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Children at particular risk of climate change, air pollution effects: analysis

Infants, children and unborn babies are uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of both climate change and air pollution, experts argued in a new scientific analysis.

While all children are at risk, the greatest burden from these impacts falls on those who live in socially and economically disadvantaged communities, according to the authors, who published their evidence review in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday.

“While there has been significant progress in reducing poverty-related environmental risks in recent decades, industrialization-related pollution has steadily increased,” co-author Kari Nadeau, director of Stanford University’s Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy & Asthma Research, said in a statement.

“Every single child in the world is expected to suffer from at least one climate change-related event in the next 10 years,” she added.

Nadeau co-authored the review article with Frederica Perera, founding director of the Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

Combing through dozens of research studies about the interplay between fossil fuel and childhood health, the scientists found that protecting children’s health requires health professionals to understand the multiple harms that their patients are facing.

One such harm includes extreme heat — with exposure to heat waves in-utero linked to increased risk for preterm birth and low birth weight, hyperthermia and death in infants, as well as kidney disease in children, according to the article.

Meanwhile, climate-related events have already contributed to more than 50 million children being forced from their homes worldwide, the authors noted. In the U.S. alone, more than 900,000 displacements — many including children — occurred in 2020 due to such disasters.

As far as air quality is concerned, the scientists estimated that 7.4 million children in the U.S. were exposed to lung-damaging wildfire smoke every year between 2008 and 2012 — a number that has only risen in recent years, as such fires have become more frequent.

Globally, about 1 billion children are exposed to very high levels of air pollution, which has become strongly linked to increased risks of infant mortality, adverse birth outcomes, respiratory illnesses, developmental disorders and cognition issues, the researchers stressed.

Developing countries are confronting ongoing climate change-related food insecurity issues, leading to a sharp rise in malnutrition that is stunting both physical and mental development, according to the article. These conditions are also exacerbating infection risk from waterborne pathogens like Salmonella, the scientists warned.

Amid a warming climate, the U.S. has encountered a considerable increase in Lyme disease, with the highest rates occurring in children, while the infection of pregnant individuals with Zika virus can lead to microcephaly and severe brain malformations, the authors noted.

Examining all of these climate-induced harms to children, the scientists also emphasized the disparities that exist among different populations.

“Climate change and air pollution are exacerbating existing socioeconomic and racial and ethnic inequities in children’s health that are associated with structural racism,” they stated.

In the U.S., for example, preterm birth rate is more than 50 percent higher in Black women than in white women, while the rate of childhood asthma in Black children is more than double that of white children, according to the article.

“These and other environmental impacts, combined with poverty-related stress, injustice, and lack of access to health care, add up over a lifetime,” Nadeau said. “They lead to worsened health effects and shortened lifespans.”

The researchers emphasized the need for simultaneous action through both adaptation and mitigation efforts — to protect children from today’s climate hazards and get to the root of the issue by decreasing greenhouse gas emissions.

Some adaptation measures they cited included providing clean water to families encountering drought and water contamination, as well as integrating early warning systems for floods and air pollution. Also important is offering shade where children play and mosquito nets in certain regions, to minimize the threat of malaria and dengue, according to the article.

Addressing inequality, the authors added, will require climate-specific efforts to be paired with broader social, health care and sanitation programs.

Also crucial are efforts from health care professionals to understand the health impacts of climate change and air pollution, according to the article. The authors pointed to a variety of tools available, including a certification on climate health and equity from the American Board of Pediatrics.

“We need to incorporate children’s environmental health into primary care and essential public health,” Nadeau said.

Source: TEST FEED1

The US can do better to combat illegal fishing with commercial space innovation

Following last month’s Quad Summit in Tokyo, the leaders of Australia, Japan, India and the United States issued a joint statement that included the establishment of the Indo-Pacific Partnership for Maritime Domain Awareness (IPMDA). A critical focus area of this effort is to detect and deter illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, which massively degrades the ocean environment and the economies of our partner nations in the region.

