G2. Local Greens

Three new Little Nature Playgrounds are planned for Cobbs Creek Park. Designed with input from local residents, these welcoming spaces will encourage children and families to explore the park, learn about its history and ecology, and safely access the trail from nearby neighborhoods.

Each playground will feature a combination of nature-inspired elements, colorful asphalt art, and wayfinding maps that help connect visitors to Cobbs Creek Park.

Clean Air Council is partnering with Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, Tiny WPA, Amber Art and Design, and community organizations to bring this vision to life.

How does the Little Nature Playground Project help the surrounding community? 

• Connect neighbors to park resources and the physical, social, emotional benefits of green space.
• Offer fun, nature-based play and learning opportunities that encourage repeated visits to the park.
• Welcome  the community into Cobbs Creek Park through safe, accessible entrances 

Designed With the Community 

Community input has shaped every step of this project. Over the past six months, Clean Air Council and community partners have presented the Little Nature Playground Project at almost a dozen in-person meetings and events.These conversations were designed to gather design and location feedback while ensuring the project reflects the community’s vision.

Partnering with the Cobbs Creek Community Environmental Center and area libraries, the Council shared updates through community meetings, educational programs, and events. The Council also held a series of “dinner and design workshops” to gain perspectives from neighbors and distributed flyers to encourage participation.

Workshop attendees offered feedback and insight into the project’s themes. Initial project locations were identified by using  existing pedestrian safety infrastructure, including traffic signals, crosswalks, and pedestrian crossing signals. Community members voted on their favorite locations and the top three crossing sites were selected.

Throughout the last six months, online surveys and meetings with community stakeholders have helped refine the three playground locations and their themes. Project consultants are currently designing initial project sketches.  

Little Nature Playground Proposed Locations

• Woodland Ave. and Cobbs Creek Parkway (north side)
• Market St. and 63rd St. (north side)
• Spruce St. and Cobbs Creek Parkway (south side)
   

Location: Woodland Ave. and Cobbs Creek Parkway 
Theme: Lenape history and connecting to the creek

“Karakung” is the Lenape name for Cobbs Creek and translates to “the place of the wild geese.” One element of the play structure could be different geese that people can climb and sit on. Above is a mock up of what one of the geese could look like.

Location: 63rd St. and Market St.
Theme: Nature of Cobbs Creek Park (native plants, flowers, animals)

Many neighbors talked about wanting a place to rest along the trail during different community feedback sessions.  Above is an image of a mock up of a bench in the shape of a creek. Elements that may be highlighted in the play structure design include local animals, native flowers, and the creek.

Location: Spruce St. and 63rd St.
Theme: Celebrating Cobbs Creek communities

Inspired by conversations with community groups and neighbors, this location will celebrate the collective energy put into supporting and caring for the community. The design will recognize that  supporting young people is a key part of the neighborhood’s success. The creek bench may also be included in this location. 

How can the surrounding community continue to inform this project and lead the vision? 

Community members are encouraged to sign up to attend one or all of the upcoming Cobbs Creek Neighbors RCO community meetings, where we will be giving project updates and continuing to gain community feedback. These meetings will take place Monday evenings at the Blanche A. Nixon/Cobbs Creek Library, 5800 Cobbs Creek Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19143. Register for free below to keep updated on any changes!  

• September 14, 5:30 – 7 p.m. Register
• November 2, 5:30 – 7 p.m. Register
• December 7, 5:30 – 7 p.m. Register

Follow @CobbsCreekWatershedCoaltion on Instagram and Facebook for updates! 

Questions? Email Trails@cleanair.org 

Sunset at the Gualala River on July 21, 2026
Photo courtesy of Michael Coustier

Location: In-office position, in Helena, Montana.  Scope: The Administrative and Development Associate will handle general office tasks and administrative duties, such as organizing schedules and events, entering data, maintaining office equipment, providing basic tech support, and other general operations activities.   Reports to: Chief Financial Officer (CFO)  Compensation: MEIC offers compensation commensurate with skills and …

The post Now Hiring: Administrative and Development Associate appeared first on Montana Environmental Information Center - MEIC.

In April, when the Trump administration first announced it wanted to open the Greater Chaco Canyon region in New Mexico to oil and gas drilling, we asked you to speak up. Following an initial scoping period that generated over 100,000 comments in support of maintaining broad protections for this remarkable place, the Department of the Interior has doubled down on its plans and released a formal Environmental Assessment with a brief 14-day public comment period.

Please take action today and help defend the Greater Chaco Region

After decades of advocacy by Tribal Nations and conservationists, federal protections in the greater Chaco region were finally put in place in 2023 with the establishment of a 10-mile buffer zone shielding the Chaco Culture National Historical Park from new oil and gas leasing. The administration is now considering two options, neither of which is acceptable: revoking protections entirely or shrinking the buffer to just 5 miles.

In either scenario, thousands of cultural sites would be exposed to drilling. Although only 15-20% of the area has been surveyed, archaeologists estimate that as many as 12,000 cultural sites lie within the areas the Trump administration plans to open to leasing and exploitation. Indigenous communities already living with the health impacts of over 37,000 nearby wells would face even more industrial development at their doorstep. 

Comments are due this Wednesday, July 29. We encourage you to make your voice heard by using the advocacy action from our friends at New Mexico Wild; they also have a web page where you can learn more about the threats facing Chaco Canyon.

Click here to take action now!

The post Another Chance to Speak Up for Greater Chaco Canyon appeared first on Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

Union Jack, which has interests at Wressle and West Newton, has recommended shareholders vote against a proposal to remove the board.

The company has called a requistioned general meeting for next month (August).

This follows a resolution by two investors holding more than 14% of voting rights to remove the three current directors: David Bramhill, Joseph O’Farrell and Zac Phillips.

The investors, described by Union Jack as requisitioners, are former board members, Craig Howie and John Americanos. They have also tabled a resolution for their reappointment as directors.

In a statement today, Union Jack said:

“The Company will today post a circular to shareholders convening the Requistioned GM [general meeting] and outlining the unanimous recommendation by the Company’s board to directors to vote against all the resolutions to be proposed at the Requisitioned GM.

