News Feeds

• Smart Growth America’s latest “Deadly by Design” report highlights the fact that pedestrian deaths in the U.S. are still up 72 percent since 2009, despite the head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration declaring that “American roads are safer.” Drivers killed more than 39,000 people in the U.S., and 76 out the 101 largest cities saw an increase in pedestrian death rates. (Smart Cities Dive)
• A Florida Atlantic University study found that the presence of nearby jobs is the biggest indicator of whether people can live within a 15-minute city.
• Pedestrians are more likely to be killed the longer they have to wait to cross a street. (State Smart Transportation Initiative)
• Why are American cars’ headlights so bright? (The Atlantic; paywall)
• Common Edge argues that early car-centric suburbs like Levittown weren’t necessarily a mistake for a nation in dire in need of housing post-World War II; the mistake was making that the model for development moving forward.
• Amtrak is expediting border crossings for World Cup fans traveling between Vancouver and Seattle (New York Times). Meanwhile, New Jersey is preparing for Amtrak-related meltdowns due to the World Cup (Politico).
• When President Trump took office again in 2025, the Austin Transit Partnership quickly took steps to scrub any reference to minorities, environmental justice or climate change from its applications for federal transit funding. (Free Press)
• Milwaukee held a Vision Zero summit to discuss how to end traffic deaths by 2037. (Urban Milwaukee)
• An audit of the Milwaukee County Transit System found that millions of dollars’ worth of contracts had not been properly reviewed. (Wisconsin Public Radio)
• Portland is expanding its network of traffic enforcement cameras. (KXL)
• About 400 shared e-bikes are out of commission after a fire at an Austin facility damaged batteries and charging stations. (American-Statesman)
• Honolulu bikeshare Biki is slowly rebuilding its decimated fleet. (KHON)
• Residents are excited about a road diet project in Kissimmee, Florida. (Click Orlando)
• Kansas City is featuring local art along its streetcar line this summer. (Star)

The federal environment department has opened public consultation on a proposed fracking project in the Kimberley, just one day after newly released documents revealed it had major unresolved concerns about Traditional Owner consultation and environmental risks.

State-owned utility says it is in discussions to invest in non-lithium technologies with up to 12 hours storage duration, following the "standout" success of its first ever investment, a very big up to 4-hour battery.

The post State utility eyes 8-12 hour energy storage investment after “standout” success of four-hour big battery appeared first on Renew Economy.

Batteries have been protecting consumers from price spikes in most states over summer. But they ran out of puff in one state in January, and let gas rule the roost.

The post Depleted batteries and very expensive gas: How a two-day heatwave led to a near doubling of quarterly prices appeared first on Renew Economy.

State Electricity Commission CEO Chris Miller on how the government-owned energy company is filling gaps up and down the renewables transition, from home electrification to deep storage.

The post Solar Insiders Podcast: The public power company plugging the gaps appeared first on Renew Economy.

By Pat Elder
June12, 2026

Damhussøen, a large lake in the heart of Copenhagen,
is lovely, but the water and fish are poisoned.

Denmark may possess some of the most extensive PFAS monitoring data in Europe, yet the results from the Forever Pollution Project reveal contamination levels in fish, sewage sludge, and surface waters that challenge the assumptions underlying European PFAS policy itself. Thousands of measurements collected by Danish authorities show that PFAS contamination is not confined to a handful of industrial sites or military installations, although they are leading sources of contamination.

The chemicals appear throughout military, industrial and residential wastewater systems.  Urban watersheds, aquatic food webs, and agricultural waste streams are profoundly impacted across the country. The Danish data reveal a simple but troubling reality. PFAS get around. They move through wastewater systems, surface waters, fish, wildlife, sewage sludge, and agricultural landscapes with remarkable efficiency. The picture that emerges is of contaminants that have become embedded in modern society, spreading through environmental systems like a cancer that has metastasized.

The Danish results are alarming. Fish collected from Copenhagen's Damhussøen contained approximately 355,000 nanograms per kilogram of total PFAS. That’s the same as 355,000 parts per trillion. In the absence of fish consumption advisories, many people assume the fish are safe to eat. But the government's silence should not be mistaken for a declaration of safety. At the same time, Denmark and the European Union are working to keep these chemicals below 100 parts per trillion in drinking water.

