President Donald Trump proposes cutting EPA funding by 23 percent and funding for Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay restoration programs by 90 percent. He wants to bankrupt maintenance in national parks by expanding oil and gas drilling on public lands and waters.
Trump imposes 30 percent tariffs on solar panels from Asia.
Trump says he "didn't really care" about opening up Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling until a friend in the oil industry asked him to.
For the third time, Trump waives environmental regulations for construction of his proposed border wall, drawing a lawsuit from the Sierra Club's Environmental Law Program. Judge Gonzalo Curiel, whom Trump once derided for his Mexican heritage, sides with the government.
Ten of 12 members of the National Park System Advisory Board resign.
The Sierra Club and others sue the Department of Energy for ignoring five Obama-era energy efficiency rules for air conditioners and other appliances. A federal court orders the agency to publish the rules.
The Trump administration ignores so many Freedom of Information Act requests from the Sierra Club that Club attorneys file a FOIA request asking for details on FOIA procedures. The administration refuses, and the Environmental Law Program sues it again.
EPA administrator Scott Pruitt deletes from his Twitter feed a picture of himself with the proprietors of a Florida nursery (whom he called "#TrueEnvironmentalists") after it is revealed that they grow medicinal cannabis.
ADDENDUMS:
*Matthew Hoh says that the Veterans Administration has known since 1990 that guilt over killing human beings is the best predictor of suicide. Hoh has struggled with guilt, PTSD, brain injury and substance abuse.
*The U.S. is using more than 5,500 contractors to defeat the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, the Pentagon revealed in the quarterly report issued last month. Most of the contractors are focused on supporting the 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria.
*Trump tweet: "Soooo many Sanctuary areas want OUT of this ridiculous, crime infested & breeding concept."
*Dozens of Wyoming's grizzly bears are on the verge of being baited, hunted, and killed as trophies. Even female bears are being targeted. Estimates are that only 700 remain.
*In 2017 alone, 19 states passed 63 anti-adoption restrictions.
*The Kentucky legislature passed an 11-week abortion ban last month. The ban affects a specific procedure called dilation and evacuation used in about 16 percent of cases. Mississippi now bans all abortions after 15 weeks.
*An Associated Press analysis found that six big Wall Street banks made an additional $3.59 billion so far this year thanks to the new tax law.
*The Congressional Budget Office has projected that the new tax law will increase the deficit by $1.3 trillion from 2018 to 2028, and adding the cost of paying interest on this new government debt created by the tax law, increases the deficit by $1.9 trillion.
*Trump on Stephen Cohen: "From what I see he did absolutely nothing wrong. There were no campaign funds going into this which would have been a problem."
*Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) said: "For the resident to describe a leader who stands incredibly accused of starving his own people, violently executing his political opponents, and murdering members of his own family as very open and very honorable is beyond comprehension."
*A Quinnipiac University survey taken April 20-24, found 55 percent saying Trump has made the world less safe and 37 percent saying the opposite.
*18 U.S.House representatives are mounting a campaign to get the Nobel Peace prize for Trump.
*President Trump has created a White House Faith and Opportunity and Initiatives office but without any details being provided.
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