Environmental Politics

Haze Rule Helped Clear Air Over American Parks. Trump EPA Wants To Kill It

"During a hike in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in 1995, Don Barger climbed Chilhowee Mountain hoping to gaze across the valley below. All he saw was a wall of gray haze. Today, he said, he can see some 50 miles (80 kilometers) across that same valley to the Cumberland Mountains."

Source: AP, 04/11/2025

Firm Cancels Plant To Process Plastic Waste To Be Burned In Steel Mills

"International Recycling Group (IRG) has announced that they will cancel a planned plastic waste processing facility in Erie, Pennsylvania, due to President Trump’s federal funding cuts and tariffs, among other reasons."

Source: EHN, 04/11/2025

1000s of US Water Systems Show Dangerous Levels Of Cancer-Causing Chemicals

"Millions of people across the United States could be drinking water contaminated with dangerous levels of substances created when utilities disinfect water tainted with animal manure and other pollutants, according to a report released Thursday."

Source: The New Lede, 04/11/2025

Trump EPA Will Stop Collecting Greenhouse Gas Emissions Data From Most Polluters

"The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to eliminate long-standing requirements for polluters to collect and report their emissions of the heat-trapping gases that cause climate change. The move, ordered by a Trump appointee, would affect thousands of industrial facilities across the country, including oil refineries, power plants and coal mines as well as those that make petrochemicals, cement, glass, iron and steel, according to documents reviewed by ProPublica."

Source: ProPublica, 04/11/2025

Rural Human Rights Defenders Face Serious and Growing Risks: UN Report

"When a gold mine in rural Liberia spewed three million gallons of cyanide-laced wastewater into soil and groundwater in 2016, affected Indigenous communities’ calls for accountability went largely unanswered."

Source: Inside Climate News, 04/10/2025

Trump’s Nominee for EPA’s Top Lawyer Advances Despite Scant Qualifications

"Sean Donahue’s nomination to lead the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of General Counsel advanced on a party-line vote despite Donahue lacking basic legal experience like taking a deposition or drafting a pleading."

Source: Inside Climate News, 04/10/2025

Threatened Carbon Pipeline Filed Hundreds Of Lawsuits Against Landowners

"Jared Bossly was planting soybeans one spring night in 2023 on his 2,000-acre farm in South Dakota when he spotted a sheriff’s vehicle parked at the corner of his property. He had a hunch it wasn’t a social visit."

Source: AP, 04/10/2025

NOAA Contracts Being Reviewed One By One, Throwing The Agency Into Chaos

"The secretary of commerce is personally reviewing all contracts with commitments above $100,000 at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, causing backups and uncertainty in the agency that is responsible for the country's weather forecasts, marine fisheries management and coastal management. NOAA is housed within the Department of Commerce."

Source: NPR, 04/10/2025

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