I have worked to advance Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA) to combat IUU fishing with the Navy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) under both the Obama and Trump administrations. Although MDA has traditionally been the purview of the Departments of Defense (DOD) and Homeland Security, I recognized the value of a more whole-of-government approach and secured the Department of Commerce’s contributions to MDA through NOAA in 2020. A motivating factor behind this was NOAA’s leadership in reporting on international IUU fishing activity, of which China is a primary offender.

The IPMDA aims to leverage commercial technologies to collect and share unclassified data between existing regional fusion centers, allowing a faster, wider and more accurate picture of maritime activity in our partners’ Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs). Two of the key requirements to effectively counter IUU fishing are:

1) Detecting “dark targets,” or vessels with disabled Automated Information System (AIS) transponders (usually indicative of illicit activity)

2) Delivering that information in real time to fisheries enforcement officials.

These have been largely unmet objectives of national MDA plans for well over a decade. Consequently, regional security analysts have assessed that near-term success of the IPMDA will be difficult and expensive.

I have a different outlook, and the reason for that is the recent availability of several innovative technologies in the commercial space sector. First and foremost is the dramatic increase in intelligence-grade satellite imagery. Once restricted to the classified domain of the Intelligence Community (IC), high-resolution image data is being collected by private companies for government agencies, news corporations, research institute, and businesses to support such diverse applications as reporting on the war in Ukraine to searching for extraterrestrial intelligence. The U.S. IC has also recognized the utility of commercial data, and several governments are already analyzing satellite radar imagery to detect vessels engaged in IUU fishing.

The second development is the accelerated advancement of present-day artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) algorithms. AI/ML technology has been used to classify imagery for decades. The difference now is the remarkable rise in computing power that enables more data types and quantities to be processed more quickly. The IC has turned to the private sector here too for generalized geospatial intelligence analytical support, as has the NOAA, DOD and several advocacy organizations and nonprofits specifically for countering IUU fishing.

The third and truly transformational technology is space-based edge-computing. To eliminate IUU fishing, fisheries enforcement agents must be able to catch illicit fishers in the act, which is extremely difficult due to the hours of latency introduced by: downloading satellite data to ground processing systems; disseminating that data to regional fusion centers which apply AI/ML-enabled analysis to detect and identify offending vessels; and then transmitting that information to local enforcement agents.

By performing the vessel detection and identification analysis on orbit, actionable IUU fishing information can be delivered to those who need it directly and in near real-time.

These three technologies have yet to be combined into an operational system. Yet, the startup Exo-Space will be conducting a pilot project to do so later this year with Thailand’s Department of Fisheries. If successful, the IPMDA can succeed much sooner than expected.

IUU fishing has been a longstanding environmental challenge, but only in the last few years has it been identified as a global maritime security threat. The former Commandant of the Coast Guard Admiral Karl Schultz made such a statement in September 2020 when I joined him during the release of the U.S. Coast Guard IUU fishing strategic outlook. In July 2021, the current Commandant Admiral Linda Fagan signed the implementation plan for this strategy, which includes an initiative to implement innovative technology by “staying abreast of private-sector technology solutions to IUU fishing … and seek opportunities to collaborate with them.” The solutions exist, and the time is now for the Coast Guard to lead the U.S. government in acquiring and using them.

Rear Admiral (ret.) Tim Gallaudet, Ph.D., is a former acting undersecretary and assistant secretary of commerce, acting and deputy administrator of NOAA, member of the White House Select Committee on Artificial Intelligence, director of the office for the DOD Executive Agent for MDA and oceanographer in the U.S. Navy. He is the CEO of Ocean STL Consulting, LLC and member of the American Security Project.

Source: TEST FEED1

LGBTQ+ equality groups celebrate Biden executive order, but say there’s more work to be done

LGBTQ+ equality groups on Tuesday celebrated an executive order signed by President Biden that addresses recent state legislative attacks on the LGBTQ+ community and introduces new safeguards for inclusive health care and housing.

“This historic executive order will advance long-sought, LGBTQ-inclusive policies and practices that will help save young LGBTQ lives,” Amit Paley, the CEO and executive director of the LGBTQ+ youth suicide prevention and crisis intervention group The Trevor Project, said Tuesday in a statement.