The statement added:

“The Board believes that the Requisition is misguided, ill-timed and destined to lead to a destruction in value for the Company’s shareholders.”

The requisition notice was dated 7 July 2026, less than a week after a takeover offer by Reabold Resources.

Union Jack’s statement continued:

“by proposing the Resolutions just six days after the announcement of the all share offer by Reabold Resources plc, the Requisitioners are simply being opportunistic by seeking to replace the Board during the Offer process without providing the Company’s shareholders with the opportunity to realise a control premium.”

Union Jack also announced it had reconvened the previously postponed annual general meeting. This was adjourned on the day it was planned, 26 June 2026, because of the Reabold takeover offer. The AGM will now be held after the requistioned meeting.

The requisitioned meeting will be at 11am on 24 August 2026 at the offices of Keystone Law, 48 Chancery Lane, London WC2A 1JF.

The reconvened AGM will be held on the same date and place, at 12 noon, or as soon as the requisitioned meeting has ended.

Opinion By KAY MATTHEWS

The article in the July 25 New Mexican, “U.S. defense bill would accelerate plutonium pit production, with possible increase at LANL,” states that “All three New Mexico representatives voted against the defense bill, which has become a flashpoint over the war in Iran. Only six Democrats in the House voted for the bill. Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment Friday about the plutonium pit provision.”

The New Mexico delegation voted against the bill because it ignores the resolution they voted for to stop funding the Iran War and because the bill included Section 219 that combines or “integrates” the Israeli military with the U.S. military, compromising U.S. sovereignty. The bill awards $1.5 trillion to the Defense Department, a 60 percent increase. Kudos for them for the negative vote.

But they wouldn’t respond to the question about the plutonium pit production because, to my knowledge, no New Mexico congressional member has ever questioned, or god forbid, opposed pit production at LANL. I often refer to Pete Domenici, New Mexico Senator from 1973 to 2009, as LANL’s biggest cheerleader. Apparently, his nickname was “Saint Pete” among staff and reporters.  He chaired the Senate Budget Committee and the Senate Energy Committee and made sure funding made its consistent way to LANL.

But Domenici served before the decision to change LANL from a research lab to a pit production lab. That credit goes to the entire New Mexico delegation back in 2017— Senators Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and Representatives Michelle Lujan Grisham and Ben Ray Lujan. When the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) was doing an initial assessment about how to restart the production of pits after the closure of Rocky Flats, the only pit production facility, the agency initially gave LANL a negative assessment. Udall, Heinrich, and Lujan wrote a letter to NNSA claiming the assessment was flawed and that LANL was the appropriate lab for pit production. Lujan, on the Armed Services Committee, put language in the defense bill that LANL would produce 30 pits per year, with surge capacity beyond that. When NNSA ultimately decided on a two-site plan of LANL and Savannah River, in South Carolina, all the of delegation, including Lujan Grisham, objected to NNSA halting the long-planned modular expansion of LANL’s facilities and urged it to abandon the Savannah River option in favor of investing fully in LANL’s modular facilities as originally endorsed by both Congress and the Nuclear Weapons Council.

The only time I know that a New Mexico congress person spoke up about LANL’s weapon mission was when Tom Udall, then a New Mexico representative running for Senator Pete Domenici’s seat, was criticized for voting for a reduction in weapons-related funding for LANL. Seventy percent of LANL’s budget was then spent on “core nuclear weapons research and production programs.” Udall called for diversified mission at the Lab that included “renewable” energy programs, for which the House had recently allocated an additional $638 million to the energy budget for renewable energy research and production at LANL. But then Tom got elected Senator and joined the chorus of unlimited funding for weapon production at LANL.

In the March 2025 issue of La Jicarita, Suzie Schwartz interrogated the February LANL release of its Economic Impact Study, where it painted a rosy picture of all its economic development initiatives and programs that help stimulate business growth and create jobs. Ironically, the results of a previous study by the University of New Mexico Bureau of Business and Economic Research, commissioned by LANL to show the lab’s economic impact on northern New Mexico, contains data demonstrating the Lab had a negative fiscal impact on Santa Fe, Taos, and especially Rio Arriba County. LANL requested those statistics be removed from the final study.

Both National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) reviews of projects that will determine the extent of  pit production, the Site-wide Environmental Impact Statement for LANL and the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for both LANL and Savannah River, have received overwhelming opposition from New Mexicans. At all the public hearings for both projects, those who commented were opposed to new pit production and the escalating nuclear arms race that the Trump administration is pursuing. When will the New Mexico congressional delegation, all Democrats, stand up in support of their constituents? The rationale of LANL as the economic engine of New Mexico is a lie and the congressional delegation’s support of endless funding for LANL is revelatory of its complicity in that lie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Bureau of Land Management has approved an AI data center on national public land that was originally approved for a solar energy project, without conducting a new review or taking public comment on the switch. The project is believed to be the first data center approved on BLM-managed public lands. However, the project is relying on prior approval for not a data center but a solar energy project, swapping out an energy-generating project for one that would consume more energy than the entire neighboring community of Boulder City, Nevada.

Townsite Solar 2, LLC, the project developer, originally received approval in 2023 to build a solar energy and battery storage project on a BLM-managed parcel within the city limits of Boulder City. Earlier this year, TS2 amended its application to develop a data center instead, which the BLM approved without seeking public comment on the new proposal. “We’ve had no conversations, there’s been no chance for the community or for the city to provide any input to the federal government,” said Boulder City spokesperson Lisa LaPlante. “This feels so unprecedented for us to have a project placed in our city without the chance to weigh in.”

The BLM justified its approval by claiming that a solar project and a data center are “substantially the same,” noting similarities in acreage, perimeter, construction time, and the size and shape of the facilities. Relying on this rationale, the BLM used a Determination of NEPA Adequacy to transfer the 2023 analysis and approval to the amended project. “It’s an extraordinary and liberal interpretation of existing law and regulations,” said Mike Ford, a former high-level official at the BLM.