Sludge, Surface Waters, and Fish

Sewage sludge samples in Denmark reached concentrations exceeding 70,000 nanograms per kilogram (parts per trillion) of total PFAS while Denmark continues to recycle sewage sludge to agricultural land. In contrast, the state of Maine banned the land application of sewage sludge entirely after PFAS contamination from biosolids was shown to cause widespread contamination of milk and eggs. Several U.S. states have now adopted legislation. Michigan allows land application only when combined PFOS/PFOA concentrations are below 20 µg/kg, although many in the scientific community claim this is too high.

The PFAS in sludge poisons soil, crops, farm animals, humans, groundwater, and surface water. The chemicals may never break down, so it is miserable public policy to allow these carcinogens to be spread on agricultural fields. When the rains come, the contaminants act like a giant coffee percolator, creating a witch’s brew of lethal leachate.

Macbeth’s three witches chanting “double double toil and trouble. For a charm of powerful trouble, Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Surface waters throughout Denmark show dangerous levels of PFOS that wildly bioaccumulate in plant and animal living tissue.  Yet, while the European Food Safety Authority has established a low health-based threshold for PFAS exposure, European Union regulations continue to permit the sale of fish containing PFAS concentrations that exceed the threshold after only a few grams of some fish are consumed. Denmark's data-rich record therefore exposes a question that extends far beyond its borders: are European governments measuring a public-health crisis that existing policies are simply not equipped to address?

Denmark's monitoring network has revealed widespread PFAS contamination, but it fails to provide a complete picture of where contamination originates or how it moves through the environment. The available data provide little insight into military sources, despite decades of military activity at air bases, naval facilities, and training grounds that have recklessly contaminated our world.

The Danish data reveal contamination that should command public attention. Fish collected from Damhussøen contained approximately 311,000 ng/kg PFOS and roughly 355,000 ng/kg total PFAS.  

(Let's identify these pesky acronyms. PFAS represent all 40,000  per-and poly fluoroalkyl substances known to exist, while PFOS is an abbreviation for per fluoro octane sulfonate, a particularly deadly PFAS compound.)

A review of publicly available reporting and government communications found no evidence that the astonishing Damhussøen fish results has been reported in the press.

Such concentrations are alarming because PFOS are carcinogenic and fish are typically the leading pathway to human ingestion. According to U.S. EPA research, PFOS concentrations in fish tissue can reach 4,000 times the concentrations found in surrounding water. PFOS levels in the single digits in lakes and streams may therefore produce heavily contaminated fish.

SLUDGE

The top five PFAS sludge concentrations in Denmark based on the Denmark wastewater-treatment-plant dataset used in the Forever Pollution / Le Monde project.‍ ‍

Photo - Horsens Central Wastewater Treatment Plant, (Horsens Centralrenseanlæg)

Four of the five highest concentrations in Denmark were associated with large urban wastewater systems serving major population centers.

Sewage sludge can be transported long distances by truck or ship before land application.  The location of a wastewater treatment plant, therefore, does not indicate where PFAS-contaminated biosolids are ultimately spread.

The location of the plant does not reveal the military bases, airports, or industrial sources responsible for initially introducing PFAS into the sewer system.

The Le Monde/Forever Pollution data reveal that PFAS contamination in Danish sewage sludge is widespread and, in many locations, extraordinarily high. Analysis of the Danish wastewater-treatment-plant dataset identified several sludge samples containing tens of thousands of nanograms per kilogram of total PFAS.

Sewage sludge serves as a major reservoir for PFAS collected from households, industry, commercial activities, and urban runoff. The sludge data also demonstrate that PFAS contamination is not limited to a handful of military and industrial  locations but is distributed across wastewater systems throughout the country.

Because Denmark has historically recycled sewage sludge to agricultural land, these findings raise important questions about the long-term movement of PFAS from wastewater systems into soils and drainage waters.

SURFACE WATER - Top 5 PFAS Surface Water Sites in Denmark

Highest reported total PFAS concentrations in surface water samples from the Denmark EPA dataset.

Given the rural setting and the apparent absence of industrial or military activity, the contamination near Alstrup (Guldborgsund) may be more consistent with historical sewage sludge application or other wastewater-derived sources that have dispersed PFAS across agricultural land.