“It’s past time that we put an end to the dangerous and discredited practice of conversion ‘therapy,’ and expand access to the affirming care LGBTQ young people actually need to survive and thrive,” Paley said, referring to one of the provisions in the executive order that charges the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with reducing the risk of youth exposure to the discredited practice, which aims to change a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation.

Biden in the order also encourages the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to consider whether so-called “conversion therapy” constitutes an “unfair or deceptive act or practice” that consumers should be warned or notified about. The order also charges the Secretaries of State, Treasury and HHS with developing a plan of action to promote an end to the practice around the world to ensure that it does not benefit from U.S. foreign assistance dollars.

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The order also directs HHS to issue guidance for states to expand access to “affordable, comprehensive health care” for LGBTQ+ patients, according to a White House fact sheet, and explicitly charges the department with promoting “expanded access to gender-affirming care” at a time when more than a dozen states have introduced legislation to restrict it, particularly for transgender and nonbinary youth.

“Given the historic number of state legislative attacks on LGBTQI+ people, specifically LGBTQI+ youth and families, it’s critical that action is taken at the federal level to protect vulnerable children and parents,” Kristine Kippins, deputy legal director for policy at the law firm Lambda Legal, said Tuesday.

Kippins said the order represents a step in the right direction, but cautioned that the president’s action is just “a beginning.”

“There is still much work to be done in advancing rights for LGBTQI+ people in this country,” she said. Others expressed a similar view.

“This is an AMAZING start…but this language is very loose for an executive order [in my opinion],” the actress Angelica Ross tweeted Tuesday shortly after the order was announced.

Ross has been critical of prior pledges made by Biden and his administration to advance LGBTQ+ rights, and in a March message directed at the president said, “Talk is cheap. We need you to act.”

Biden’s executive order also directs the Department of Education to release a sample school policy that is inclusive of LGBTQ+ students – a direct rebuttal to legislation in states like Florida and Alabama, where public school educators have been barred from addressing sexual orientation and gender identity in the classroom.

Older LGBTQ+ Americans will also benefit from the executive order, which directs HHS to publish a “Bill of Rights for LGBTQI+ Older Adults” and release new guidance on nondiscrimination protections for older adults in long-term care settings.

The order also introduces new efforts to address LGBTQ+ homelessness and housing instability and better service LGBTQ+ youth in the juvenile justice and foster care systems.

“After decades of demanding change and falling through the cracks in both racial justice and LGBTQ+ liberation groups, the federal government is finally doing something to systematically ensure equity for all parts of us,” Victoria Kirby York, deputy director of the National Black Justice Coalition, a Black LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, said Tuesday in a statement.

Kirby added that she will be watching the administration for further action on Title IX and the protection of LGBTQ+ students from discrimination, federal investigations into still-unsolved fatal hate crime cases that have victimized Black transgender people, as well as the safe return of WNBA star Brittney Griner, who has been detained in Russia for more than three months.

Source: TEST FEED1

How art helps these disabled creators find themselves

The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. is showing off artwork from some of the most talented artists with disabilities in the U.S. as part of a national competition. 

For more than 20 years, the Kennedy Center’s VSA Emerging Young Artists Program has recognized and showcased the work of young disabled artists each year between the age of 16 and 25. 

Professionals in the field, including curators at national art museums like the National Gallery of Art, review submissions from all across the country and ultimately select 15 who share a total of $60,000 in awards, with a grand prize of $20,000, as well as professional development workshops provided by the Kennedy Center. The group’s artwork is also displayed at the Kennedy Center’s Hall of Nations as well as in a traveling exhibition. 

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After a lengthy delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020-2021 winners are finally being recognized. 

This year’s theme, titled “Merge,” called on young artists to contemplate the intersections of their creative process and disability identity through their art. 

“I started having really debilitating pain episodes when I was around 12. So I really dove into art to express the things I didn’t know how to talk about, because no one else my age was going through these things” Moriah Faith, the winner of the $20,000 Grand Prize for her self-portrait “Tough Love,” said in an interview Tuesday. Faith, an expressive figurative painter, suffers from a painful chronic illness. 

“At one point I didn’t really recognize who I saw in the mirror anymore…But then painting really helped me find my way back to myself and really kind of relearn who I am,” she said. 