According to reporting by Heatmap, the bait-and-switch approval may have had some help from the Bernhardt Group, the lobbying firm led by former Interior Secretary David Bernhardt. Lobbyists from the Bernhardt Group were hired by Arevon, one of Townsite Solar’s financial backers, around the time when Townsite Solar 2 was preparing to shift from a solar project to a data center, though Arevon denies hiring lobbyists for the Townsite Solar project specifically.

“This was a bait and switch,” said Olivia Tanager, director of the Toiyabe Chapter of the Sierra Club. “If we allow this precedent to stand, the fear is that this could promulgate throughout not just Nevada, but all over the country in the interest of expediting data centers.”

Quick hits Pueblo leaders, New Mexico lawmakers speak out to protect Chaco Canyon

High Country News | Source NM

This desert oasis is a biological wonderland. Trump’s border wall threatens to destroy it

The Guardian

The U.S. has acknowledged Bears Ears and Grand Staircase as sacred for over a century, but keeps stripping away protections

The Conversation

Trump admin eyes massive coal reserves under federal lands

Inside Climate News

Lawmakers propose blocking controversial quarry expansion that threatens hot springs

Colorado Sun | Denver Post | Grand Junction Daily Sentinel | Westword

As climate lawsuits advance, the oil industry enters ‘panic mode’

Grist

Colorado River reservoirs hit record lows as Trump admin threatens major cuts

CBS News | USA Today

Cheatgrass is invading the best sagebrush left in the West. How can Wyoming hold the line?

WyoFile

Quote of the day

The question before us is simple: What kind of legacy will we leave? Will we choose short-term extraction, or will we choose to protect one of the most important Indigenous cultural landscapes in North America, a place whose meaning reaches far beyond any single administration?”

—Cochiti Pueblo Governor Phillip Quintana, High Country News

Picture This

@usinterior
High in the Olympic Mountains, the alpine tarns of Upper Royal Basin reflect some of the most rugged scenery at @Olympic_nps.
Jagged peaks and clear water = not a bad place to stop and stare for a while.
Photo by Hwei Ling Ng @thenomadicartist Featured image: Aerial view of Boulder City, Nevada, and nearby Lake Mead, Doc Searls/CC BY 2.0

The post Trump admin swaps out solar project for data center on BLM land appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

People have three weeks to comment on the controversial Rosebank development, Britan’s biggest undeveloped oil and gas field.

A public consultation by the government runs until 17 August 2026.

The Rosebank field, 80 miles north west of Shetland, was granted a licence by the Conservatives. But this was ruled unlawful by Scottish courts in January 2025.

That decision followed the landmark Finch Ruling at the Supreme Court, which established that environmental impact assessment for fossil fuel projects must account for the emissions produced when extracted fuel was burned.

These emissions, known as scope 3 or downstream, were included in a resubmitted document for Rosebank in 2025.

The new energy secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, is expected to decide whether to grant consent for the field after the consultation. Her decision will be based on the revised environmental impact assessment.

Rosebank is estimated to hold more than 480 million barrels of oil. Some estimates suggest it would release emissions totalling 254 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent over its lifetime. This is said to be equivalent to nearly 70% of the UK’s entire annual emissions in 2024. This would make it incompatible with the UK’s legally-binding climate commitments, campaigners have said.

Opponents have argued that the field would not lower UK energy bills or improve energy security because 90% of reserves are oil destined for international markets. They have stated that the field’s small gas reserves could reduce UK gas import dependency by just 1%, if none were exported.

At the weekend, the Guardian reported that production at Rosebank, if approved, could be delayed after equipment from a rig was accidentally dropped into the North Sea in April 2026.

The field operator, Adura, now expects production would be delayed from the end of this year to sometime in 2027, the Guardian reported.

The Rosebank development is in two phases.

• Phase 1 involves drilling four production and three water injection wells.
• Phase 2, dependent on results of phase 1, involves drilling a further 3 production and 2 water injection wells.

Wells would be connected by new flowlines to a redeployed Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel (FPSO). Gas would be exported from the FPSO to a new gas export pipeline connecting to the existing West of Shetland Pipeline Systems. Oil will be offloaded using tankers.

Consultation details

Official notices of the consultation were published in Shetland Times, Aberdeen Press & Journal and the Daily Telegraph earlier this month.

All representations should quote reference number ES/2022/001 and be made to:

• OPRED@Energysecurity.gov.uk
• Business Support Team Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment & Decommissioning Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, AB1 Building, Crimon Place, Aberdeen AB10 1BJ

The energy secretary’s decision will be published here (see link).

Rosebank is currently owned by Adura (a joint enterprise of Shell and Equinor 80%) and Ithaca Energy (20%). Energy Voice reported last week that Adura has called for voluntary redundancies among staff at its Aberdeen headquarters. It is not known how many job cuts are planned.

Links to government notices and official documents on Rosebank

Guide to Rosebank by the campaign organisation, Uplift

• A public consultation on the Jackdaw gas field, also owned by Adura, is due to finish on 10 August 2026. The Guardian reported earlier this month that, if approved, Jackdaw would create just 27 direct full-time jobs.

Pennsylvania is taking an important step toward reducing methane pollution from oil and gas operations. 

Governor Josh Shapiro and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced today that new methane standards are on the way for Pennsylvania’s oil and gas industry, which will help protect public health, reduce climate pollution, and improve air quality for the more than 1.5 million Pennsylvanians who live near oil and gas infrastructure.  

Once finalized, these highly anticipated methane standards will implement the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s 2024 methane rule while allowing Pennsylvania to tailor federal standards to serve Pennsylvania’s needs as the country’s second-largest producer of gas.  

Why does methane matter? 

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that also affects the air we breathe. Oil and gas operations that leak methane often release other harmful pollutants at the same time, including volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These pollutants contribute to smog and have been linked to asthma, respiratory disease, cancer, and other serious health impacts. 