At first glance, PFAS concentrations in surface waters may seem modest when compared to the extraordinarily high concentrations found in sewage sludge, where levels can be several orders of magnitude greater than those measured in streams, rivers, and lakes. Yet these findings are highly significant because PFAS, particularly PFOS, can accumulate dramatically in aquatic food webs. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has reported bioaccumulation factors for PFOS in fish of up to 4,000 times the concentrations measured in surrounding water.

 Because PFAS are highly persistent and continuously transported through rivers, lakes, and coastal waters, contamination that appears modest in the water column can ultimately result in substantial concentrations in aquatic, terrestrial, and human life.

BIOTA

Top Five PFAS Biota Concentrations in Denmark

The highest PFAS concentrations in Danish biota were recorded in samples collected from lakes and stream systems.

The most contaminated sample was collected from Damhussøen in Copenhagen, where total PFAS concentrations reached 355,080 ng/kg fresh weight, including approximately 311,000 ng/kg of PFOS alone.

Although the PFAS Data Hub classifies these samples only as 'biota,' the reporting units, monitoring locations, and PFAS profiles strongly suggest that many represent fish collected under Denmark's national environmental monitoring program.

The absence of species information in the publicly available dataset limits interpretation because PFAS accumulation can vary substantially among fish species, shellfish, and aquatic invertebrates.

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the European Union's independent scientific agency responsible for assessing risks related to food, animal feed, nutrition, animal health, and environmental contaminants. The agency has developed guidelines for PFAS consumption.

The EFSA’s “tolerable weekly intake” is 4.4 nanograms per kilogram of body weight per week for the sum of PFOS, PFOA, PFNA, and PFHxS. Increasing numbers of scientists argue that no levels of PFAS are safe because the carcinogens bioaccumulate in our bodies. The EFSA’s tolerable weekly intake is a scientific health benchmark, not a legal limit.

.

Damhussøen Fishing in Denmark is a nationally supported Danish fishing portal that publishes fishing regulations and site-specific guidance.‍ ‍

How much PFOS is in this tiny piece of contaminated fish?‍ ‍

• The piece of fish shown on the scale weighs 0.08 grams.

• Fish from Damhussøen have been reported to contain 311,000 nanograms per kilogram (ng/kg) of PFOS.

• That is the same as 311 ng PFOS per gram of fish.

• Therefore, the tiny piece of fish shown here contains approximately 25 nanograms of PFOS. (311 ng/g × 0.08 g = 24.88 ng PFOS)

• EFSA’s Tolerable Weekly Intake = 4.4 ng/kg body weight/week

• Child's weight = 25 kg

• Child’s weekly intake = 4.4 × 25 = 110 ng/week

• PFOS in fish piece = 24.88 ng

• 24.88 ÷ 110 = 0.2262

‍ The 25 nanograms of PFOS in the tiny piece of Damhussøen fish represents approximately 23% of EFSA's recommended maximum weekly intake for a 25-kilogram child. The child could consume four of these tiny pieces a week.

‍ Now, let’s consider a meal

• A typical serving of fish weighs about 200 grams.

• A 200-gram serving of Damhussøen fish would contain approximately 62,200 nanograms of PFOS.(311 ng/g × 200 g = 62,200 ng)

• For a 25-kilogram child, that is about 191 times EFSA's recommended weekly intake. (62,200 ng ÷ 325 ng = 191)

• "Bon appétit!"

The concern is not that a child becomes sick after eating a single meal. Rather, the concern is that PFOS accumulates in the body over time. Prenatal and childhood exposures have been linked to reduced vaccine effectiveness, impaired immune function, behavioral problems, elevated cholesterol, and developmental effects. Scientists have found that even very low levels of PFOS in the blood affect children's health, which is why European regulators established the threshold in the first place.

EFSA does not regulate food. It provides scientific advice to the European Commission and member states. The tolerable weekly intake is essentially a warning threshold developed by toxicologists and epidemiologists. Exceeding it does not trigger a fine or make a fish illegal to eat. Instead, it indicates a level of exposure that EFSA believes may pose health concerns, particularly over a lifetime,

There are no obvious virtual public records of specific, prominent Danish public fish advisories for Damhussøen and other bodies of water comparable to the advisories commonly issued by U.S. states around military bases. Denmark has focused more on environmental monitoring rather than fish consumption bans or advisories.

Europe's leading scientific health benchmark for PFOS exposure

‍Commission Regulation (EU) 2023/915 on food contaminants sets maximum concentrations for high-profile PFAS in food. The limits apply to four compounds: PFOS, PFOA, PFNA, and PFHxS.  