“It’s like my coping mechanism. I’ve even noticed when I’m painting, pain doesn’t feel as intense. It’s almost like you can distract your brain. And in those hours where you’re in the flow state, a lot of artists relate to the flow state when hours pass and it feels like a few minutes. That really helps with pain management,” she added. 

Faith, 22, received an international award for “representational excellence” for the “Tough Love” self-portrait and currently works out of Boston as a studio assistant to a disabled artist. 

Panteha Abareshi, 22, took home the $10,000 prize for “Methods of Care for the Precarious Body,” an art piece that utilizes analog and digital video and a Kodak carousel to depict their experience with multiple medical illnesses and disabilities, including the genetic blood disorder zero beta thalassemia. 

May Ling Kopecky, 26, won the $6,000 prize for “Welcome Back” and “Double Vision,” which were influenced by her experiences with pediatric-onset Multiple Sclerosis. 

The remaining artists receive a prize of $2,000 and all are provided professional development workshops focused on several topics. 

“The types of topics we cover include your three minute elevator speech when standing in front of your art. We talked about things like self care. We thought that was really important this year because as people with disabilities in a pandemic, issues around self care become really important,” Betty Siegel, director of VSA and accessibility at the Kennedy Center, said. 

“We try to teach the business, like how do you create a professional website that represents your art, how do you address contracts, how do you negotiate with a gallery so your art is valued the way it needs to be valued,” Siegel said. 

The exhibit is open to the public and will be on display through the middle of July before going on tour to several U.S. cities, including Raleigh, N.C., Toledo, Ohio and New York City, N.Y.

Source: TEST FEED1

Unblocking the Black Sea for Ukrainian grain

The international community has a strong interest in averting famine in poor areas caused by shortages of grain from Ukraine. By blockading ports around Odesa, Russia threatens this interest. Navies of willing countries could implement a naval escort mission at what might be acceptable risk and cost. Russian cooperation might be sought but may not be essential.

In the 2020/21 season, Ukraine was the world’s fourth-largest grain exporter. Exports in May were more than 60 percent lower than a year ago, even as global hunger hit a new high. Some 22 million tons of grain in Ukraine could rot if not exported soon.

On May 18, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said he saw no “solution to the food crisis without reintegrating Ukraine’s food production … Russia must permit safe and secure export of grain.” On June 1, Pope Francis appealed for an end to the blockade, saying the grain ought not be used as a “weapon of war.”

International pressure may be having an effect. President Vladimir Putin has claimed that Russia is ready to “facilitate unhindered sea transit of goods in coordination with Turkish partners … (including) export of grain from Ukrainian ports.” But, if such unhindered transit could not be quickly negotiated, how might the international community respond?  

The impact of a continued blockade may be so dire that countries in and beyond the Black Sea region may feel compelled to act. They could marshal warships on a cooperative basis to escort grain shipments between ports around Odesa and the Turkish Straits.

The risks of such an operation are not so formidable. While Russia has considerable ability to find and target shipping in the Black Sea, the window of vulnerability is relatively short. Transit along the western edge of the Sea to the Turkish Straits is only 388 miles, and transit remains in or near territorial waters of Ukraine and NATO allies. Russia’s ability directly to interdict this shipping may be limited.

If Russian intercepting vessels were to attempt to board or approach merchant ships at close range, they could be within range of Ukrainian shore batteries and aircraft. If instead Russian forces tried to attack from a distance with shore- or warship-launched munitions, they could have limited means of carrying out intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance of targets. Thus, they may launch weapons indiscriminately. This could result in accidental attacks on Romanian or Bulgarian ships, including in their own territorial waters, and a large-scale expenditure of guided munitions for uncertain effect.

Thus, while Russia might be able to find or engage ships, its ability to sustain a blockade is not certain. This is particularly true if merchant ships receive warship escort. Crucially, any modern navy with reasonably capable air defense ships could protect shipping along the western edge of the Black Sea from a range of Russian air and missile threats. And any navy with patrol boats or small combatants could perform simple escort functions, offering some level of protection and maritime awareness.

