Public Policy & NGOs
Here's a look at documents from public policy and non-governmental organizations
Featured Stories
Wildly Unpopular Donald Trump Endorses Lackey Tom Tiffany
MONONA, Wisconsin, Jan. 29 -- A Better Wisconsin Together, a state-based research and communications hub for progressives, posted the following news release:
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Wildly Unpopular Donald Trump Endorses Lackey Tom Tiffany
Tiffany's blind loyalty to Trump and his disastrous agenda are hurting all Wisconsinites
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With his job approval ratings cratering, wildly unpopular Donald Trump has weighed in on Wisconsin's 2026 gubernatorial race with an endorsement of his right-wing lackey, U.S. Representative Tom Tiffany. Trump bragged that Tiffany "... has always been at my side ..." but A Better Wisconsin
... Show Full Article
MONONA, Wisconsin, Jan. 29 -- A Better Wisconsin Together, a state-based research and communications hub for progressives, posted the following news release:
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Wildly Unpopular Donald Trump Endorses Lackey Tom Tiffany
Tiffany's blind loyalty to Trump and his disastrous agenda are hurting all Wisconsinites
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With his job approval ratings cratering, wildly unpopular Donald Trump has weighed in on Wisconsin's 2026 gubernatorial race with an endorsement of his right-wing lackey, U.S. Representative Tom Tiffany. Trump bragged that Tiffany "... has always been at my side ..." but A Better WisconsinTogether Deputy Director Mike Browne noted that while he's right about Tiffany sticking by his side, Wisconsinites are the ones paying the price for it.
"We are all paying for this endorsement of Tom Tiffany from Donald Trump," said Browne.
Browne noted just some of the specific ways that Tiffany's blind loyalty to Trump and his disastrous agenda are hurting all Wisconsinites:
* Just weeks ago, Tiffany stood by Donald Trump and voted against against restoring the Affordable Care Act tax credits that have helped tens of thousands of Wisconsinites afford their health care;
* Last July, Tiffany was one of the deciding votes to pass Trump's MAGA budget bill that cut Medicaid and food assistance for children, forced Planned Parenthood Wisconsin to pause abortion services, and could cause permanent hospital closures in the future, and exploded the federal deficit - all to pay for tax cuts for billionaires;
* Tiffany has touted Trump's tariffs that are raising costs for working people on school supplies, cars, appliances, food, and even beer. He said of Trump's tariffs, "... all of these things are really good things." but according to recently released data, Wisconsin families paid nearly $1,600 in higher costs last year because of inflation;
* Tiffany has consistently, without question or demand for accountability, supported the Trump regime in their domestic deployment of federal forces into American cities. Just last week he voted for nearly $800 million more in funding for ICE and part of the DHS budget;
* Tiffany was willing to throw out the votes of millions of Wisconsinites in 2020 because he refused to accept that Trump overwhelmingly lost the election.
"Tiffany has put his selfish partisan interests before Wisconsinites so that he can keep his status as a Donald Trump loyalist. And it is costing the rest of us dearly," concluded Browne.
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A Better Wisconsin Together is a state-based research and communications hub for progressives and is an affiliate of ProgressNow.
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Original text here: https://abetterwisconsin.org/wildly-unpopular-donald-trump-endorses-lackey-tom-tiffany/
[Category: Economics]
Senate Hearing on Ticketing Should Push TICKET Act Forward
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 -- The National Consumers League issued the following news release:
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Senate Hearing on Ticketing Should Push TICKET Act Forward
In advance of a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing on reform in the live event industry, the National Consumers League urged leaders in the U.S. Senate to prioritize passing the bipartisan TICKET Act (S. 281/H.R. 1402), which has already overwhelmingly passed the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate Commerce Committee.
"Consumers do not need another round of blame-shifting. They need Congress to act and to finally fix a live event
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 -- The National Consumers League issued the following news release:
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Senate Hearing on Ticketing Should Push TICKET Act Forward
In advance of a Senate Commerce subcommittee hearing on reform in the live event industry, the National Consumers League urged leaders in the U.S. Senate to prioritize passing the bipartisan TICKET Act (S. 281/H.R. 1402), which has already overwhelmingly passed the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate Commerce Committee.
