The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is establishing an Office of Environmental Justice to address environmental health issues among "disadvantaged communities and vulnerable populations on the frontlines of pollution" and other climate impacts, the Biden administration announced Tuesday.
Why it matters: Environmental justice has been a priority for the administration. The move to address climate and now environmental justice at HHS shows how the topic is moving beyond the traditional environmental and resource agencies.
EQT Corporation boss Toby Rice, whose company is the largest U.S. natural gas producer, hopes to win support for a gigantic expansion of exports to displace carbon-spewing coal plants abroad.
"This is the biggest green initiative on the planet, hands down, full stop," he tells Axios in an interview Friday.
As summer kicks off, a small but growing number of cities are getting serious about heat mitigation — but experts say too many leaders are still ignoring the problem.
Why it matters: Scientific studies have documented a dramatic rise in heat-related deaths,and there’s broad agreement that cities need to adopt comprehensive cooling strategies to maintain public health.
Hurricane Agatha — the first 2022 hurricane in either the Atlantic or the eastern Pacific — came ashore in southern Mexico on Monday as a high-end Category 2 storm, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Threat level: "Although Agatha is weakening, life-threatening flash flooding and mudslides from heavy rains are still possible through Tuesday," said the National Hurricane Center in a forecast discussion Monday night, after it became a tropical storm.