Reducing methane pollution is one of the fastest and most cost-effective ways to slow climate change while improving air quality, especially for people living closest to oil and gas operations. 

What is changing? 

The new standards are expected to strengthen methane leak detection and repair standards and expand protections to more well sites across the Commonwealth, regardless of size. This will help Pennsylvania dramatically lower air pollution and prevent the wasteful leakage of gas into our atmosphere. 

What comes next? 

DEP will begin developing the proposed standards through Pennsylvania’s regulatory process. There will be opportunities for the public to review the proposal and submit comments. Clean Air Council will continue advocating for strong methane protections that reduce pollution, improve public health, and hold oil and gas companies accountable for preventable methane emissions.  

Alice Lu, Policy Analyst at Clean Air Council, issued the following statement: 

“For decades, Pennsylvanians have fought for safeguards from the oil and gas industry’s methane pollution. Today, Governor Shapiro and DEP are answering that call by taking a much-needed, commonsense action to protect our frontline communities. Reducing methane emissions is one of the most effective ways to tackle climate change and improve air quality.” 

Want to stay informed? As DEP develops these standards, there will be opportunities for Pennsylvanians to weigh in. Sign up for Clean Air Council’s Action Alerts to learn how you can help shape stronger methane protections across the Commonwealth. 
 

One week after shrinking Bears Ears National Monument by 91 percent, the Trump administration has removed the seals of five Tribal nations from Bears Ears signs.

The Tribal seals represented members of the Bears Ears Commission, which includes the Hopi Tribe, Navajo Nation, Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, Zuni Tribe, and Ute Indian Tribe of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation.

The Tribal Commission was first created in 2016 to help guide the management of Bears Ears in a manner rooted in Indigenous perspectives and place-based conservation strategies developed over centuries. But President Trump’s July 13 proclamation disbanded the Tribal Commission.

“They may be able to remove the signs and take down the Tribal seals, but they cannot erase who we are, our connection to Bears Ears, or our responsibility to protect it,” said Davina Smith-Idjesa, co-chair of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition. “Bears Ears remains a living cultural landscape, and our commitment to this place continues.”

Lawmakers introduce bicameral Local Input Act

Yesterday, U.S. Congressman Joe Neguse of Colorado and U.S. Senator Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico introduced the Local Input Act. The bill seeks to protect the right of the American people to provide input on proposed oil and gas lease sales on national public lands, and would restore the Interior department’s ability to incorporate public comments into decisions on whether to nominate public lands for lease to oil and gas companies.

Quick hits Days after slashing Bears Ears, Trump administration removes Tribal seals from monument signs

Salt Lake Tribune

This dark money political operative could soon become Trump’s ethics chief

Public Domain

Opinion: New BLM proposal and lease sales will devastate Colorado public lands, communities

Colorado Sun

Colorado’s Glenwood Springs mayor pro-tem calls for action to stop limestone quarry

Sopris Sun

Nevada lawmaker demands answers on BLM data center approval process

Nevada Current | Nevada Independent | E&E News | Las Vegas Review-Journal

Column: Understanding how Donald Trump sees public lands

More Than Just Parks

Wyoming outdoor rec board awards $1.9M in grants for trail building, campground fixes

WyoFile

The Gambler 500: Junky old cars race on public lands to clean up trash

KUOW

Quote of the day

You can’t persuade someone to value a wilderness they never understood in the first place.”

—Jim Pattiz, conservationist, filmmaker, and co-founder of More Than Just Parks

Picture This

@usfws

Computa, cancel that. Make more toads instead!

This year, conservation partners are reintroducing about 3 million Houston toad eggs into restored habitat in Bastrop County, Texas while improving the forests these endangered amphibians depend on.

No, the individual toads aren’t becoming the size of Labradors. There’s just going to be a whole lot more of them.

Check out our link in bio to learn more about how we’re working with private landowners to reconnect forests and breeding ponds so these tiny toads can safely disperse, find mates, and keep the next generation hopping.

Photo of immature Houston toad by Hannah Gilbreath/USFWS
Graphics by Erin Huggins/USFWS

Featured image: Bears Ears National Monument signs before and after the Tribal seals were removed. Photo used by permission

The post Tribes removed from Bears Ears National Monument signs appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

“The Hub” is a weekly round-up of transportation related news in the Philadelphia area and beyond. Check back weekly to keep up-to-date on the issues Clean Air Council’s transportation staff finds important.

As exciting events continue in Philadelphia, learn how you can get around to major summer 2026 events without a car, or being stuck in traffic with GoPhillyGo: Car-Free Routes Map!

Image Source: WHYY

WHYY: Leave something on the train, bus or trolley? Here’s how to find it on SEPTA – Riders can look for lost items from SEPTA in the lost and found, but there’s more than one depending on where you left your item. For regional rail riders, the lost and found is in Suburban Station in Center City. Broad Street Line holds items at Fern Rock Transit Center and SEPTA headquarters on Market. Market-Frankford riders need to check the 69th Street Transit Center, and the depot holds unclaimed items from buses and trolleys.

Image Source: whyy

WHYY: Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority takes a baby step toward resurrecting passenger rail between Philadelphia and Reading – Amtrak and the Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Authority (SRPRA) signed a formal commitment to attempt to bring back passenger rail service between Philadelphia, Phoenixville, Pottstown, and Reading. It’s been over 40 years since passenger rail trains stopped in Phoenixville. The agreement means SRPRA intends for Amtrak to operate the lines, and Amtrak is willing to see the project through to the next phase.

Image Source: Zummo Bikes

Philadelphia Today: Young Mechanics Take the Lead in FOX 29’s Look Inside Zummo Bike – A non-profit in Chester County, Zummo Bikes is collecting, repairing, selling, and donating refurbished bicycles. Zumme Bikes is also a workforce development program, training students to fix bicycles and other components, see inside a small business, and develop customer service skills. Visit Zummo Bike’s website here.

Other Stories

6ABC: Pep rally held for Philadelphia Cycling Classic

Safe Routes Partnership: Ruby Bridges Walk to School Day Mini-Grants are Open!

