iPolitics By iPolitics. Published on Jan 7, 2021 1:01pm Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson will appear at committee today. (Matthew Usherwood/iPolitics)
The Lead
Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson released a statement yesterday outlining his concerns over the Trump administration’s sale of energy leases in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Wilkinson argued the sale would detrimentally impact the region’s Porcupine caribou herd and local Indigenous communities.
“Porcupine caribou and their calving grounds are invaluable to the culture and subsistence of the Gwich’in and Inuvialuit and are integral to biodiversity in the North,” the statement read.
According to the Canadian Press, the sale is also opposed by the Gwich’in First Nations in the Yukon. The Gwich’in people launched a lawsuit last year in an effort to block the sale. The case remains before the courts.
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WASHINGTON President-elect Joe Biden has promised to help communities prepare for the effects of climate change. A new demand for tougher building standards could test that commitment.
On Wednesday, two influential organizations that advocate for stronger measures to withstand natural disasters, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Association of State Floodplain Managers, filed a petition with the federal government urging more stringent building standards for homes and infrastructure along rivers and coasts.
Those changes would better protect millions of Americans as climate change worsens, and they reflect the sort of policy changes that experts say the United States must adopt to cope with the effects of global warming. But they would also make homes more expensive to build, risking the anger of local governments and homebuilders, which is why previous administrations have been reluctant to impose similar changes.
Early Biden Climate Test: Groups Demand Tougher Rules on Building
A new push for stricter rules in flood zones could force Biden’s team to choose: Increase construction costs, or leave people exposed to climate change.
Homes under construction in Kissimmee, Fla., last year. “You can upset a lot of voters,” one analyst said.Credit.Mario Cruz/EPA, via Shutterstock
Published Jan. 6, 2021Updated Jan. 25, 2021
WASHINGTON President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. has promised to help communities prepare for the effects of climate change. A new demand for tougher building standards could test that commitment.
On Wednesday, two influential organizations that advocate for stronger measures to withstand natural disasters, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Association of State Floodplain Managers, filed a petition with the federal government urging more stringent building standards for homes and infrastructure along rivers and coasts.