Today's Top 5

Dark Future Seen For Environment As Trump's EPA Begins Radical Shakeup

America’s environmental laws are undergoing the most radical shakeup since the 1970s. Rules around climate change, water pollution and vehicle fuel standards are all in the process of being redrawn. Coal, oil and gas companies are being ushered onto public land and waters. Areas of scientific research are set to be sidelined. - The Guardian

Struggling With Japan's Nuclear Waste, Six Years After Fukushima Disaster

Six years after the largest nuclear disaster in a quarter-century, Japanese officials have still not solved a basic problem: what to do with an ever-growing pile of radioactive waste. Each form of waste at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, where three reactors melted down after an earthquake and a tsunami on March 11, 2011, presents its own challenges. - The New York Times

Shell CEO Warns of Disappearing Public Patience On Carbon Emissions

Royal Dutch Shell CEO Ben van Beurden offered a fretful and grim assessment Thursday of a dangerous disconnect between his industry and the public. "I do think trust has been eroded to the point where it starts to become a serious issue for our long term future," he said at the CERAWeek energy conference in Houston. Van Beurden touted the company's work on low-carbon energy and push for carbon taxes, but emphasized that the transition of the global energy system that's now dominated by fossil fuels is a decades-long endeavor, while the public's in a different place. "Societal acceptance of the energy system as we have it is just disappearing," he said, adding Shell needs an "almost activist" approach itself on engaging with the public and policymakers on energy transition. - Axios

The US Has One Inspector For Each 5,000 Miles of Pipeline

There are 2.7 million miles of pipeline snaked across the US. Some of the pipes carry hazardous chemicals, others carry crude oil, and still others carry highly pressurized natural gas. And when it comes to safety, all of them are under the care of 528 government inspectors. That’s more than 5,000 miles of pipeline or more than twice the length of the United States, per inspector. - Quartz

EPA's Environmental Justice Head Resigns After 24 Years. He Wants To Explain Why.

The resignation of Mustafa Ali comes as the Trump administration considers layoffs and budget cuts at the EPA that, if enacted, would eliminate the environmental justice budget and cut funding to grants for pollution cleanup. Ali, a founder of the program in 1992 who has worked there since, told Mother Jones he resigned because he was concerned the administration's proposals to roll back its environmental justice work would disproportionately affect vulnerable communities. "That is something that I could not be a part of," Ali says. - Mother Jones

Today's Top 5 Trending

"Former Black Panther Starts Urban Farm to Give Former Inmates a Fresh Start"

Veteran activist Elaine Brown has hatched a plan that begins with a farm, and could bring about a renaissance in an poor Oakland neighborhood. -- Civil Eats

"Tribe Fights to Save Boreal Forest in Quebec"

The Cree grand chief signed an accord with the Quebec government in July to preserve 9,134 square kilometers of woodland caribou habitat along the 450-kilometer Broadback, which flows through the taiga to the Arctic. But Waswanipi trappers say the deal does too little to safeguard their land. -- Agence France-Presse

"Heavy Sandstorm Sweeps Across Middle East"

A dense sandstorm engulfing parts of the Middle East left at least eight people dead and hundreds suffering from respiratory problems on Tuesday, as officials warned residents to stay indoors. -- Times of Oman.

"Human Activity Driving Half the World's Crocodile Species to Extinction"

Crocodile researcher warns the reptiles face a ‘bleak future’, but Australia’s saltwater and freshwater species have a brighter outlook due to hunting ban. -- The Guardian

"EPA Colorado Spill Pales in Comparison to Everyday Mine Leaks"

Environmental advocates and groups that have for decades been trying to clean up the legacy of unregulated mining say the incident pales in comparison to the broader problem of tens of thousands of mines leaking across the country. -- Greenwire

Today's Top 5 Trending

"'Rivers of Acid' in Zambian Village"

Zambian villagers are taking a multinational copper mining firm to court in the UK, accusing it of poisoning their water. The BBC's Nomsa Maseko visited the area which has allegedly been polluted. -- BBC World

"Tougher Testing Sought to Detect Asbestos in Talc"

Internal records reviewed by FairWarning show that officials of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have long been concerned about potential asbestos contamination of cosmetic talc, but have left it to the industry to monitor itself. -- Fair Warning

"Salinas Valley's Thriving Crops Mask Fears Over Lone Water Source"

At a time when lakes have hit bottom, wells have run dry, and farmland 100 miles away in the Central Valley has gathered dust, the Salinas Valley remains an oasis — a green patchwork quilt of farmland unfurling roughly 90 miles along U.S. 101 north of Paso Robles to Monterey Bay, where the Salinas River meets the ocean. But the verdant landscape hides long-term troubles with the region's only water source. -- Los Angeles Times

"How Climate Change Is Behind the Surge of Migrants to Europe"

Even as Europe wrestles over how to absorb the migrant tide, experts warn that the flood is likely to get worse as climate change becomes a driving factor.  -- Time

"Paris Climate Talks Could Fail, Warns Francois Hollande"

The president of France, Francois Hollande, has warned that the global climate change talks scheduled for Paris this December will fail unless nations make a much greater effort to reach agreement – and that the result could be millions of new refugees fleeing climate disaster. --The Guardian