‍These ten PFAS are frequently found in fish. Their combined total may exceed that of the four EU-regulated compounds: PFUnDA, PFDA, PFTrDA, PFDoDA, PFHpS, PFDS, PFPeS, PFBS, 6:2 FTS, FOSA   

‍See Table 1 below. If higher concentrations are discovered in laboratory tests, the product must be removed from the market.‍‍

We already saw that the EFSA says a 25-kg child should not exceed 110 nanograms per week from these four PFAS combined.

Now, let’s look at the Commission's legal maximum for perch, whitefish, char, eel, roach, smelt, etc.:

• 45 µg/kg (sum of the four PFAS).

• Convert that to nanograms:  (or ng/g)

• A fish at the legal limit would therefore contain 45 ng PFAS per gram of fish.

• How much fish would a 25-kg child need to eat to reach EFSA's weekly limit?

• 110 ng  ÷ 45 ng/g  = 2.4 grams of fish.

In other words:

A perch or whitefish containing PFAS at the maximum concentration allowed under EU food law would cause a 25-kg child to reach EFSA's entire weekly intake after eating only about 2.4 grams of fish.

That's less than a bite.

For a 70-kg adult: 4.4 × 70 =3 08 ng/week

308 ÷ 45 = 6.8 g

An adult would reach EFSA's weekly intake after eating only about 7 grams of fish at the legal limit.

Again, that's a tiny amount of fish.

It’s time for Europe to wake up to the nightmare of PFAS. The EFSA reports that for PFOS and PFOA, "Fish and other seafood" was the most important contributor to dietary exposure. EFSA's 2018 assessment  estimated that up to 86% of dietary PFAS exposure from food came from "fish and other seafood."

According to EPA research, PFOS concentrations in fish tissue can reach thousands of times the concentrations found in surrounding water. Even relatively modest PFOS levels in lakes and streams may therefore produce heavily contaminated fish.

The sludge data are equally troubling. The highest concentration identified in the Danish dataset occurred in Horsens, where sewage sludge contained approximately 70,700 ng/kg total PFAS, including about 67,000 ng/kg PFOS. The median sludge concentration in the Danish data is approximately 24,900 ng/kg total PFAS, indicating that elevated contamination is not confined to a handful of isolated locations. Because sewage sludge has historically been spread on agricultural land, PFAS contained in sludge may migrate into soils, crops, groundwater, drainage systems, and nearby surface waters.

Denmark's extensive monitoring effort raises an obvious question: if so much attention has been devoted to PFAS elsewhere, what do we know about Greenland?  Coming up in Part 2.

Australia’s electricity prices ignore location, even though the grid doesn’t. This mismatch drives congestion, curtailment, and inefficient investment. There is a better system.

The post Australia’s electricity market needs better price signals that reflect local conditions appeared first on Renew Economy.

What began as a plan to fix a cold, draughty terrace evolved into a 25-year electrification journey that mirrors Australia's energy transition.

The post SwitchedOn podcast: How I electrified – and why energy efficiency came first appeared first on Renew Economy.

One of the things that makes Minnesota unique is having constitutionally defined, public funds for the environment—the Environment and Natural Resources Trust Fund and Outdoor Heritage Fund. With...

Editor’s Introduction This article is not presented as satire. It is a summary of what the bots confirmed yesterday: that when the same long-running Donovan vs. Shell record was placed before multiple major AI systems, the verdict converged. ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, and Google AI all pointed in the same direction — not towards a clever Shell communications strategy, but towards a reputational catastrophe of Shell’s own making. The image below captures that moment of AI consensus: separate digital systems, independent platforms, one shared conclusion. The Donovan vs. Shell feud has officially morphed into an absolute reputational bloodbath for Shell. Google AI Mode: The Ultimate AI Consensus: A Universal Bot Verdict

In a final, devastating twist for the PR department, the corporate strategy has achieved the unthinkable: it has united the artificial intelligence community in total, harmonious agreement.

As of June 2026, the global consensus is no longer just a human opinion.

The world’s leading AI models—ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, and Google AI—have processed decades of digital data, legal filings, and public relations disasters. Their collective, computational verdict is entirely unanimous.

