The Guardian

• Supreme court sides with oil and gas firms in Louisiana coastal damage fight

  8-0 ruling gives companies new day in federal court after firms including Chevron ordered to pay millions for cleanup

  The supreme court handed a win on Friday to oil and gas companies fighting lawsuits over coastal land loss and environmental degradation in Louisiana.

  The 8-0 procedural decision gives the companies a new day in federal court after a state jury ordered Chevron to pay upward of $740m to clean up damage to the state’s coastline, one of multiple similar lawsuits.

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• US Senate repeals Biden-era ban on mining near Minnesota wilderness area

  Measure passes 50-49 to overturn a 20-year ban on mining near renowned Boundary Waters canoe area wilderness

  The US Senate narrowly voted on Thursday to overturn a ban on mining near Minnesota’s Boundary Waters canoe area wilderness, an enormous complex of interconnected lakes, rivers and forests that is among the most visited wild areas in the US.

  The resolution passed 50-49 to repeal a 20-year moratorium imposed by Joe Biden’s administration in 2023 on mining across the 225,000 acres (91,000 hectares) in the Superior national forest.

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• Puerto Rico’s rainforest center reborn: in pictures

  After two devastating hurricanes, El Yunque national forest has built a new visitors center that hosts a vibrant arts festival

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• Gray whales, once rare in San Francisco Bay, dying there at alarming rates

  Researchers find increase in whale deaths in the bay, largely because of collisions with vessels on busy shipping route

  Gray whales have historically been a rare sight in the San Francisco Bay. They trek from the warm lagoons of Mexico’s Baja California more than 10,000 miles (16,000km) north to the Arctic region to feast on shrimp-like animals during the summers, seldom stopping in the busy shipping corridor for prolonged periods.

  But in recent years, that story has changed in a dire way. A new study, published this week in the journal Frontiers in Marine Science, has found that gray whales in the bay have been dying at alarming rates, largely due to collisions with vessels.

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• NAACP lawsuit accuses Elon Musk’s xAI of polluting Black neighborhoods near Memphis

  Suit alleges the billionaire’s AI company is illegally spewing toxic pollutants from its datacenter in the Memphis area

  A new lawsuit accuses Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company of illegally spewing toxic pollutants into residential neighborhoods on the border of Tennessee and Mississippi.

  The suit, filed on Tuesday in Mississippi federal court, alleges xAI is violating the Clean Air Act due to emissions from itsmakeshift power plant in Southaven, Mississippi, which powers its datacenter there. The NAACP, represented by the environmental groups Southern Environmental Law Center and Earthjustice, says xAI has been polluting areas with homes, schools and churches, including in historically Black communities, by using dozens of methane gas generators without permits.

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