BillyPenn: The Wissahickon’s 100 Steps connect a natural oasis to the city

WHYY: Philly-area police launch aggressive-driver campaign to reduce highway fatalities

Axios Philadelphia: SEPTA’s AI-powered cameras generated $14.5M in fines in the first year

Mass Transit Mag: Amtrak selects STV for static frequency converter replacement in Philadelphia

Farms.org: Why Rural Roads Account for 40% of U.S. Traffic Fatalities

By TANIA ZIVKOVICH

Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya remains in prison in the hell of Israeli detention since his arrest in late 2024. He is on the verge of death from beatings, torture, and starvation. He has never been charged with a crime, like the thousands of others who languish in prison. But in the twisted mind of the Israeli occupation forces, he is a dangerous criminal. His real crime—he’s a doctor, a highly respected and beloved pediatrician, director of Kamal Adwan Children’s Hospital in Gaza.

That really says it all. To the sado-fascist Netanyahu regime, health care workers, aid workers, and educators are all high on their list of enemies to be destroyed. They are often killed in targeted assassinations and frequently bombed at home with their families in the Israeli AI assassination program “Where’s Daddy.”

Dr. Abu Safiya was taken in a raid on his hospital. His family was among many others, sheltering on hospital grounds. Shortly before his arrest, his young son Ibrahim was killed there in an Israeli airstrike. The doctor had also suffered serious leg injuries and been previously arrested, along with staff and patients. That time, all were taken outside, stripped naked, bound, and beaten. He was released as the others were taken away. At the time of the raid when he was arrested he was offered the option of remaining at the hospital. But he refused, saying I am standing with my detained colleagues. When the soldiers brought him to the military vehicle to take him away, he shook hands with the driver. Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya is the embodiment of our highest human ideals—courage, compassion, steadfastness. He is a true Gazan doctor. His lawyer (the doctor was denied legal visits for much of his incarceration) reports that as of his recent visit, Dr. Abu Safiya is approaching death. His entire body, including his face, is covered with bruises. He reports being beaten with a hammer. He has lost perhaps a third of his body weight. He is suffering terribly.

There is an escalated international effort to secure his release. Please, let’s join in by contacting our Congress people and urging them to do whatever they can. Being that Joe Biden and most of his Democratic colleagues are hugely responsible for the Genocide they supported in Gaza, it’s the least they can do. Like the Republicans, many Democrats (I believe that includes a few of our New Mexico Congress people) are on the dole from the Israel lobby. Biden was the number one recipient of AIPAC contributions while in Congress (trackAIPAC.com.) The phone numbers of our NM delegation are: Senator Martin Heinrich 202-224-5521, Senator Ben Ray Lujan 202-224-6621, Representative Teresa Leger Fernandez 202-225-6190, Representative Melanie Stansbury 202-225-6316, and Representative Gabe Vasquez 202-225-2365.

It may be that a million phone calls cannot save the life of the beloved pediatrician, but they might. Calling campaigns can be very effective if enough people participate. Our calls will be reaching the hearts and minds of the staffers, mostly young people who are interested in government careers. And they do influence our Congress people, as evidenced by the large Democratic vote in favor of the recent Resolution to block annual funding of $3.3 billion in military aid to Israel. This Resolution was put forward by a lone Republican, Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky. Sadly, it was defeated.

When I call our Congress people, I ask if they know of Dr. Abu Safiya (most don’t), and tell them I have been following his case on DemocracyNow.org with Amy Goodman and I urge them to check it out.

When most people think of Gaza, of course, they think of the horrible ongoing Genocide in the “Gaza strip” where hundreds of thousands have been brutally killed, maimed, and buried under the rubble. Over 1,100 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli occupation forces since the sham ceasefire of October, 2025. But the “strip” is an Israeli creation. It’s a 25 by 5 mile open-air fenced-in concentration camp. This is where Israel dumped Palestinian refugees from other areas of Palestine that the ever-expanding Zionist state has been conquering and occupying since 1948. Seventy percent of the Gaza population is comprised of these refugees. The “strip,” with its population of 2.3 million, was one of the most densely populated areas on planet earth and approaching uninhabitability.

Now the Israelis are hard at work building a serious separation wall right through Gaza. This will imprison the surviving Gaza population into approximately half of the original Gaza strip while continuing to limit the amount of food, water, medicine, and building materials, etc. that they allow to enter. Gazans are condemned to live in the rubble of their former homes while the bodies of their loved ones decay deep beneath.

Originally Gaza was the largest district in historic Palestine with over 100 towns and villages. It was a fertile and abundant land with numerous freshwater springs, filled with olive and orange groves and fruits of all kinds and a beautiful seacoast that it was safe to fish from. Peace and cooperation existed between Muslims, Jews, and Christians, all of whom opposed the colonial takeover by the British-backed European Zionists.

In closing I want to share a very moving interview with Dr. Abu Safiya that Amy Goodman broadcast on Democracy Now before his arrest:

1. HUSSAMABU SAFIYA: [translated] I always say the situation requires one to stand by our people’s side and not run away from it. Gaza is our homeland, our mother, our beloved, and everything to us. Gaza deserves all of this steadfastness and deserves all of the sacrifices. It is not just about Gaza, but we deserve to be a people that deserves freedom just like every other people on Earth. I think the occupation wants us to get out and for us to ask them to get us out, so they can publicly say that the healthcare system is the one asking to leave and that it wasn’t them who asked us to, but we are aware of that. But we will not leave, God willing, from this place, as I said, for as long as there are humanitarian services to be provided to our people in the northern Gaza Strip.

Please do whatever you can and never forget Gaza. Thank you. Free all of Palestine now.

Addendum: While you have your Senators on the phone, please dissuade them from voting for the NDAA, National Defense Authorization Act. Section 219, which was added to the House bill at the last minute. It combines or “integrates” the Israeli military with the U.S. military, compromising U.S. sovereignty. The bill awards $1.5 trillion to the Defense Department, a 60 percent increase. The bill has now moved to the Senate and it is section1217 called the FUTURES act in the Senate.

