Tag Archives: EPA

EPA To Cancel Grants On “Forever Chemicals” Research

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration is set to cancel tens of millions of dollars in grants to scientists studying environmental hazards faced by children in rural America, among other health issues, according to internal emails written by senior officials at the Environmental Protection Agency. The planned cancellation of the research grants, which were awarded to scientists outside …

Read More »

EPA Exempts 66 Coal Plants From Emissions Rules

The Associated Press reports: The Trump administration has granted nearly 70 coal-fired power plants a two-year exemption from federal requirements to reduce emissions of toxic chemicals such as mercury, arsenic and benzene. A list quietly posted as of Tuesday on the Environmental Protection Agency’s website lists 47 power providers — which operate at least 66 coal-fired plants — that are …

Read More »

Kennedy And Zeldin Team Up Against Fluoridation

The Associated Press reports: U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Monday said he plans to tell the CDC soon to stop recommending fluoridation in communities nationwide. Kennedy also said he’s assembling a task force to focus on the issue. Also on Monday, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it is reviewing “new scientific information” on potential health risks …

Read More »

Scientist Warns US Could See Return Of Acid Rain

The Guardian reports: The US could be plunged back into an era of toxic acid rain, an environmental problem thought to have been solved decades ago, due to the Donald Trump administration’s rollback of pollution protections, the scientist who discovered the existence of acid rain in North America has warned. A blitzkrieg launched by Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on …

Read More »

New EPA Portal Offers Exemptions To Clean Air Rules

NewsNation reports: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set up a portal allowing polluters to request exemptions to nine Clean Air Act rules. The EPA posted online this week that it had set up an email address allowing companies to more easily request such presidential exemptions. The news comes after the EPA recently announced that it planned to roll back …

Read More »

Judge: EPA Can’t Cancel Billions In Clean Energy Grants

Courthouse News reports: A federal judge temporarily blocked the Environmental Protection Agency from suddenly canceling three multibillion-dollar clean energy grants on Tuesday. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan found that the EPA had likely violated the law by issuing identical termination letters to Climate United Fund, Coalition for Green Capital and Power Forward Communities, which said their grants were terminated, effective …

Read More »

NYT: Zeldin To Fire EPA’s Scientific Research Division

The New York Times reports: The Environmental Protection Agency plans to eliminate its scientific research arm, firing as many as 1,155 chemists, biologists, toxicologists and other scientists, according to documents reviewed by Democrats on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology. The strategy is part of large-scale layoffs, known as a “reduction in force,” being planned by the Trump …

Read More »

EPA Erases Rules On Power Plant, Tailpipe Emissions

Reuters reports: The Trump administration announced a wave of regulatory rollbacks on Wednesday that included a repeal of emissions limits on power plants, reduced protections for waterways and a rollback of tailpipe pollution curbs in an effort to deliver on President Donald Trump’s energy dominance agenda. The Environmental Protection Agency is moving to unwind 31 Biden-era regulations intended to boost …

Read More »

EPA To Close All Eleven Environmental Justice Offices

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration intends to eliminate Environmental Protection Agency offices responsible for addressing the disproportionately high levels of pollution facing poor communities, according to a memo from Lee Zeldin, the agency administrator. In the internal memo, viewed by The New York Times, Mr. Zeldin informed agency leaders that he was directing “the reorganization and elimination” …

Read More »

Zeldin: Repeal Landmark Greenhouse Gas Finding

The Washington Post reports: Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has privately urged the White House to strike down a scientific finding underpinning much of the federal government’s push to combat climate change. The 2009 “endangerment finding” cleared the way for regulating greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act by concluding that the planet-warming gases pose a threat to public …

Read More »

EPA Criminal Division Head Quits Over Assets Freeze

The Washington Post reports: The head of the criminal division in the U.S. attorney’s office in D.C. resigned Tuesday morning after declining to comply with a Trump administration demand to freeze the assets of a multibillion-dollar Biden administration environmental grant initiative. Veteran prosecutor Denise Cheung did not spell out her reasons for her sudden resignation in an emailed announcement to …

Read More »

Trump To EPA: Repeal Rules On Low-Flush Toilets

USA Today reports: High flow toilets and incandescent light bulbs could make comebacks as President Donald Trump works to end previous environmental standards. Trump called for “common sense standards on LIGHTBULBS” on his social media platform Truth Social on Tuesday, and said he was instructing Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Lee Zeldin to immediately change the requirements. High-efficiency toilet standards were …

Read More »

DOGE Workers Deny Dems Entry To EPA Headquarters

Axios reports: A group of House and Senate Democrats said they were denied access to the Environmental Protection Agency’s headquarters in Washington, D.C. It is the third time this week that Democratic lawmakers were blocked from an agency that has been targeted by President Trump and Elon Musk’s DOGE. On Monday, a large group of Democrats tried to enter the …

Read More »

Coal Plants Petition Zeldin To Drop Toxic Waste Rules

The Ohio Capital Journal reports: President Donald Trump comes into office vowing to ease environmental regulations on the utility industry. Now companies that own coal-burning plants in Ohio are asking the new administration to excuse them from cleaning up acres of toxic waste that is soaked in groundwater. They include the owners of what has been called the nation’s deadliest …

Read More »

Zeldin Sends Firing Threat To Over 1100 EPA Workers

The New York Times reports: The Trump administration has warned more than 1,100 Environmental Protection Agency employees who work on climate change, reducing air pollution, enforcing environmental laws and other programs that they could be fired at any time. Many had been hired to work on programs that Congress created through two recent laws, doing things like helping communities replace …

Read More »

Lee Zeldin Confirmed To Lead EPA In 56-42 Vote

USA Today reports: The Senate voted Wednesday to confirm former congressman Lee Zeldin as President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency administrator. Zeldin, who is expected to pursue a deregulation push at the EPA, was confirmed by a vote of 56 to 42. Trump wants to rollback environmental rules, declaring when he announced Zeldin as his choice for EPA administrator that …

Read More »

EPA Pick Sued EPA With Claim Asbestos Isn’t Harmful

ProPublica reports: The man tapped by President Donald Trump to be second-in-command of the federal agency that protects the public from environmental dangers is a lawyer who has represented companies accused of harming people and the environment through pollution. David Fotouhi, a partner in the global law firm Gibson Dunn, played a key part in rolling back climate regulations and …

Read More »

Trump Names GOP Ex-Rep. Lee Zeldin To Head EPA

The New York Post reports: President-elect Donald Trump has selected former Rep. Lee Zeldin to serve as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, The Post can exclusively report. Zeldin, 44, served four terms as a Republican congressman repping Long Island before losing the 2022 New York governor’s race to Kathy Hochul by a surprisingly close margin. “We will accomplish all …

Read More »

Red States Sue To Block Power Plant Emissions Rules

Courthouse News reports: Fossil fuel industry groups and over two dozen Republican-led states on Friday asked the Supreme Court to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s emissions regulations for power plants. In hopes of ushering in climate-friendly energy alternatives, the Biden administration’s rule would force fossil fuel power plants into retirement, West Virginia said. Joined by 24 other states, the Mountain …

Read More »

Supreme Court Blocks Major EPA Rule On Air Pollution

The New York Times reports: The Supreme Court temporarily put on hold on Thursday an Environmental Protection Agency plan to curtail air pollution that drifts across state lines, dealing another blow to the Biden administration’s efforts to protect the environment. The ruling followed recent decisions chipping away at the agency’s authority to address climate change and water pollution. The ruling …

Read More »