The western Black Sea is mined by Ukraine to forestall amphibious assault and by Russia to prevent Ukrainian transit. Maritime insurers may mistrust any Kremlin assurances about transit safety. Underwriters might already be charging a war-risk premium of up to 10 percent of a vessel’s value.  

There is no evidence that Russia has laid dense or difficult-to-penetrate minefields. A sparsely laid minefield can do damage and have psychological effect. But such threats are not an effective way to stop shipping, particularly if countermeasures are applied.

Therefore, Russia could have a difficult time interdicting grain-carrying vessels in the western Black Sea. It could resort to missile attacks without accurate targeting, but they may not reliably hit intended targets. Interdiction could be even more challenging if the global community voiced strong opposition and international navies joined in a humanitarian escorting mission.

Bradley Martin is senior policy researcher at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation and a retired director of the RAND National Security Supply Chain Institute. He retired from the U.S. Navy as a surface warfare captain after 30 years of service, including four command tours. William Courtney is an adjunct senior fellow at RAND and was U.S. ambassador to Kazakhstan.

Source: TEST FEED1

Where the 10 House Republicans who impeached Trump stand

Rep. Tom Rice’s (R-S.C.) primary loss in South Carolina on Tuesday made him the first Republican lawmaker who voted for former President Trump’s impeachment to be defeated in a primary. 

But Rice wasn’t the only one to vote to impeach Trump in the aftermath of the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. In all, 10 House Republicans moved to impeach the former president, and while half of them have chosen not to seek reelection, others are taking their chances with voters this year. 

Here’s where the 10 pro-impeachment House Republicans currently stand. 

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (Wash.) 

Herrera Beutler is facing eight challengers in the Aug. 2 primary in Washington’s 3rd Congressional District, including four Republicans. Trump has already weighed in on the race, endorsing GOP candidate Joe Kent’s bid to oust Herrera Beutler. 

While Kent has seized on Herrera Beutler’s impeachment vote on the campaign trail, however, that may not be the deciding factor in the race. 

Washington’s 3rd District, while favoring Republicans, has a more moderate lean than Rice’s district, for example, and Herrera Beutler has sought to court the support of Democrats and independents alike ahead of the August all-party primary. 

Rep. Liz Cheney (Wyo.) 

As one of the highest-profile Republican backers of Trump’s second impeachment, Cheney has already paid a massive political price. House Republicans voted last year to strip her of her leadership role and have all but isolated her within their ranks. 

Since then, things haven’t gotten easier for Cheney. She’s facing four different primary challengers, including Trump’s endorsed candidate Harriet Hageman.  

It’s too early to write Cheney off. She has a sizable cash advantage over Hageman and virtually universal name recognition. But she’s also running for reelection in a state that Trump won by a 44-point margin. And while public polling has been scarce, two recent surveys commissioned by pro-Hageman groups showed Cheney trailing in the primary by double-digits. 

Rep. Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio) 

Gonzalez, a former NFL player and two-term congressman, became the first pro-impeachment House Republican to announce that he would not seek reelection in 2022, choosing to bow out of the race instead of facing a ferocious primary.  

While Gonzalez cited family considerations in his decision to not seek a third term in the House, his political difficulties were already clear: He was already facing a primary challenge from Max Miller, a former Trump aide.  

The redistricting process eventually prompted Miller to run in another district. Still, Gonzalez’s decision to retire underscored the political distress that those in the GOP who voted to impeach Trump are under. 

Rep. John Katko (N.Y.) 

Katko joined other pro-impeachment House Republicans in January in announcing his retirement.  

But he has also denied that Trump’s pledge to oust GOP lawmakers who voted for impeachment factored into his decision not to seek a fifth term in the House, telling The Washington Post in March that he is confident that he would have won had he decided to run for reelection this year. 

“I was quite certain, even with the redistricting that was done in New York state, that I had a path to victory,” Katko said. “And I had a very good path to victory.” 

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (Ill.) 

Along with Cheney, Kinzinger is among Trump’s most prominent Republican critics in the House and also serves on the select committee investigating the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol.  

Unlike Cheney, however, he’s not seeking reelection this year. 