PJM’s mismanagement of the grid has worsened reliability, raised energy prices, and increased pollution, enriching the for-profit companies who comprise the majority of its voting members

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Lawmakers and advocates from several states gathered today outside the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to call for needed reforms in the governance of PJM Interconnection (PJM), the organization that manages the power grid for 13 states and Washington, D.C.

Inside, FERC was meeting to consider PJM’s governance and stakeholder processes, with a particular focus on identifying and evaluating concrete, actionable reforms to improve PJM’s ability to address “operational and market needs in a timely and efficient manner,” according to the FERC website.

Advocates and lawmakers argue that PJM’s current governance structure gives disproportionate voting power to market participants with financial interests in the outcomes of its decisions. As it stands, PJM’s conflicts of interest and self-dealing have caused it to mismanage the grid, leading directly to surging energy prices. 

In addition, PJM’s policies are delaying lower-cost clean energy projects while keeping more expensive power sources on the system – contributing to higher electricity bills across the region. A recent analysis found that if PJM were to allow more clean energy to connect to the grid, it would save each of its customers $500 a year through lower energy bills. Meanwhile, PJM is forcing ratepayers to pay coal plants just south of Baltimore hundreds of millions of dollars to stay open, when cleaner alternatives would be less expensive. 

“PJM’s decisions affect every household and business across our region. However, the elected officials accountable to those ratepayers – the families and businesses who ultimately pay the bills – do not have a meaningful voice in the process,” said Maryland Senator Katie Fry Hester (Howard and Montgomery counties). “The PJM Legislators’ Collaborative, made up of legislators across the PJM states, is calling for a new governance framework that (1) clearly defines PJM’s public-interest mission, (2) gives states a meaningful institutional role, (3) strengthens Board independence and accountability, (4) modernizes decision-making, and (5) improves transparency and oversight. This will lead to better decisions, greater accountability, and ultimately more affordable rates for the millions of people we represent.” 

“Back in Jersey, people are having to choose between groceries or their energy bill – this is what happens when monopolies at the top put profits over people without any effective oversight,” said United States Senator Andy Kim (New Jersey). “We need transparency, accountability, and real solutions from PJM about how they plan to bring costs down for millions of people and stop price gouging those who simply should not have to live like this.”  

“The latest capacity auction has again highlighted PJM’s total failure to properly manage our electric grid and keep costs down for Pennsylvania’s families and local businesses,” said Molly Parzen, executive director, Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania. “We can no longer trust PJM to police itself. The public deserves real transparency that lifts the veil on its secretive operations. We need PJM to remove artificial obstacles that are keeping clean energy projects from coming online and lowering energy prices for families who are struggling.”

“As state lawmakers, we are responsible for ensuring an affordable, reliable, and clean grid. Yet, our policies are consistently thwarted by policies established by PJM,” said Maryland Delegate Lorig Charkoudian (Montgomery County). “PJM’s policies are developed through a stakeholder process in which the market participants have the strongest voices. This means that the generators and transmission owners, those who stand to gain the most financially from the policies, are driving the PJM policies. It’s time to shift PJM away from serving industry to serving the public interest. This means putting state policies front and center and including state policymakers in the decision-making process.”

“When the electricity sector was deregulated in the early 2000s, PJM was founded by FERC to have independent authority over the for-profit companies that would be operating as monopolies in the electric energy sector,” said Pennsylvania Representative Joe Webster (Montgomery County). “Today, PJM is subject to those industries, for lack of governance. That sector has failed to innovate. It makes record profits, and our ratepayers in Pennsylvania, in New Jersey and Maryland, and across the region are paying higher and higher electric bills. So, I really can’t say this enough times:  It is time to push PJM back into its original role, to support new energy sources and innovation, and to do that to favor ratepayers, to lower electric costs for every household in the region.” 

“Too often consumers and state policymakers are left on the sidelines when PJM is making critical decisions, resulting in families and small businesses paying the price for expensive coal plants while delaying lower-cost clean energy projects,” said Quentin Scott, Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) Federal Policy Director. “FERC has both the authority and the responsibility to ensure that PJM’s governance is transparent and accountable to the public interest. It’s time to reform PJM’s stakeholder process so that the people who pay the bills—and the state regulators charged with protecting the public interest—have a meaningful voice in shaping the future of our electric grid.” 

“Years of PJM’s slow-moving process failures are now landing on kitchen tables across New Jersey. This conference is a chance to build a record for real change, giving states and ratepayers a genuine voice, unclogging the interconnection queue so ready projects can connect, and ending preferential treatment that keeps costs high. We’ll be watching closely for FERC to move from listening to acting,” said Anjuli Ramos-Busot, Director for the New Jersey Sierra Club.

“We are here to ask PJM to put ratepayers’ interests first,” said Rebecca Rehr, director of Climate Policy and Justice, Maryland League of Conservation Voters. “A fundamental flaw in PJM’s governance structure is that it is not designed to prioritize ratepayer or affordability needs. We’re seeing mismanagement at PJM and the resulting electricity cost spikes in part because states and ratepayer advocates lack an adequate voice at the table.” 

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The post Lawmakers and Advocates Call for PJM Governance Reforms to Serve the Public, Not Private Profit appeared first on Chesapeake Climate Action Network.

In 2025, the Trump administration spent more taxpayer dollars on no-bid contracts than any other one-year period in the last 10 years, according to an analysis by the Project on Government Oversight (POGO).

No-bid contracts are contracts that the government arranges without a competitive bidding process, which takes place to maximize taxpayers’ value and maintain transparency. In 2025, the federal government spent nearly $263 billion on no-bid contracts. According to POGO, the administration is on track to spend $300 billion in 2026.

When narrowed down to no-bid contracts at the National Park Service, the ongoing overhaul of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool accounts for nearly all no-bid contract spending. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum and President Trump have spent $16.4 million on the Reflecting Pool renovation, and it still isn’t complete.

