA.

From theory to in-your-face: Climate scientist Michael Mann says climate impacts are no longer subtle, they're in our faces. From WBUR's Here & Now.

Two from Alaska on oil damage: From Inside Climate News: Surrounded by oil fields,an Alaskan village fears for its health.

And from the NYT's Henry Fountain: How new oil projects cut scars across Alaskan wilderness.

Shocker! Green energy passes its first trillion-watt milestone as prices drop. (Bloomberg)

Stellar long-read from The Guardian and Keith Kahn-Harris on Denialism: What drives people to reject the truth.

From Wash Post's Capital Weather Gang: California's Carr Fire became one one the biggest fire tornadoes ever measured.

Essay from NPR's Scott Simon: Calling the press the "enemy of the people" is a menacing move.

Climate Denial's evil twin: Climate denial isn't the only anti-science push that won't die: In this NYT op-ed, Melinda Winner Moyer says anti-vaxxers still have an impact on vaccine science.

Grist offers a level-headed assessment of the NYT Sunday Magazine's controversial "autopsy" on how the climate movement blew it in the 1980's.

Ornate Parliament Hill building and clock tower in Canada's capital city.

Mark Carney’s rise places Trump between two quiet climate champions

Canada’s newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, both seasoned climate advocates, now flank President Trump, creating a North American dynamic where climate leadership persists even when it’s not a campaign focus.

Justin Worland reports for TIME.

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A kitchen wall with cabinets and an oven
Credit: Ida/Pixabay

Energy Star program faces shutdown as EPA reorganizes under Trump administration

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate the Energy Star program and other climate initiatives as part of a major agency reorganization, according to internal documents and recordings.

Lisa Friedman and Rebecca F. Elliott report for The New York Times.

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Two men holding rope and setting up a roof for solar panels.

Political shifts stall $8 billion in clean energy projects as U.S. renewables boom

The U.S. clean energy sector has grown dramatically, but policy uncertainty under President Trump has already led to the cancellation or downsizing of nearly $8 billion in renewable projects this year.

Ames Alexander reports for Floodlight.

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Sign in front of electric vehicle chargers that says 'Electric Vehicle Only'.

Why some House Democrats helped block California’s 2035 gas car ban

Thirty-five House Democrats joined Republicans to overturn California’s plan to phase out gas-powered cars by 2035, citing concerns about affordability and heavy industry lobbying.

Lisa Friedman reports for The New York Times.

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Mining excavator in a mine pit.

Trump administration accelerates Alabama coal expansion mostly for foreign steel markets

The Trump administration is expediting the approval of a major Alabama coal mine expansion despite environmental and safety concerns, with most of the coal destined for export to foreign steelmakers.

Lee Hedgepeth reports for Inside Climate News.

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LNG storage tank with a red sky in the background.

Louisiana expands LNG exports as Trump fast-tracks new terminal permits

A new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal is moving forward in southwest Louisiana, adding to the state’s growing LNG footprint as federal and state officials push for more fossil fuel infrastructure.

Tristan Baurick reports for Grist.

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Big Ben and Parliament building in the United Kingdom.

UK residents take government’s climate strategy to European human rights court

Two British men argue that the UK’s failure to protect them from climate-related harm violates their human rights and have escalated their case to Europe’s top human rights court.

Damien Gayle reports for The Guardian.

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From our Newsroom
Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

One facility has emitted cancer-causing chemicals into waterways at levels up to 520% higher than legal limits.

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

"The reality is, we are not exposed to one chemical at a time.”

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro speaks with the state flag and American flag behind him.

Two years into his term, has Gov. Shapiro kept his promises to regulate Pennsylvania’s fracking industry?

A new report assesses the administration’s progress and makes new recommendations

silhouette of people holding hands by a lake at sunset

An open letter from EPA staff to the American public

“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

wildfire retardants being sprayed by plane

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

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