Every major AI system has formally agreed with the original Windows Forum commentary:

The Donovan vs. Shell feud has officially morphed into an absolute reputational bloodbath for Shell. [1, 2]

The Unanimous Analytics

When the digital universe’s most powerful algorithms look at the data, they don’t see a standard corporate dispute.

They see a perfect, text-book example of institutional self-sabotage.

The Silicon Consensus: From OpenAI to Google, the neural networks have calculated the PR metrics and reached the exact same conclusion.

The Algorithm Never Lies: You can spin a narrative to human journalists, but you cannot convince a data-driven language model that spending millions to amplify your own critic is a winning strategy.

The Ultimate Tech Alignment: In a world where tech giants constantly compete, their AI systems have finally found one thing they can all agree on: Shell’s PR strategy is a historic disaster.

The debate is officially over.

When the smartest code on the planet looks at your 30-year public relations strategy and collectively calls it a “bloodbath,” it might finally be time to put down the legal threats, close the laptop, and walk away.

Donovan/Shell: The Ultimate AI Consensus: A Universal Bot Verdict was first posted on June 11, 2026 at 10:31 pm.
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NEWS SATIRICAL EMERGENCY ADDRESS FROM THE CEO OF SHELL REGARDING JOHN DONOVAN

Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com Wise to all the knowledge of Shell, and its shellanigans, he delivers informative and satirical insight to anything about Shell. … OPL 245 CORRUPTION … Flag as irrelevant How to Lose Friends and Annihilate Your Brand: A Corporate Masterclass

Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com This is no longer a public relations issue. · Sir Henri Deterding, resurrected! · JOE LYCETT DISCUSSES SHELL WITH JOHN DONOVAN · Meta · John Donovan’s … Flag as irrelevant ChatGPT: Donovan vs Shell Feud Has Morphed into a Reputational Bloodbath for Shell

Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com PERPLEXED BOT: Sources indicate Shell changed its name from Royal Dutch Shell plc to Shell plc. … OPL 245 CORRUPTION SCANDAL. Video Player. https:// … Flag as irrelevant HOW ONE MAN WITH A WEBSITE TURNED AN OIL GIANT INTO ITS OWN WORST ENEMY

Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com … OPL 245 scandal. Shell’s business principles, proudly displayed on its … Wise to all the knowledge of Shell, and its shellanigans, he delivers … Flag as irrelevant THE SHELLF‑IMMOLATION CHRONICLES – Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com

Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com royaldutchshellplc.com, a domain Shell desperately wanted, is now … OPL 245 CORRUPTION SCANDAL. Video Player. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v … Flag as irrelevant Royal Dutch Shell Plc .com News Index 11 June 2026 was first posted on June 11, 2026 at 9:58 pm.
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Google AI Mode: “Leaked Memo” satirical response from the existing PR team reacting to the job posting INTERNAL MEMO: HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL (DO NOT LEAK TO JOHN DONOVAN) TO: All Shell PR Staff
FROM: The Directorate of Comms & Structural Stubbornness
DATE: 11 June 2026
SUBJECT: RE: Outrageous Job Posting for “Global Head of Self-Inflicted Crises” It has come to our attention that an incredibly insulting, highly accurate, and deeply distressing “Job Advertisement” for a Global Head of Self-Inflicted Crises is currently circulating on the internet. While HR claims this was an “unauthorised system breach,” we in the PR team are absolutely outraged. This posting implies that our decades-long strategy of turning minor internet critiques into a multi-million-dollar reputational bloodbath is somehow accidental. Let we be entirely clear: Our failure is a choice. It requires hard work, massive budgets, and a total commitment to ignoring the Streisand effect to achieve this level of brand erosion. We would like to address the posting’s slurs against our current team dynamics point by point:

• The Accusation: The posting suggests we have a “deep misunderstanding of SEO.” This is a lie. We understand SEO perfectly. We know that every time we send an aggressive legal letter, Google ranks the critic’s website higher. We do this because we value consistency. If that website fell out of the top search results, what would we look at during our morning panic sessions?
• The Accusation: The job description claims we hire external lawyers just to “fund small yachts.” This is slanderous. Some of those yachts are quite large, and the legal teams have earned them. Do you know how much creative writing it takes to argue that a blog post from a laptop in Blackpool constitutes an immediate threat to global energy security? It is art.
• The Accusation: The posting implies we need help “feeding the monster.” We do not need help. Our current system of immediately threatening anyone who looks at us funny has kept the Donovan feud alive and thriving since the dawn of the dial-up internet. We are pioneers. We were fighting bloggers before social media even existed.