Photo essay: Utahns gather across the state to show support for national monuments

Nearly a thousand people gathered across the state of Utah on Monday to protest President Donald Trump’s illegal attempt to slash Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante national monuments by roughly 90 percent each. Center for Western Priorities Communications Director Kate Groetzinger wrote a blog post featuring powerful photos from the protests.

Quick hits Most Utahns want to protect their national monuments. Trump had other plans

Grist

The recreation sites threatened by Trump’s national monument shrinkage

Wes Siler’s Newsletter

Jonathan Jarvis: Your fee dollars are not working

Jonathan’s Substack

Cost of no-bid contracts like Reflecting Pool renovation hit 10-year high

MS NOW

Grand Teton National Park could near visitation record due to booming early summer

Jackson Hole News & Guide

Colorado drought increasingly linked to long-term climate change

Colorado Sun

BLM rule changes to allow more cattle grazing on public lands in the West

Oregon Public Broadcasting

The Supreme Court shrunk clean water protections in the West. Colorado and New Mexico are restoring them

KUNC

Quote of the day

Your fee dollars are no longer working for you, but instead working at the whim of the President. As a result, projects across the National Park System that are truly in need of repair go unfinished.”

—Jonathan B. Jarvis, former director of the National Park Service, Jonathan’s Substack

Picture This @nationalparkservice

The raccoon is a remarkable creature.

Part acrobat.
Part detective.
Part influencer 
Part trash can consultant.

For ages, raccoons have been perfecting their craft: climbing trees, solving problems, exploring forests, and inspecting anything that looks even remotely interesting. Same. Minus the tree part.

They have the hands of a tiny burglar, the mask of a woodland outlaw, and the confidence of someone who leaves a Teams meeting the instant it appears to be over, disappearing into the night (or next call) before anyone can say, “Thanks, everyone.”

Each day (and mostly night), raccoons go about their important raccoon business, looking curious, clever, and occasionally like they were just caught doing something they absolutely knew they shouldn’t have been doing. FREEZE! They usually don’t seek fame or recognition. They simply continue their lifelong mission of exploring, investigating, and making humans wonder, “How did you even get in there?”

Remember, it’s best to admire raccoons and other wildlife from a distance. They’re fascinating neighbors, even if they have questionable boundaries, a suspicious interest in your trash, and absolutely no concern for your personal property. But they’re still wild animals. Help keep them wild by storing food properly, securing coolers and trash, and not giving them a reason to become professional campsite investigators.

NPS Images

 

(Featured image: Liner peeling off the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. Photo by Aaron Weiss, Center for Western Prioriteis)

The post Trump admin spends record amount of taxpayer money on no-bid contracts appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

The Lock the Gate Alliance is calling for scrutiny over Origin Energy's plan to drill gas wells and spread chemical-laden waste directly onto the land as part of a giant gas project under development in Tara. 

Trump Slashes Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears by 3 Million Acres

 

We’ve known since Trump returned to office that he would likely attempt another illegal reduction to Grand Staircase-Escalante and Bears Ears National Monuments, but that didn’t make July 13 any less heartbreaking. On that day, flanked by the Utah congressional delegation, he signed two executive orders slashing the monuments by a combined 3 million acres, or nearly 90% (yes, you read that right). We’ve created maps showing the staggering scale of the reductions.

We were ready for this moment, and we will fight for the monuments in every way we can, using every tool in our toolbox for as long as necessary. Here are some examples of how we’re already responding:

• A week after Trump’s unlawful action, SUWA and our partners rallied to host a Monumental Day of Action, with over a thousand people attending events in Salt Lake City, Ogden, Provo, Moab, St. George, Bluff, and Boulder on a 100-degree day! The Salt Lake Tribune headline captured it well: “‘Motivated by love’: Utahns find strength in numbers during protest of Trump’s monument slashing.“
  
  
• We plan to litigate over these illegal reductions, as we did in 2017 (that case was not resolved by the time President Biden restored the monuments in 2021). We’re currently coordinating with conservation partners, Tribal nations, and the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante Inter-Tribal Coalitions to determine a litigation strategy based on the new proclamations.
  
  
• We’re ramping up our efforts to promote America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act, which would protect much of the land included in the monuments as wilderness.

We’ll be sharing much more in the weeks and months to come. In the meantime, you can learn more from some of the recent news coverage in the New York Times, Washington Post, Utah News Dispatch, KUER, Outdoor Life, and Rocky Mountain Community Radio.

AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson

Last Day to Submit Comments on Trail Canyon and Dinosaur North Travel Management Plans

 

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is accepting public comments on travel management plans for two very different but spectacular areas: Trail Canyon, east of Zion National Park, and Dinosaur North, near Dinosaur National Monument. The plans will determine where off-road vehicles (ORVs) are allowed to travel in these areas for decades to come.

Trail Canyon includes places like Moquith Mountain, Orderville Canyon, and the east and north forks of the Virgin River. Dinosaur North encompasses the John Wesley Powell National Conservation Area, Browns Park, and the B and C sections of the Green River (well known to river runners). Both areas are home to irreplaceable cultural sites and historic resources, spectacular recreation opportunities, and important habitat for elk, mule deer, bighorn sheep, and other species.

For both travel plans, only Alternative B—modified by additional route closures—would comply with the BLM’s duties to protect natural and cultural resources and balance conflicts between motorized and non-motorized recreationists. In both cases Alternative B would remove redundant and particularly damaging routes while helping preserve wilderness study areas and other wilderness-quality lands.

The agency’s public comment period closes today (July 22), so please submit your comments now if you haven’t already done so.

>> Click here to submit comments on Trail Canyon

>> Click her to submit comments on Dinosaur North

Photo © Ray Bloxham/SUWA

Airstrip Designations Threaten Wildlife Habitat, Backcountry Solitude

 

SUWA has spent a great deal of time lately pushing back on new and troubling Bureau of Land Management (BLM) proposals that would expand or legitimize aircraft use in some of southern Utah’s quietest and wildest landscapes.

