Would firing Scott Pruitt save the EPA? “Efforts to silence science are more significant, more ambitious, and more overt than those undertaken by Pruitt’s predecessors”

By by Jennifer Liss Ohayon, Leif Fredrickson, and Christopher Sellers 22 May 2018 (The Washington Post) – So many different scandals have engulfed Scott Pruitt, head of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), that multiple publications have created trackers to help readers sort them out. Pruitt’s excessive spending and his fraternization with lobbyists and controversial figures […]

Across U.S., toxic algal blooms threaten lakes and other waterways, with alarming rise from 3 blooms in 2010 to 169 blooms in 2017

AMES, Iowa, 15 May 2018 (EWG) – Across the U.S., a growing epidemic of toxic algal blooms is polluting lakes and other waterways, according to a new report by the Environmental Working Group.Toxic algal blooms occur when chemical pollution from farms and other sources runs off into waterways, forming a thick, green, soup-like substance on […]

Reduction in pollutant emissions slowing down in U.S. – “Air quality is better than it was decades ago, but now we’re starting to see the improvement slow down”

By Kasha Patel 31 May 2018 (NASA) – The air we breathe today in the United States is much cleaner than it was in the 1960s and 70s. But recent satellite data show that air quality is not improving as quickly as predicted by models.“Air quality is better than it was decades ago, but now […]

Paving the way for Trump: Past presidential assaults on environmental health protection

By Jamie Lyons 1 May 2018 (EDGI) – The Trump administration, including Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) head Scott Pruitt, has undertaken an assault on environmental health protections. This assault includes deregulation, defunding, staff cuts, and the corrosion of science-based policy.This assault is severe, but is it unprecedented?Based on EDGI’s research, recently published in the American […]

Emails show cooperation among EPA and climate science denialists at Heartland Institute

By Ellen Knickmeyer 26 May 2018 WASHINGTON (Associated Press) – Newly released emails show senior Environmental Protection Agency officials working closely with a conservative group that dismisses climate change to rally like-minded people for public hearings on science and global warming, counter negative news coverage, and promote Administrator Scott Pruitt’s stewardship of the agency. John […]

White House, EPA blocked chemical pollution study showing widespread contamination of U.S. water supplies, citing “potential public relations nightmare”

By Annie Snider 14 May 2018 (Politico) – Scott Pruitt’s EPA and the White House sought to block publication of a federal health study on a nationwide water-contamination crisis, after one Trump administration aide warned it would cause a “public relations nightmare,” newly disclosed emails reveal. The intervention early this year — not previously disclosed […]

EPA chief Pruitt overrules staff, gives Wisconsin’s Walker, Foxconn big break on smog

By Michael Hawthorne 2 May 2018 (Chicago Tribune) – The Trump administration on Tuesday exempted most of southeast Wisconsin from the latest federal limits on lung-damaging smog pollution, delivering a political victory to Gov. Scott Walker as he makes a new Foxconn Technology Group factory the centerpiece of his re-election campaign.By dramatically reducing the size […]

Lawmakers grilling EPA chief Scott Pruitt: “You are unfit to hold public office”

By Ashley Killough and Deirdre Walsh 26 April 2018 (CNN) – Scott Pruitt’s controversial spending and travel decisions were the subject of a blistering congressional hearing Thursday, where the embattled administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency faced House members amid weeks of scandal. [Of course, his denial of climate and environmental science is not a […]

EPA insiders bemoan low point in agency’s history: “The relentless tide of bullshit from Pruitt and his cronies is tough to deal with”

By Oliver Milman 7 April 2018 (The Guardian) – The week at the Environmental Protection Agency has been a brutal low point in what many staff members refer to as the most difficult year in its near half-century history. An avalanche of allegations of ethical misconduct by the EPA administrator, Scott Pruitt, has heaped embarrassment […]

Particulate matter from California wildfires linked to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events – “It’s a local problem, but it’s also a national problem”

By L.A. McKeown 12 April 2018 (TCTMD) – New data show a surprising pattern of increased emergency department (ED) visits for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular problems on days when wildfires are burning in California. Researchers say the fine particulate matter created by the fires poses significant risk beyond the state’s borders, and in particular to people […]

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