Kinzinger announced in October that he would step down after his current term. But his reasoning for bowing out of Congress wasn’t necessarily tied to his impeachment vote. Rather, he announced his retirement after Illinois state lawmakers approved a new congressional map that drew him into the same district as Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.), a more reliable Trump ally. 

Rep. Peter Meijer (Mich.) 

Meijer is also facing a primary on Aug. 2, when he will square off against John Gibbs, a Trump-endorsed former assistant secretary in the Department of Housing and Urban Development.  

So far, he appears to be in good shape. He has a massive financial advantage over Gibbs and has already booked hundreds of thousands of dollars in advertising.  

Still, he hasn’t made his impeachment vote a central part of his political identity and hasn’t shied away from attacking the Biden administration over everything from rising inflation to ongoing supply chain issues.  

Rep. Dan Newhouse (Wash.) 

Newhouse, a four-term congressman from central Washington, is facing seven opponents in an Aug. 2 open primary, six Republicans and one Democrat. The top-two finishers in the nominating contest will advance to the November general election. 

Given the strong Republican tilt of Washington’s 4th Congressional District, the biggest threat to Newhouse’s political survival is likely to come from within his own party.  

Trump has endorsed Loren Culp, a former police chief, in the race, though Culp lags Newhouse badly in the money race. According to their latest filings with the Federal Election Commission, Newhouse is sitting on more than $928,000, while Culp has less than $47,000 on hand.  

Rep. Tom Rice (S.C.) 

Rice’s vote last year to impeach Trump came as a surprise to many political observers. Up to that point, the South Carolina congressman had been a stalwart supporter of the former president and his agenda. 

But despite his past support for Trump, Rice never walked back his criticism or expressed regret over his impeachment vote, saying recently that if he loses reelection because of it, he would “wear it like a badge.”  

That strategy ultimately cost him a sixth term in the House on Tuesday, when Republican voters in South Carolina’s 7th District chose Trump-endorsed state Rep. Russel Fry as their nominee over Rice. 

Rep. Fred Upton (Mich.) 

Like Kinzinger and Gonzalez, Upton decided to forgo a reelection bid this year, ringing in the end of a nearly four-decade-long career in Congress.  

While Upton voted to impeach Trump last year, it wasn’t the only instance in which he broke with the former president. The Michigan congressman was also one of the few GOP backers of a sweeping $1 trillion infrastructure bill that was championed by President Biden and congressional Democrats. 

Ultimately, Upton made the decision to retire in April after redistricting drew him into the same district as Rep. Bill Huizenga (R-Mich.). Trump has endorsed Huizenga. 

Rep. David Valadao (Calif.) 

Trump didn’t endorse one of Valadao’s challengers ahead of California’s June 7 primaries, but the first-term congressman’s political future isn’t yet safe. 

Democrat Rudy Salas emerged as the top vote-getter in the state’s all-party primary earlier this month, earning him a spot on the ballot in November. Valadao is currently sitting in second place with about 26 percent of the vote.  

If he remains in second place, he’ll advance to the November election. Still, the divided Republican vote underscores the political peril that potentially awaits Valadao.  

Source: TEST FEED1

Ford recalls 2.9 million vehicles for rollaway concerns

Ford is recalling 2.9 million U.S. vehicles over concerns they could roll away after drivers move the gear shift into the park position.

The recall, which also includes roughly 394,000 Canadian vehicles, includes some of Ford’s 2013-2018 C-Max, 2015-2018 Edge, 2013-2019 Escape, 2013-2016 Fusion and 2013-2021 Transit Connect models.

In documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) posted on Wednesday, Ford said bushing that attaches the shift cable to the transmission could degrade in the vehicles. 

Even if drivers move the gear shift to the park position, this issue could prevent the shifter from actually moving the transmission, allowing the cars to still roll away.

Although the driver does not receive a warning message or chime when the transmission does not shift correctly, Ford said its instrument panels will show the accurate position when the cars are turned on.

The company indicated it has received 1,630 warranty reports and 233 vehicle owner questionnaires (VOQ) in connection with the issue since April 2015. Ford said it was aware of four injury reports and six property damage reports potentially related to the issue.