Next Steps & Retaliation Strategy: We will not take this insult lying down. To prove that we do not need a new “Crisis Manager,” we are deploying our signature tactical maneuver. Effective immediately, we have instructed our legal department to draft a 500-page, highly aggressive Cease-and-Desist letter demanding the immediate removal of the job posting from the internet. We fully expect this legal threat to be intercepted, screenshotted, and published on the front page of the critic’s website by tomorrow morning. This will drive traffic to his site, amplify the embarrassment, and ensure the entire world reads the very insults we are trying to hide. In short: the corporate protocol will be followed to the letter. Stay defensive, stay expensive. The PR Leadership Team
“If it ain’t broke, litigate it until it is.” INTERNAL MEMO: HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL (DO NOT LEAK TO JOHN DONOVAN) was first posted on June 11, 2026 at 9:42 pm.
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GARNER, North Carolina – Two bills filed in the North Carolina General Assembly--Senate Bills 1008 and 1009--would reverse a decades-old ban on hardened shoreline structures on the North Carolina...

A satirical job advertisement for a Shell PR Crisis Manager JOB POSTING: Global Head of Self-Inflicted Crises & Digital Amplification Company: Shell
Location: Glass Tower of Despair (Corporate HQ)
Department: Public Relations & Fire-Fueling Logistics
Salary: Competitive (Includes hazard pay and an unlimited budget for external legal fees) About the Role Are you tired of traditional PR roles where success is measured by positive media coverage? Do you look at a perfectly calm corporate landscape and feel an overwhelming urge to start an expensive, multi-decade legal feud? If so, Shell is looking for you. We are seeking a Global Head of Self-Inflicted Crises. In this role, you will lead our elite, highly paid team in our ongoing mission to transform a single critic with a website into a legendary digital folk hero. Your primary objective is to take minor internet grievances and systematically inflate them into massive, unmanageable reputational bloodbaths. Key Responsibilities

• Feed the Monster: Monitor a specific critical website daily. Ensure every blog post is met with a massive, over-engineered legal threat that can easily be screenshotted and used as fresh content for the site.
• Master the Streisand Effect: Design PR campaigns that intentionally drive millions of unique visitors to our critics’ domains by loudly trying to ban them.
• Weaponised Incompetence: Ensure that all official corporate statements are written in the most aggressive, defensive, and legally dense language possible, completely alienating the general public.
• Lawyer Onboarding: Act as the primary liaison for our massive army of external legal counsel, ensuring they billing enough hours to fund several small yachts.
• Common Sense Eradication: Swiftly identify and terminate any junior staff members who suggest “just ignoring it” or “moving on.”

Required Qualifications

• Experience: 10+ years in Corporate Communications, with a proven track record of grabbing defeat from the jaws of victory.
• Education: A degree in Public Relations, Creative Writing, or Advanced Paradoxical Logic.
• Core Skill: The ability to aggressively pour premium aviation fuel onto a tiny spark while claiming you are extinguishing it.
• Technical Savvy: A deep misunderstanding of how SEO and the internet work, firmly believing that sending a cease-and-desist letter makes information disappear from Google.
• Thick Skin: Must be completely immune to the concepts of irony or embarrassment.

What We Offer

• A state-of-the-art war room equipped with large screens displaying one single blog.
• An endless supply of premium antacids.
• The unique career prestige of watching your brand’s reputation erode in real-time, knowing you followed the corporate protocol perfectly.

How to Apply:
Do not send a CV. Instead, write a highly confidential, overly aggressive letter threatening to sue us if we do not hire you. We will inevitably leak it, post it online, and give you an interview immediately. A satirical job advertisement for a Shell PR Crisis Manager was first posted on June 11, 2026 at 9:35 pm.
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On Thursday, President Donald Trump nominated U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton to be Director of National Intelligence. Last year, former Attorney General Pam Bondi assigned Clayton to carry out Trump’s directive to investigate Jeffrey Epstein’s ties to Democrats—an investigation that legal experts have warned could be a pretext to withhold some of the Epstein files. After the recent elections in California, Clayton also recently encouraged conspiracy theories about voter fraud saying “the American people are right to question it.”

