U.S. environment agency cuts funding for kids’ health studies – “It works out perfectly for industry”

By Sara Reardon 13 May 2019 (Nature) – The Columbia Center for Children’s Environmental Health has tracked the lives of hundreds of children in New York City since 1998. Scientists have collected samples of blood, urine and even the air in children’s homes, starting when their subjects were in the womb, to tease out the […]

From ruined bridges to dirty air, EPA scientists price out the cost of climate change – “The cost of inaction is really high, and the cost of reducing emissions pales in comparison”

By Julia Rosen 8 April 2019 (Los Angeles Times) – By the end of the century, the manifold consequences of unchecked climate change will cost the U.S. hundreds of billions of dollars per year, according to a new study by scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency. Those costs will come in multiple forms, including water shortages, […]

Recording reveals oil industry execs laughing at Trump access – “We have unprecedented access to people that are in these positions who are trying to help us, which is great”

By Lance Williams 23 March 2019 (Reveal) – Gathered for a private meeting at a beachside Ritz–Carlton in Southern California, the oil executives were celebrating a colleague’s sudden rise. David Bernhardt, their former lawyer, had been appointed by President Donald Trump to the powerful No. 2 spot at the Department of the Interior. Just five […]

Interior Deptartment opens ethics investigation of its new chief, David Bernhardt, after seven complaints from “a wide assortment of complainants alleging various conflicts of interest and other violations”

By Coral Davenport 15 April 2019 WASHINGTON (The New York Times) – The Interior Department’s internal watchdog has opened an investigation into ethics complaints against the agency’s newly installed secretary, David Bernhardt. Mr. Bernhardt, a former lobbyist for the oil and agribusiness industries, was confirmed by the Senate last week to head the agency, which oversees […]

Washington, New York will fight Trump order boosting coal, oil projects – “We will not allow this or any presidential administration to block us from exercising our authority lawfully and effectively”

By Joel Connelly 11 April 2019 (SeattlePI) – President Donald Trump has signed an executive order designed to block states from using a provision of the Clean Water Act to delay or prevent big oil and coal projects such as a proposed coal export terminal in Longview on the Columbia River. The states of Washington […]

Trump’s EPA science panel considers guidelines that upend basic air pollution science – “I just want to emphasize the fringe nature of these proposals”

Rebecca Hersher28 March 2019 (NPR) – Several members of a powerful science panel for the Environmental Protection Agency expressed doubt at a hearing Thursday about the long-established scientific consensus that air pollution can cause premature death. The panel was meeting to consider recommendations that would fundamentally change how the agency analyzes the public health dangers […]

Record floods in U.S. Midwest have reached Superfund sites in three states

By Christopher Flavelle 26 March 2019 (Bloomberg) – Major flooding across the U.S. Midwest has reached at least eight Superfund sites in three states, and kept EPA staff from determining whether any are leaking toxic chemicals as a result. The Environmental Protection Agency said it is unable to access the sites containing arsenic, benzene, cyanide […]

Trump regulation rollbacks will result in more than 200 million tons of additional greenhouse emissions each year – “The Trump administration has taken historically unprecedented actions to roll back years of environmental progress”

WASHINGTON, D.C., 5 March 2019 (NYU School of Law) – Today, the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center at the NYU School of Law announced the release of a Special Report detailing the extensive climate change and public health damage caused by the Trump administration’s environmental deregulatory agenda. In its Special Report, titled “Climate & […]

Senate confirms former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler as EPA administrator

By Anna M. Phillips28 February 2019 (Los Angeles Times) – The Senate on Thursday confirmed Andrew Wheeler to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, handing the reins of the agency responsible for ensuring clean air and safe drinking water to a former coal industry lobbyist. The 52-to-47 vote removed the word “acting” from Wheeler’s title, installing […]

50M gallons of polluted water pours daily from U.S. mine sites

By Matthew Brown20 February 2019 RIMINI, Montana (AP) – Every day many millions of gallons of water loaded with arsenic, lead and other toxic metals flow from some of the most contaminated mining sites in the U.S. and into surrounding streams and ponds without being treated, The Associated Press has found. That torrent is poisoning […]

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