This spring, the agency’s Price field office issued a disappointing decision permitting aircraft takeoffs and landings at the unauthorized Keg Knoll airstrip in the Labyrinth Canyon Wilderness. A week later, the BLM’s Canyon Country District issued a decision designating ten backcountry airstrips in the Moab and Monticello areas, including sites in or near wilderness-quality lands, bighorn sheep habitat, the Green River corridor, and the backcountry adjacent to Bears Ears National Monument.

Though the BLM held no formal public comment process, SUWA members submitted over 2,500 comments urging the agency to remove six of the most damaging airstrips from their decision—Spring Canyon, Big Flat, Castle Creek, Nokai Dome, Piute, and Red Canyon. Reopening or formalizing these airstrips could bring chronic aircraft noise, habitat fragmentation, vegetation clearing, and mechanized intrusion into places the agency should be protecting.

We’re evaluating our options to push back on the BLM’s disappointing decisions and will keep you posted.

Photo © James Kay

July Brings New Cosponsors for America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act 

 

Since the beginning of the month, America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act (HR 2467/S 1193) has gained seven new cosponsors in the House of Representatives! This brings us up to 76 cosponsors in the House and 18 in the Senate. The latest members of Congress to endorse the bill include Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX-37), Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL-7), Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI-6), Rep. Lori Trahan (D-MA-3), Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ-6), Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez (D-NM-3), and Rep. André Carson (D-IN-7). If any of these legislators represent you, please thank them for their support.

America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act aims to permanently protect over 8 million acres of Bureau of Land Management land in Utah as federally designated wilderness. Preserving the wild character of this spectacular and world-renowned landscape would help protect Native cultural sites, keep climate-disrupting fossil fuels in the ground, and maintain a vital migration corridor for western wildlife species.

Gains in cosponsorship are the result of persistent outreach to members of Congress from constituents like you! If your representative and/or senators have not signed onto the bill, please ask them to cosponsor the Red Rock bill today!

>> Click here to contact your members of Congress now

Photo © James Kay

Raise Your Voice for Wilderness

 

SUWA is a proud founding member of the National Wilderness Coalition, which began just a few years ago as a small group discussing the future of the wilderness movement and is now a nationwide coalition of over 50 organizations from coast to coast. What brings us together is a shared goal of reinvigorating a diverse, powerful wilderness movement.

Earlier this year, the Coalition launched Voices for Wilderness, a project that collects stories, experiences, and perspectives about why wilderness and wild places matter. We’re hoping you’ll participate in this effort by sharing your story in the format that feels most comfortable to you: video, voice recording, or written response. Examples from other wilderness enthusiasts and details about how to participate can be found here.

In the months ahead, these stories will be shared on the Voices for Wilderness website, across social media, and with decision-makers in Washington, DC. At a time when wild places face growing threats, it’s more important than ever to share why they matter.

>> Click here to share your story

The post July 2026 Redrock Report appeared first on Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.

Workers at the Hunter Valley Operations (HVO) coal mine and the wider communities of Singleton and Muswellbrook have been left without a mine exit strategy to manage the social and economic consequences of mine closure after mine operator Glencore and the NSW Department of Planning quietly scrapped a condition requiring the company to develop one.

Alert! This Thursday’s double-header: show up against Zenith & for Climate Justice

Zenith Energy is currently trying to quietly sneak out of town by selling its dangerous facility to I Squared Capital, an international private equity firm worth $60 billion in worldwide assets. Given the history of City officials breaking laws, straying from established processes to protect Zenith, and the immense dangers the Zenith facility poses to our region, Portlanders deserve more information, transparency, and a thorough investigation of this business deal–specifically the transfer of Zenith’s “franchise agreement” to I Squared (a legal contract that would grant I Squared a license to operate in a public right of way). City Council must conduct a thorough review of this franchise agreement transfer with substantial community involvement.

I Squared Capital has no previous connection to Portland. There is no reason to expect it would operate any differently than Zenith Energy. The last thing our community needs is another faceless, out-of-town fossil fuel company operating a dangerous, polluting facility in our City. Let City Council know you’re concerned about this process and demand public input, transparency, and accountability.

How to take action:

1. Send a quick message right now to City Councilors using this form

2. Sign up to testify this Thursday 7/23 at ~10:45 AM (in person or virtually) to the Committee of the Whole meeting at City Hall. Testimonies will only be 1.5 minutes long, and we have talking points you can use.

   • If you can come in person, please do. We need to pack City Hall. Wear Red.

   • If you’re unavailable to testify in-person or virtually, please submit written testimony, and feel free to use some of these talking points.

Multnomah County Climate Justice Plan – The Final Adoption!

County Commissioners are due to adopt the Multnomah County Climate Justice Plan, an innovative roadmap to guide community and County toward climate justice, equity and resilience for years to come. But some Commissioners are on the fence! Join us in flooding County leaders with written comments before Thursday. Let them know why you support clean air, affordable clean energy, parks, transportation, and more.

350PDX community members have actively participated during the plan’s comment periods, and now it’s time to show deep support and enthusiasm for its adoption and implementation with our County Commissioners. Here’s a guide to help craft your testimony, and here’s a great article to learn more about this innovative plan.

Send your written comment to the following email addresses: boardclerk@multco.us, sustainability@multco.us, district1@multco.us, district2@multco.us, district3@multco.us, district4@multco.us, mult.chair@multco.us

Thursday, July 23rd at 9:30 AM
Multnomah County Boardroom, 501 SE Hawthorne Blvd, Portland, OR 97214 (street parking is limited. TriMet bus lines are 2, 10, and 14)

Public Testimony: Sign up to testify in person or virtually HERE (testimony spots are limited and pre-registration is required). Wear Red.

Livestream: You can watch a livestream of the meeting HERE.

The good news is—you can attend both of these important events! 

• The 1-hour County hearing begins at 9:30 AM at the County building (501 SE Hawthorne Blvd).
• Once that’s over, head across the river on bus #6 or #14 to attend the 10:45 AM Zenith item at City Hall.

The post This Thursday’s double-header: show up against Zenith & for Climate Justice appeared first on 350PDX: Climate Justice.