"Consumers do not need another round of blame-shifting. They need Congress to act and to finally fix a live eventticketing system that has been broken by design, not by accident," said NCL Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications, and Fraud John Breyault in a letter to Consumer Protection, Technology, and Data Privacy Subcommittee chairman Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and ranking member Senator John Hickenlooper (D-CO). "Passing the TICKET Act and strengthening it through legislation like the MAIN EVENT Act would finally begin to rebalance a marketplace that has been tilted against fans for far too long."
NCL continues to advocate for passage of the TICKET Act, which would ban hidden fees, prohibit speculative tickets, crack down on deceptive resale tactics, and guarantee refunds for event cancellations and postponements. NCL also supports the MAIN EVENT Act, which would implement much-needed improvements to the decade-old BOTS Act--an underused law that allows federal regulators to go after predatory scalpers.
NCL's full letter can be found here (https://nclnet.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/NCL-Blackburn-Hickenlooper-Ticketing-Letter-01-27-2026-FINAL-AS-SUBMITTED.pdf).
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About the National Consumers League (NCL)
The National Consumers League, founded in 1899, is America's pioneer consumer organization. Our mission is to protect and promote social and economic justice for consumers and workers in the United States and abroad. For more information, visit www.nclnet.org.
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Original text here: https://nclnet.org/senate-hearing-on-ticketing-should-push-ticket-act-forward/
[Category: Consumer Services]
Protect Our Care: RFK Jr. Packs Key Autism Committee With Anti-Vax Quacks As Part of Coordinated Effort to Make Vaccine Innovation Unviable
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 -- Protect Our Care issued the following news on Jan. 28, 2026:
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RFK Jr. Packs Key Autism Committee With Anti-Vax Quacks As Part of Coordinated Effort to Make Vaccine Innovation Unviable
Following Trump Health Secretary Kennedy's announcement today of 21 new members of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), a review from Protect Our Care's Public Health Watch project finds most of these members bring a sordid history of promoting dangerous anti-vaccine conspiracy theories including the widely disproven claim of a link between vaccines and autism. *See
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 -- Protect Our Care issued the following news on Jan. 28, 2026:
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RFK Jr. Packs Key Autism Committee With Anti-Vax Quacks As Part of Coordinated Effort to Make Vaccine Innovation Unviable
Following Trump Health Secretary Kennedy's announcement today of 21 new members of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), a review from Protect Our Care's Public Health Watch project finds most of these members bring a sordid history of promoting dangerous anti-vaccine conspiracy theories including the widely disproven claim of a link between vaccines and autism. *Seereview below.
Kennedy's dubious statement that he's enlisted "the most qualified experts" on autism comes on the heels of a major analysis released last month from the WHO global expert committee on vaccine safety finding no causal link exists between vaccines and autism spectrum disorders (ASD), "with evidence based on 31 primary research studies, published between January 2010 and August 2025, including data from multiple countries".
The Trump administration's overhauled IACC also follows Secretary Kennedy's firing of four of the nine members of the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccinations (ACCV), which advises the government on which injuries should be eligible for compensation. As the Washington Post warned in its January 26th editorial, those firings set the stage for RFK Jr's "next front" in the Trump administration's anti-vaccine campaign. The Post editorial board raised an important question: "Will he stack the committee with cranks who would bless efforts by Kennedy to allow compensation for autism, despite overwhelming evidence that vaccines do not cause the condition? This could lead to more than $100 billion in estimated awards. The current reserve is just $4 billion. If the fund goes insolvent, or if special masters who review injury claims -- known colloquially as the Vaccine Court -- are not willing to go along, claimants would likely turn to civil court for their grievances. Those lawsuits might not succeed, but they would chill pharmaceutical innovation. [..] [Kennedy's likely] objective is to return to the days when manufacturers saw immunizations as risky ventures. That would be a boon for Kennedy's fellow trial lawyers, but it would make Americans sicker and more vulnerable to contagion."
"It's clear that RFK Jr. is stacking these key advisory committees with anti-vax quacks not to get to the bottom of what causes autism, but to stifle vaccine innovation and access based on his preconceived yet widely disproven insistence that vaccines are the culprit," said Kayla Hancock, Director of Public Health Watch, a project of Protect Our Care. "Secretary Kennedy is essentially creating an ideological echo chamber where his research committee made up of anti-vaxxers provides highly dubious conclusions to another panel that could push vaccine manufacturers into frivolous lawsuit hell - which could easily bankrupt the system that has allowed for greater innovation and less disease transmission. Rather than wait for that nightmare scenario to become reality, now is the time for vaccine advocates in Congress like Bill Cassidy to put up guardrails to protect vaccine access and our public health from an administration co-opted by the anti-vax fringe."
