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The government shelled out almost $2 million in a no-bid emergency contract to clean up a diesel spill that occurred under the watch of Freedom 250, the shadowy organization through which President Donald Trump is administering semiquincentennial celebrations.In May, Freedom 250 and a Trump-tied event management company, Event Strategies Inc., installed temporary lighting while setting up the Great American State Fair on the National Mall. Then, on May 20, fuel lines on the lighting equipment spilled at least 30 gallons of fuel onto the mall. The fuel seeped underground, contaminating rainwater repositories used to irrigate the mall. And another spill of an unknown quantity came soon after.The government awarded a “rushed, no-bid contract” of $1.8 million for the cleanup, reported Anna Kramer of NOTUS Friday. It took two months for the contract, which was awarded to Maryland-based business Custom Lawn Service Inc, to be posted publicly. Officials told Kramer that was due to the “emergency nature of the situation.”Government records reported in May by The New York Times suggest the spill was due to negligence, originating “from event-related equipment that lacked required secondary and tertiary containment measures.” But the Trump administration has described hiccups in its 250th celebrations as the fault of left-wing saboteurs, and this time was no different: The administration alleged that vandals slashed the fuel lines.The government does not ordinarily foot the bill for such cleanup jobs. Permit holders are typically held “liable for the environmental mitigation after a spill of such magnitude,” NBC News reported last month. Accordingly, hundreds of concerned citizens petitioned for Freedom 250, not the taxpayer, to be made financially responsible, but their calls apparently fell on deaf ears.The $1.8 million price tag is also markedly higher than initially estimated. According to the Times, the National Park Service in May was seeking a contractor for $1.1 million, and an interior department spokesperson said the cleanup “could end up costing far less.”

“We need Nuremberg trials for Big Oil,” the Sunrise Movement wrote on social media as wildfires rage across Canada.

Toxic pollution from the war on Iran will continue to devastate the country’s environment for years to come.

The journey is part of an experiment to see how the plant grows beyond Earth’s atmosphere.

The fund is focused on the Niger Delta region, where farmlands and waterways have suffered from decades of environmental pollution.

Iran Claims Eight People Killed as U.S. Bombards Civilian Infrastructure, Wildfires Cause Dense Smoke and Hazardous Air Quality in More Than 20 States, Trump Accuses China of Interfering in 2020 Election, Without Providing Evidence, Trump’s Teleprompter Operator Reportedly Earned Over $100K Betting on Presidential Speeches, Truth Social Plans to Sell Priority Access to Trump’s Posts, Iranian Official Claims Kushner and Witkoff Sought to Exploit Negotiations for Personal Gain, ICE Agent Who Fatally Shot Joan Sebastián Durán Guerrero Identified as David Brouillette, Rights Groups Demand Probe of ICE Violently Attempting Arrest of Elderly Man in Nevada, So-Called Border Czar Tom Homan Warns ICE Critics That “Bloodshed” Will Continue, U.S. Tightens Visa Rules for Foreign Students, Journalists and Cultural Exchange Visitors, Denise Oliver-Vélez, Lifelong Activist, Organizer and Educator, Dies at Age 78

This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. As millions of Americans prepare for another brutal heatwave, it’s now harder to find information about ways to stay cool while saving energy and keeping utility costs down. At least 1,662 Department of Energy (DOE) webpages offering guidance on protecting the electrical grid […]

Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, wants to see Canada punished for the smoke “atrocity.”

Tribal nations and environmental advocates have called on state officials to shut down the project for years.