Gov/Politics

Haaland Confirmed 1st Indigenous Secretary of Interior

WASHINGTON, DC, March 15, 2021 (ENS) – History was made today as the U.S. Senate voted 51-40 to confirm President Joe Biden’s nominee Congresswoman Debra Haaland as Secretary of the Interior. After she is sworn in, Haaland will be the first Native American to serve as a Cabinet secretary. In 2018, she became one of the first two Native women elected to Congress. […]

fire
Air/Climate

America Rejoins World Accord to Limit Climate Crisis

NEW YORK, New York, February 21, 2021 (ENS) – The community of nations welcomed the United States back into the Paris Climate Accord on Friday with the approval of American conservationists, politicians on both sides of the aisle and thousands of non-federal climate leaders who launched America is All In, a coalition to drive a society-wide mobilization for bold climate ambition. […]

wall
Gov/Politics

Biden Lifts Emergency on U.S.-Mexico Border, Stops Wall

WASHINGTON, DC, February 11, 2021 (ENS) – A national emergency no longer exists at the U.S. southern border with Mexico; it has been terminated after nearly two years. On Wednesday, President Joe Biden issued a proclamation that ends the national emergency first declared by former President Donald Trump on February 15, 2019, and twice renewed. […]

swearing in
Gov/Politics

President Joe Biden Protects Environment on Day One

WASHINGTON, DC, January 20, 2021 (ENS) – “A cry for survival comes from the planet itself, a cry that can’t be any more desperate or any more clear,” President Joe Biden declared today in his Inaugural Address on the steps of the Capitol building after he was sworn in as the 46th President of the United States by U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts. […]

Biden
Air/Climate

Day One: President Biden to Reject Keystone XL Pipeline

WASHINGTON, DC, January 19, 2021 (ENS) – A series of executive orders expected from President Joe Biden on his first day in office, January 20, include many that affect the environment, particularly the climate. Among his actions on Day One, Biden intends to sign an order to rescind the construction permit for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline expansion granted in 2019 by President Donald Trump. […]

Air/Climate

Biden’s Green Team Takes Shape With Race, Gender Firsts

WASHINGTON, DC, January 13, 2021 (ENS) – President-elect Joe Biden, who takes office on January 20 at noon, has nominated a team of seasoned environmental leaders to fill his Cabinet in positions that will impact the Earth’s unique places, people, and species, now more vulnerable than ever after the Trump administration. Climate will be a top priority of Biden’s core plan for a “clean energy revolution and environmental justice.” […]

Biden
Gov/Politics

Electoral College Affirms Biden Headed for White House

WILMINGTON, Delaware, December 15, 2020 (ENS) – The U.S. Electoral College has formally elected the Democratic ticket of former vice president Joe Biden and incumbent U.S. senator from California Kamala Harris as president and vice president of the United States. Two of every three eligible citizens, over 159 million people voted, the highest number since 1900. […]

Kerry
Air/Climate

John Kerry to Head Biden Administration’s Climate Team

WASHINGTON, DC, November 23, 2020 (ENS) – President-elect Joe Biden today announced key members of his foreign policy and national security team including, for the first time, a Special Presidential Envoy for Climate. To fill this new role, Biden has chosen old friend and Senate colleague, former Secretary of State John Kerry. […]

Biden, Trump
Air/Climate

President-elect Biden to Restore U.S. Climate Leadership

WASHINGTON, DC, November 8, 2020 (ENS) – Joseph R. Biden Jr. was declared President-elect of the United States on Saturday after slow, meticulous vote-counting that kept the nation on edge for four days. Biden, a Democrat, campaigned on a strong climate restoration platform, starting with bringing the United States back into the Paris Climate Agreement on day one of a Biden administration. […]

Air/Climate

Trump vs Biden: Environment in the Final Debate

NASHVILLE, Tennessee, October 23, 2020 (ENS) – Republican President Donald Trump and his challenger in the November 3 election former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic presidential nominee, faced off in their second and final debate Thursday night. They disagreed on everything – especially climate change. […]

Gov/Politics

Legal? Trump’s Raid on Military Funds for Border Wall

WASHINGTON, DC, October 20, 2020 (ENS) – The U.S. Supreme Court Monday agreed to rule on whether the Trump administration must stop building sections of the southern border wall with Mexico. The administration is appealing a lower court decision that it illegally diverted money appropriated by Congress for military salaries and pensions to the wall project. […]

Trump
Gov/Politics

Back at White House, Infected Trump Tears Off His Mask

WASHINGTON, DC, October 5, 2020 (ENS) – President Donald Trump returned to the White House Monday evening aboard his helicopter just before seven, and his first actions alarmed health professionals. Still infected with COVID-19, Trump quickly removed his face mask. He appeared to be gasping for breath, but Trump urged Americans not to fear the deadly coronavirus that sent him to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. […]

Amnesty International India
Gov/Politics

India Halts Amnesty International’s Human Rights Work

NEW DELHI, India, October 5, 2020 (ENS) – The freezing of Amnesty International India’s bank accounts by the Government of India on September 10 has brought all the work being done by the human rights organization to a grinding halt. Amnesty has been compelled to lay off staff in India and pause all its ongoing campaign and research work. […]

Trump
Gov/Politics

President Trump Hospitalized for COVID-19 Treatment

WASHINGTON, DC, October 4, 2020 (ENS) – President Donald Trump is in a military hospital under treatment for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, COVID-19. A statement from the president’s physician Sean Conley, DO, a U.S. Navy commander, says he was first diagnosed with COVID-19 on the evening of Thursday, October 1. He complained of fatigue and had a high temperature. On Friday, still at the White House, he was given supplemental oxygen. […]

Trump, Biden
Gov/Politics

Trump Rude, Biden Cool in First Presidential Debate

CLEVELAND, Ohio, September 30, 2020 (ENS) – Climate change and environmental protection were two of the many flashpoints during the first 2020 presidential debate between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden on Tuesday. Biden said he would rejoin the Paris Climate Accord and declined to support the Green New Deal proposed by other Democrats. […]

Biden Harris
Air/Climate

Climate High Priority for Biden-Harris Democratic Ticket

WILMINGTON, Delaware, August 14, 2020 (ENS) – In their first campaign appearance together as running mates, Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic Party nominee for President, and his newly announced vice presidential choice, Senator Kamala Harris, both mentioned their climate plan. It would invest $2 trillion over four years in clean energy and environmental justice. […]