Many Autism advocates and families are not buying what RFK Jr is selling, and neither should Congress:
* The Guardian: 'It becomes my whole job': autism advocates fight RFK Jr's barrage of misinformation
* WTTW: Advocates, Families Push Back Against RFK Jr.'s 'Dehumanizing' Comments on Autism
* Politico: RFK Jr.'s autism pledge divides advocates
PUBLIC HEALTH WATCH REVIEW: RFK Jr.'s Overhauled Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee is Stacked With Members From the Anti-Vax Fringe:
* John Gilmore was one of the conspiracy theorists who ran RFK Jr.'s super PAC during his presidential campaign. Gilmore Gilmore is the head of a nonprofit called the Autism Action Network that grew out of a group of parents of "vaccine-injured children" who maintained there was a link between the use of mercury in vaccines and autism. AAN is listed as a partner on the website of RFK's Children's Health Defense, and in 2021, AAN and Children's Health Defense held a panel discussion titled "The Covid Vaccine on Trial: If You Only Knew..." that featured Kennedy and other anti-vaxxers in which Gilmore claimed that Covid vaccines were part of an immense plot mounted by "oligarchs" worth "literally trillions of dollars" to gain control of the world.
* Lisa Ackerman leads The Autism Community in Action, which rebranded from Talk About Curing Autism and is known for promoting the false idea that there's a biomedical "cure" for autism. Ackerman has partnered with anti-vaccine activist Jenny McCarthy and defends the discredited Dr. Andrew Wakefield who falsified evidence linking vaccines to autism, saying, "We support Dr. Andrew Wakefield for being courageous, examining sick children and for listening to parents."
* Taylor Slepcevic was a fundraiser for RFK's presidential campaign. Slepcevic published a book called Warrior Mom about her years raising a son with autism that she blames on routine childhood vaccines. The book was endorsed by Kennedy and sold by his campaign. Slepcevic now offers coaching to parents on how to "heal" autism through restrictive diets and dangerous quack treatments.
* Honey Rinicella is the executive director of the Medical Academy of Pediatric Special Needs and mother of twins with autism that she blames on vaccines. Rinicella's advocacy is "deeply rooted in her desire to highlight the potential link between vaccines and autism" and she insists that, "You cannot say that vaccines don't cause autism."
* Sylvia Fogel and Elena Monarch are a psychiatrist and a PhD in clinical psychology respectively. Fogel has advocated against tightening vaccine requirements for school entry. Together Monarch and Fogel attended RFK Jr. campaign events and supported his campaign.
* Daniel Rossignol is a physician who has supported numerous quack autism "cures." Rossignol served as a scientific advisor to Jenny McCarthy's Generation Rescue, a group committed to the idea that vaccines and mercury cause autism. In 2010, Rossignol was the subject of a lawsuit from the parents of a boy with autism who claimed that he provided treatments without proven scientific benefit that carried risks of serious harm.
* Elizabeth Mumper is affiliated with RFK's anti-vaccine Children's Health Defense. Bogus Covid cures. Mumper is a part of the Independent Medical Alliance, formerly known as the Frontline COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, which pushed a bogus COVID-19 treatment long after it was proved ineffective.
Laura Cellini is mother of an autistic child who has questioned vaccine safety. Cellini recently wrote: "Vaccines are an important public health tool for prevention of serious communicable diseases, but for children with certain immune or metabolic primers, a tightly clustered set of immune challenges may function as an acute trigger."
* Toby Rogers is a longtime anti-vaccine advocate. He testified at one of Ron Johnson's anti-vaccine hearings last year. His controversial paper on the "cost of autism" was retracted.
* Ginger Taylor is the director of Maine Coalition for Vaccine Choice, an organization she started after her son Chandler was diagnosed with autism. She believes this happened following a series of vaccinations. Taylor has urged people not to see pediatricians because they support vaccines and is a long-time anti-vaxxer and measles conspiracy theorist.
* Katie Sweeny is the executive support manager for the Medical Academy of Pediatrics and Special Needs, which is an anti-vaccine group and a parent of an autistic child. She is part of the "MAHA Moms" movement and a supporter of RFK's presidential campaign.
