Oversight

Biden Announces New Climate Change Actions but Holds An Emergency Declaration in Reserve

The president has pledged sweeping action on climate change but struggled to deliver it. A legal scholar explains why a national emergency declaration should be a last resort.

Management

USPS Ramps Up Electric Vehicles to Half of Its Initial Contract Order

With a new network and cash windfall, the Postal Service is going more electric—including with off-the-shelf options.

Oversight

A Key U.S. Energy Efficiency Program Has a Major Flaw — and Pennsylvania Is Trying to Fix It

Homes are rejected for efficiency upgrades because they need repairs. Many owners can't afford them.

Management

GovExec Daily: USGS is Fighting the 'Blood Diamond' Trade

Peter Chirico joins the podcast to discuss how the U.S. Geological Survey is tracking and surveying the mining and selling of blood minerals.

Oversight

GovExec Daily: Despite the Supreme Court, the EPA Can Still Do Its Job

Former Regional Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Southeast Region Heather Toney joins the podcast to discuss the high court's decision and its effects on regulatory agencies.

Oversight

GovExec Daily: The Supreme Court Is Limiting the Regulatory State

The Brennan Center's Martha Kinsella joins the podcast to discuss the high court's decision on regulatory power.

Oversight

19 U.S. Diplomatic Posts Receive Grants for Their Sustainable Ideas

A State Department program awards up to $1 million to assist U.S. embassies and consulates for their innovative solutions to environmental problems.

Oversight

Grain Elevator Project Could Destroy African American Historical Sites, Preservation Agency Says

Following ProPublica's reporting, a federal agency says that a proposed grain elevator in Louisiana could harm a historic plantation and asks why a report was changed to minimize discussion of possible damage.

Management

Joe Biden Has a New Vision for the National Flood Insurance Program

The administration's flood insurance reforms could improve transparency — and make some Americans more vulnerable.

Tech

Why Biden Just Declared Heat Pumps and Solar Panels Essential to National Defense

Other presidents used the Defense Production Act to boost fossil fuel supplies. Biden is using it to replace them with clean energy. But just ramping up production isn’t enough.

Oversight

House Approves Massive $31 Billion 'Ike Dike' Project to Protect Texas Coast from Hurricanes

The U.S. House voted to authorize the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to begin planning for the massive coastal barrier project in Galveston Bay, but funding is not yet secured. The largest civil engineering project in U.S. history would permanently alter the Texas coast.

Management

Interior Department to Phase out Single-Use Plastics on All Public Lands

Agencies including the National Park Service will have until 2032 to eliminate them.

Management

The U.S. Has Spent More Than $2 Billion on a Plan to Save Salmon. The Fish Are Vanishing Anyway.

The U.S. government promised Native tribes in the Pacific Northwest that they could keep fishing as they’d always done. But instead of preserving wild salmon, it propped up a failing system of hatcheries. Now, that system is falling apart.

Oversight

Wildfires Are Still Catching Us Off-Guard. Congress’ Plan to Fix that Isn’t Going Anywhere.

How the proposal to connect federal research agencies and improve wildfire research crashed and burned.

Management

GovExec Daily: Are the New Postal Vehicles Coming Soon?

Eric Katz joins the podcast to discuss the fight around the Postal Service fleet contract.

Management

House Dems to Force a Vote on Pausing USPS' Vehicle Contract

The pressure continues to ramp up on the Postal Service to purchase more electric trucks.

Management

A New Office of Environmental Justice is Announced

New Justice Dept. office will take on polluters in hard-hit communities

Defense

Twice Burned

How the U.S. military’s toxic burn pits are poisoning Americans — overseas and at home

Management

USPS Is Facing New Legal Challenges to Its Vehicle Contract and Its Authority to Increase Prices

Environmental groups and a union are suing the Postal Service over its failure to buy more electric vehicles, while mailers are fighting rate hikes.