Ford issued four previous recalls over the bushing issue, according to the documents. One recall announced in April included a quarter-million Explorer SUVs. The company continued meeting with the NHTSA in recent weeks to further examine the concerns. 

The company said the root cause of the issue is unknown but noted that heat and humidity could be the culprit.

Owners of the recalled vehicles can service their cars for free at a Ford or Lincoln dealer. Dealerships will replace the bushing using a different grade material and add a protective cap, the company said.

Ford will mail affected owners beginning June 27.

The company filed a separate recall notice with NHTSA that was posted earlier this week for some of its Mustang Mach-E electric cars over concerns about overheating batteries, directing dealers to stop delivering nearly 49,000 of the cars.

Source: TEST FEED1

Environmental groups sue Biden administration over western drilling permits

Three environmental organizations on Wednesday sued the Biden administration for granting thousands of fossil fuel drilling permits, alleging the permits violate federal law.

In the lawsuit, filed in the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia, plaintiffs accused the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) of violating the Endangered Species Act, the National Environmental Policy Act and the Federal Land Policy and Management Act by granting 3,500 permits in Wyoming and New Mexico. 

The plaintiffs — the Center for Biological Diversity, WildEarth Guardians and the Western Environmental Law Center — argue that the wells in question are an imminent threat to their respective ecosystems and more than 150 at-risk species.  

The plaintiffs project the completed wells will emit between 490 million and 600 million metric tons of carbon dioxide over their lifetime. In an email to The Hill, Taylor McKinnon of the Center for Biological Diversity said the figure is based on the BLM’s state-specific per-well estimated ultimate recovery (EUR) and emissions estimates. 

As a result, the lawsuit claims, granting the permits violated the Endangered Species Act’s requirement that federal agencies avoid increasing the danger to threatened and endangered species. In addition, President Biden signed an executive order shortly after his inauguration requiring agencies to follow best practices for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 

The Federal Land Policy and Management Act, meanwhile, requires the BLM to act against any unnecessary degradation of public lands. 

“Fossil fuels are driving the extinction crisis, and the Bureau of Land Management is making things worse by failing to protect these imperiled species,” Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity, said in a statement. “The agency’s cursory approval of more than 3,500 drilling permits contradicts President Biden’s pledges to address the terrifying threat of climate change. Every new well takes polar bears and many other species one step closer to extinction.” 

The Interior Department declined to comment on the lawsuit. 

Source: TEST FEED1

Millions of Americans under extreme heat warnings

As the nation heads into what is expected to be a scorching summer, nearly one third of Americans are already under heat warnings or advisories today. 

According to the National Weather Service, individuals residing from Northern Florida to Michigan will experience the extreme heat, which is expected to last through Friday. 

Climate change will result in longer, more intense heat waves in the future, raising the risk of heat-related injury, illness, or death. The toll will fall largely on underserved communities as those experiencing homlessness, living without air conditioning or sufficient ventilation will be at a heightened risk of poor health outcomes. 

With the heat wave comes the potential for severe thunderstorms and power outages, spelling concern for those who rely on home medical devices such as dialysis machines. To date, heat-related weather emergencies are the deadliest natural disasters compared with floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes. 

Air quality can also decline during heat waves due to increased rates of stagnant smog, or ozone pollution, while dry heat can fuel wildfires further compounding poor air quality via fine particulate matter spread.

In the next few days, heat indexes could reach the triple digits and may break temperature records. 

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Central Georgia, southwest Indiana, southeast Missouri, western Kentucky and Southern Illinois are all forecasted to experience extreme temperatures, continuing a broader trend of above average temperatures seen throughout the country in recent weeks. 

A study published in 2018 by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration anticipated more frequent and prolonged heat waves as climate change continues to worsen.  

“Frequency of heat waves increased from an average of two heat waves per year during the 1960s to around six per year during the 2010s,” they wrote, adding: “the average heat wave season is also 45 days longer now than in the 1960s.”

In addition to the health toll inflicted by heat waves, increased temperatures also threaten crop supply and infrastructure, posing challenges to those who work in the agriculture and construction industries. 

Source: TEST FEED1