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Original text here: https://www.protectourcare.org/rfk-jr-packs-key-autism-committee-with-anti-vax-quacks-as-part-of-coordinated-effort-to-make-vaccine-innovation-unviable/
[Category: Health Care]
Institute for Energy Economics & Financial Analysis: Reassessing Oil in Uganda - Global Factors and Possible Solutions
LAKEWOOD, Ohio, Jan. 29 (TNSbrep) -- The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis issued the following news release on Jan. 28, 2026:
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Reassessing oil in Uganda: global factors and possible solutions
Key Takeaways:
* Uganda's oil industry is delayed, over budget and likely to disappoint when it comes to financial returns.
* Accelerated global decarbonization could mean the value of Uganda's oil falls as much as 34% for foreign investors and 53% for the country, compared to what could be expected today.
* Sustained investment in electrified, climate-resilient industries may
... Show Full Article
LAKEWOOD, Ohio, Jan. 29 (TNSbrep) -- The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis issued the following news release on Jan. 28, 2026:
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Reassessing oil in Uganda: global factors and possible solutions
Key Takeaways:
* Uganda's oil industry is delayed, over budget and likely to disappoint when it comes to financial returns.
* Accelerated global decarbonization could mean the value of Uganda's oil falls as much as 34% for foreign investors and 53% for the country, compared to what could be expected today.
* Sustained investment in electrified, climate-resilient industries maydeliver stronger job creation, lower financial risk, and more stable growth than oil, especially as the global transition accelerates.
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The development of an oil industry has long been touted for its transformative potential for the economy of Uganda. However, project delays, cost overruns, and changes in global oil and energy markets suggest investors will be left disappointed, and that the Ugandan economy is unlikely to reap promised rewards, according to two new reports from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).
The IEEFA analysis finds that amid weakening public finances, the long-term transformative potential of Uganda's oil industry appears uncertain. Sustained multi-year investment in climate-resilient, electrified industrialization could be a lower-risk alternative for the use of limited oil revenues compared to investing more in the oil sector.
The first report, Reassessing oil in Uganda: How do investments in Uganda's oil industry stand up in an accelerating global transition (https://ieefa.org/sites/default/files/2026-01/IEEFAReassessingOilinUganda.pdf), examines the expected financial and economic returns from Uganda's oil industry as it nears first production, and how global shifts that include the low-carbon transition will influence these outcomes. The report finds that the delays to get Uganda's oil industry off the ground and the realities of a quickly decarbonizing world could mean Uganda sees much lower fiscal benefits from the oil industry than expected.
"Uganda has an increasingly narrow margin for error when it comes to the use of public resources," said Matthew Huxham, independent consultant and co-author of the report. "Doubling down on oil through the refinery investment could reduce Uganda's import bill, but the investment could also undermine public debt sustainability, which would hamper long-run development. In this case, the country would be trading energy dependency for capital dependency."
The second report, Climate-resilient development in Uganda: How a global transition and fiscal constraints could influence Uganda's development choices (https://ieefa.org/resources/climate-resilient-development-uganda), finds that plans for further public investment in the oil sector come with significant risk. Incorporating climate risk considerations into future planning processes will be critical if the Ugandan government is to deliver on the prosperity promised to its citizens.
"Uganda's development choices will be shaped by evolving fiscal conditions and climate-related financial risks," said Gaurav Upadhyay, an IEEFA energy finance analyst. "Our analysis suggests that careful prioritisation of public spending is increasingly important. A more diversified set of investments that support climate-resilient, electrified industrialisation could offer a lower risk pathway for income growth and job creation than large, debt-intensive commitments in the oil sector."
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Chart: Uganda unlikely to see financial returns as expected
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Original text here: https://ieefa.org/articles/reassessing-oil-uganda-global-factors-and-possible-solutions
[Category: Energy]
First Focus Campaign for Children: Fund Children, Not ICE, Advocate Tells Lawmakers
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 -- First Focus Campaign for Children issued the following news release on Jan. 28, 2026:
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Fund children, not ICE, advocate tells lawmakers
Spending bill must be rewritten to include protections for children
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In a message sent today to all 100 U.S. senators, First Focus Campaign for Children urged lawmakers to separate funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from other spending bills in order to prevent disruptions to child-critical programs and avoid a government shutdown.
The government spending bills recently passed by the House of Representatives
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 -- First Focus Campaign for Children issued the following news release on Jan. 28, 2026:
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Fund children, not ICE, advocate tells lawmakers
Spending bill must be rewritten to include protections for children
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In a message sent today to all 100 U.S. senators, First Focus Campaign for Children urged lawmakers to separate funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from other spending bills in order to prevent disruptions to child-critical programs and avoid a government shutdown.
