Author: Zack Budryk

Georgia senators raise First Amendment concerns around arrests of Atlanta forest-defender bail fund organizers

Both of Georgia’s Democratic senators expressed concerns Sunday over the arrest of three organizers of a bail fund for protesters against a planned police training facility in the city’s forest. Last week, Atlanta police and Georgia Bureau of Investigation agents charged the three with charity fraud and money laundering in connection with the bail fund…

Arizona seeks to avert groundwater disaster  

Arizona is facing a severe water shortage that is threatening growth in the Phoenix area — a development that could serve as a harbinger for the region. Gov. Katie Hobbs (D) and other state officials late Thursday said overuse of water and the drought mean that some 4.9 million acre-feet of water will not be…

Debt ceiling deal gives Republicans energy win

Welcome to The Hill’s Energy & Environment newsletter {beacon} Energy & Environment Energy & Environment   The Big Story Debt deal gives GOP a win on energy. Is there still room for a bipartisan agreement? Republicans secured long-sought energy permitting overhauls in the deal to raise the federal debt ceiling, while Democrats relinquished an electrical transmission…

Biden administration bars oil and gas drilling within 10 miles of Chaco Canyon

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland on Friday announced new protections for New Mexico’s Chaco Culture National Historical Park, barring oil and gas development for 20 years within a 10-mile radius of the area. The announcement follows what the department said was an extensive period of consultation between tribal nations and Haaland, the nation’s first Senate-confirmed Indigenous…

Arizona restricts some new development over groundwater concerns

Arizona officials announced Thursday that the state will impose restrictions on some new construction in the Phoenix area due to receding groundwater, the latest impact of the decades-long drought that has scorched the Western U.S. In the Thursday announcement, the state’s Department of Water Resources (DWR) said the Phoenix area, the most populous in the…