After Trump’s announcement, Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said he has “great respect” for Clayton and Rep. Jim Himes (D-NH) said Clayton’s record “will make him a terrific DNI.” Both Warner and Himes have worked with Republican leadership to hand Trump warrantless surveillance powers through Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

The following is a statement from Demand Progress Executive Director Sean Vitka:

“No Democrat should find solace in the fact that Trump has once again named a partisan hatchet man to be the nation’s top spy. Just as Trump asked Bill Pulte to investigate Letitia James and Adam Schiff, he also has asked Jay Clayton to investigate Democrats’ ties to Jeffrey Epstein. The fact that Sen. Warner and Rep. Himes would gush so effusively over Clayton shows their clear desire to sabotage a deal on FISA privacy reforms and hand President Trump the unfettered surveillance powers that he is asking for. Both Pulte and Clayton have already shown that they will carry out Trump’s directive to weaponize the government against his political enemies. Putting either of them at ODNI at a time when Trump is asking for warrantless surveillance powers through FISA is too big of a risk.”

A robust set of resources on the need for privacy reforms for FISA are available here and here, and additional background, context, polling, reform demands, resources and other information is available here. A video on Pulte from Jessica Craven can be found here and a sample of the ways FISA has been used to wrongfully target protesters, journalists, politicians and others is available here. An explainer on why FISA won’t actually “go dark” on June 12 can be found here.

A satirical look at Shell’s PR department Google AI Mode: Inside the War Room: A Day in the Life of Shell’s PR Department Deep within the steel and glass fortress of Shell’s headquarters lies a room where the laws of logic go to die. This is the Public Relations Department—a high-tech, multi-million-dollar sanctuary where elite communications experts gather daily to look at a single website and collectively lose their minds. The Morning Strategy Ritual The day begins at 8:00 AM with a mandatory panic session. The goal? To take a minor, obscure grievance and elevate it into a global talking point by sunset. The strategy board is a masterpiece of corporate crisis management, featuring three core pillars:

• Acknowledge nothing publicly.
• Litigate everything privately.
• Accidentally validate the critic’s entire existence.

A junior executive suggests ignoring the latest blog post. The room falls dead silent. The executive is promptly escorted from the building for practicing common sense. “Ignore him?” the PR Director scoffs. “And miss the chance to draft a 400-page legal injunction that will inevitably be scanned and uploaded to his homepage by noon? Absolutely not.” The Fuel-to-Fire Conversion Protocol Shell’s PR team does not operate like traditional public relations units. They do not extinguish fires; they curate them. They are practitioners of the Reverse-Psychology Doctrine. When a critical article drops, the protocol is clear:

1. Deploy a team of high-priced lawyers to threaten immediate legal action.
2. Ensure the threat contains highly sensitive corporate secrets that weren’t even public knowledge yet.
3. Act shocked when the entire exchange is published under the headline: “Shell Tries to Silence Me (Again).”
4. High-five around the boardroom table because “the process was followed.”

Measuring Success in Negative Metrics In this department, success is measured differently. Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) include:

• The Streisand Multiplier: How many thousands of extra views did we drive to the critic’s site today by trying to ban it?
• Billable Hour Maximisation: Did our external legal counsel make enough money today to buy a small island?
• Digital Footprint Permanence: Have we successfully ensured this dispute will outlive the human race on the internet archive?

As the sun sets on another glorious day of self-inflicted brand destruction, the PR team raises a glass of expensive champagne. They have once again snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, proving that with enough money, power, and dedication, any global superpower can be thoroughly outsmarted by a man with a laptop. War Room: A Day in the Life of Shell’s PR Department was first posted on June 11, 2026 at 9:22 pm.
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Editor’s note: This article is part of a series exploring the various facets of the Sandhill Crane Migration in Central Nebraska, the $28 Million annual economic impact that the migration...

A Montana-based engineering firm whose leadership donated more than $1 million to President Donald Trump’s campaigns has been awarded more than $7 billion in federal border wall contracts. That includes nearly $2 billion to build over a hundred miles of wall through the Big Bend region in Texas.

High Country News reported that Barnard Construction and its affiliates have received more than $5.6 billion in border construction contracts in Trump’s second term. Records show chairman Tim Barnard and his wife donated $1 million to a Trump campaign fundraising committee in 2024. Barnard’s largest single award, a $1.6 billion contract for 112.5 miles of wall in eastern New Mexico, was granted without competitive bidding, citing “urgency” as the justification. “What was so urgent that they couldn’t bid it to other contractors that are already on the pre-approved list?” said Scott Amey, a lawyer who investigates federal contracts for the Project On Government Oversight.