The government spending bills recently passed by the House of Representativesfor fiscal year 2026 link resources for child-centered programs such as child care, maternal health, and education to vehicles that will also fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which falls under DHS.
"Across the country, actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have disrupted families, caused trauma to children, and placed young lives at risk," the message says. "As advocates for children, we urge lawmakers to reject funding for the Homeland Security bill until it is rewritten to include meaningful protections for children."
Those protections should include:
* Protect and expand the Flores Settlement
* End child and family detention
* Restore sensitive location protections
* Demand congressional oversight and accountability for ICE and the Department of Homeland Security
* Guarantee legal and judicial protections for children -- and keep families together whenever possible
* Require adherence to a "best interests" standard when addressing children
Read the full message at this link (https://campaignforchildren.org/resource/message-reject-dhs-funding-bill-until-children-are-protected/).
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Original text here: https://campaignforchildren.org/news/fund-children-not-ice-advocate-tells-lawmakers/
[Category: Sociological]
Earthjustice: Court Denies Request to Halt Western Arctic Oil Exploration
SAN FRANCISCO, California, Jan. 29 -- Earthjustice issued the following news release on Jan. 28, 2026:
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Court Denies Request to Halt Western Arctic Oil Exploration
The ruling allows ConocoPhillips to proceed with its plans for winter exploration program
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Anchorage, AK -- A federal court ruling allows ConocoPhillips to continue its winter seismic and exploration drilling program in the Western Arctic despite concerns about the harm it would cause to wildlife, sensitive habitats and the subsistence and cultural values of local Alaska Native people and other Arctic residents.
Some of the
... Show Full Article
SAN FRANCISCO, California, Jan. 29 -- Earthjustice issued the following news release on Jan. 28, 2026:
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Court Denies Request to Halt Western Arctic Oil Exploration
The ruling allows ConocoPhillips to proceed with its plans for winter exploration program
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Anchorage, AK -- A federal court ruling allows ConocoPhillips to continue its winter seismic and exploration drilling program in the Western Arctic despite concerns about the harm it would cause to wildlife, sensitive habitats and the subsistence and cultural values of local Alaska Native people and other Arctic residents.
Some of theexploration would take place in sensitive areas of the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska, including within the Teshekpuk Lake Special Area, one of the most ecologically important wetlands in the Arctic and home to tens of thousands of migratory birds and the Teshekpuk Caribou Herd.
Earthjustice requested the preliminary injunction to halt the winter exploration program in December on behalf of an Inupiat-led grassroots organization, Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic (SILA), and two conservation groups, The Wilderness Society and the Center for Biological Diversity.
The groups argue the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) unlawfully approved the project by failing to meet its obligation to mitigate the serious impacts the exploratory work would cause to sensitive ecosystems and subsistence resources important to Alaska Native communities. The court disagreed, noting "deference owed to BLM in selecting mitigation measures it deems are necessary or appropriate."
The court ruling, issued yesterday, denied the request for a preliminary injunction to halt the program immediately. However, the underlying challenge to BLM's approval of the winter exploration program remains pending.
"This ruling is difficult for many of us who live close to these decisions and their consequences, especially as we are still processing the recent rig collapse and diesel spill near Nuiqsut," said Nauri Simmonds, Executive Director of Sovereign Inupiat for a Living Arctic. "Incidents like this show how quickly risks on the land become risks for the people who rely on it. Our safety, our food sources, and the places we depend on deserve more than rushed approvals and delayed explanations. While this ruling allows exploration to continue for now, we remain committed to ensuring the Western Arctic is treated with the care and respect that future generations deserve."
"Sadly, ConocoPhillips will now spend the winter disrupting caribou migration and crushing fragile Arctic tundra under massive thumper trucks before a full hearing of our case against this destructive exploration plan," said Matt Jackson, Alaska senior manager for The Wilderness Society. "The fight is far from over. To protect one of the most ecologically rich landscapes in America, and to ensure that our rural communities remain free to sustain our Alaska way of life today and in future generations, it is critical that the court overturn approval of the exploration program."
"It's really frustrating that a private company got a fast-track approval to run roughshod over the Arctic just to look for oil we don't need," said Rebecca Noblin, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. "The Western Arctic needs and deserves protection and we'll keep working to ensure that it's safe from destructive drilling."
"While it is deeply disappointing that the exploration program can continue, this preliminary ruling does not end plaintiffs' challenge to the program," said Earthjustice Attorney Ian Dooley. "It is remarkable that BLM has not on its own halted this project to determine the cause of the rig collapse, fire, and diesel spill that occurred last week. BLM's lack of action is consistent with the rushed process here that has prioritized extraction over protecting the Reserve's remarkable environment and the people who live in and use it."
Yesterday's ruling comes just four days after Doyon Rig 26, North America's largest mobile land rig, toppled while being transported along a gravel road about seven miles northwest of the village of Nuiqsut. The rig was in transit to drill an exploration well as part of ConocoPhillips' winter exploration program.
The rig narrowly missed hitting what appears to be a pipeline, described by state officials as oil and gas infrastructure located about 50 feet away from the topped rig. A diesel spill of potentially thousands of gallons was also noted by state officials, who stated in a Department of Environmental Conservation Situation Report that the spill occurred within "critical habitat for denning and non-denning polar bears and habitat for caribou, Arctic fox, muskox, and ptarmigan." No immediate impacts to wildlife were reported, but state officials also noted that investigation of the accident was not yet complete due to safety issues posed by the unstable rig.
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Background
The 23-million-acre Reserve in the Western Arctic is one of the most biologically, ecologically and culturally significant tracts of public land in the United States. Its diverse habitats range from tundra and wetlands to mountain foothills, grassy uplands, riparian areas, and river deltas. The region is home to iconic and imperiled wildlife species like polar bears and seals that depend on sea ice. It provides globally significant habitat for millions of migratory birds and for Alaska's massive caribou herds.
The Naval Petroleum Reserves Production Act of 1976 recognized the importance of the Western Arctic for wildlife and migratory birds including animals protected under the Endangered Species Act, and for the cultural practices and food security of Indigenous communities. The act requires the BLM to assure adequate mitigation of harm from oil and gas activities, and "maximum protection" of the fragile tundra, birds, wildlife and other unique resources within the Reserve when it allows exploration or drilling in special areas. When Congress authorized leasing and oil extraction in 1980, it again directed the federal government to assure the protection of the Western Arctic's ecological and cultural resources.
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About Earthjustice
Earthjustice is the premier nonprofit environmental law organization. We wield the power of law and the strength of partnership to protect people's health, to preserve magnificent places and wildlife, to advance clean energy, and to combat climate change. We are here because the earth needs a good lawyer.
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Original text here: https://earthjustice.org/press/2026/court-denies-request-to-halt-western-arctic-oil-exploration
[Category: Environment]
Cato Expert: Alex Pretti Shooting Raises Second Amendment Questions
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 -- Cato Institute issued the following news release on Jan. 28, 2026:
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Cato Expert: Alex Pretti Shooting Raises Second Amendment Questions
Since the death of ICE protester Alex Pretti, officials within the Trump administration have repeatedly said Pretti was killed because he was carrying his legally owned weapon. In a new blog post, the director of the Cato Institute's Project on Criminal Justice, Matthew Cavedon, details how administration officials continue to ignore constitutional protections:
"Yet the law is not supposed to make Americans choose between their lives
... Show Full Article
WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 -- Cato Institute issued the following news release on Jan. 28, 2026:
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Cato Expert: Alex Pretti Shooting Raises Second Amendment Questions
Since the death of ICE protester Alex Pretti, officials within the Trump administration have repeatedly said Pretti was killed because he was carrying his legally owned weapon. In a new blog post, the director of the Cato Institute's Project on Criminal Justice, Matthew Cavedon, details how administration officials continue to ignore constitutional protections:
"Yet the law is not supposed to make Americans choose between their livesand their constitutional liberty. The Second Amendment gives people the right to bear arms, and the Fourth Amendment promises to stop the government from killing them for doing so.
Mr. Pretti's death should be independently investigated. Courts should uphold strong limits on deadly force. And people should demand better of a government that voices their rights on Tuesday before insisting on Saturday that civilians can be killed for exercising them."
To speak with Cavedon on the Second Amendment implications of the death of Alex Pretti, contact Christopher Tarvardian.
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Original text here: https://www.cato.org/news-releases/cato-expert-alex-pretti-shooting-raises-second-amendment-questions#
[Category: Sociological]