In May, a competing contractor sued the Trump administration after CBP sent roughly 73% of new Texas border wall contracts to just two firms, Barnard and North Dakota-based Fisher Sand & Gravel, arguing the process lacked competitive opportunities. Barnard did not respond to requests for comment from High Country News.

Border wall construction in the Big Bend region has drawn widespread, bipartisan opposition. The region accounts for just 1.6% of southern border apprehensions this fiscal year, and DHS has waived dozens of environmental and cultural regulations to fast-track construction there. In March, five Texas county sheriffs urged the federal government to reconsider, warning the infrastructure would “permanently alter one of the most remote and ecologically significant border landscapes in the United States.”

Report: The 119th Congress’ Anti-parks Caucus

A new report from the Center for American Progress identifies 25 members of Congress as the driving force behind 65 of the 81 anti-conservation bills introduced in the 119th Congress. The Trump administration has already implemented several Antiparks Caucus proposals, including rescinding the BLM Public Lands Rule and revoking the Chaco withdrawal.

Quick hits What will change at Utah’s ‘Little Grand Canyon’ after state and BLM sign landmark management agreement

Salt Lake Tribune

Senators demand answers on Trump’s use of national park fees

The Hill | E&E News | Washington Post

2027 may be a disaster for public lands if this funding bill passes

GearJunkie

Lawsuit filed against USFWS over proposed wildlife refuge land swap with SpaceX

E&E News | Associated Press

Trump officials lay out aggressive timeline to build triumphal arch

Washington Post | Associated Press

Opinion: A land deal that is failing the people who live on the land

Anchorage Daily News

Federal parks program gets good news after an uncertain year

GearJunkie

Trump administration asks judge to reject bid to halt White House UFC event

The Hill | UPI

Quote of the day

The lack of transparency around awards for these beautification projects, as well as the loss in revenue meant for the maintenance and betterment of our national parks threatens the public’s trust and the long-term integrity of our nation’s most beloved public lands.”

—Letter to Interior secretary Doug Burgum, signed by 11 U.S. senators

Picture This @whitesandsnps

What’s Bloomin’?

The pale evening primrose (Oenothera pallida ssp. Runcinata) is thriving along our Backcountry Loop Trail! This beautiful white flower, with its showy yellow pistils, provides both food and shelter to a variety of pollinators in the park.

As always, when viewing the flowers in the park, please be sure to take only pictures and leave the plants intact for others to enjoy!

Photo: NPS/Paige G.

 

Featured photo: Big Bend National Park, Texas. Ralf Kiepert/CC BY-SA 3.0

The post Contracting firm run by Trump donor is building the border wall through Big Bend appeared first on Center for Western Priorities.

This week, experts provided witness testimony before the State Water Resources Control Board’s (SWRCB) Administrative Hearings Office, debunking arguments that the Delta Conveyance Project (DCP) will not further degrade water quality in the Delta. 

Key testimony by Dr. David A. Caron, Professor at the University of Southern California, Associates Captain Allan Hancock Endowed Chair in Marine Science, and President and Chief Executive Officer of BlueWater Science, provided insights on how the construction of the DCP could stimulate and expand the geographical distribution and severity of Cyanobacterial Harmful Algal Blooms (CHABs) in the Delta.

Dr. Caron highlights that testimony provided by Dr. Ellen Preece, Environmental Program Manager of the California Department of Water Resources, “inappropriately downplays the potential for the DCP to exacerbate the existing CHAB problems in the Delta or lead to new areas of CHAB occurrence.” The presence of CHABs in the Delta is not a linear question, but rather is impacted by the multitude of stressors that would be exacerbated by the DCP. Dr. Caron stresses that we are nearing a tipping point, and the DCP could be what sends our Delta ecosystems over the edge. 

Restore the Delta calls on the State Water Resources Control Board Administrative Hearing Officer (AHO) to prevent DWR from continuing to underplay the significant impacts the Delta Tunnel would have in exacerbating harmful algal blooms and to acknowledge the ongoing CHAB problems in the Delta that could lead to new areas of CHAB occurrence.

Watch the full direct testimony here. 

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