Environmental Health

"More than 10,700 staffers left EPA and the Interior and Energy departments under a Trump program that incentivized resignations."

"A federal court’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit alleging US regulators failed to prevent widespread contamination of farmland with toxic PFAS chemicals was based on a “flawed interpretation” of the Clean Water Act, creating “dangerous real-world consequences for public health,” a watchdog group argued in a new court filing."

"A coalition of 24 states, along with a dozen cities and counties, sued the Trump administration on Thursday over its decision to relinquish the government’s legal authority to fight climate change."

"Hardly anyone in the natural wine world is talking about environmental justice for those who pick the grapes, labor advocates say. The Guardian Vital label aims to change that."

"The Trump administration says one of the world’s biggest natural gas–fired power plants will come to Ohio. But financial risks, permitting hurdles, and uncertainties about the project’s access to equipment have critics doubting when — and if — the plant will come online."

"The DOE just ordered the TransAlta coal plant to keep running. But it has been offline since December, and a new state law would make it too costly to turn back on."

"Rainbow trout is a prized catch for fisherman on the Northern Cheyenne reservation, in the high plains of southeastern Montana." 

"Under the draft proposal, the principle that exposure should be “as low as reasonably achievable” will be replaced with hard limits and special exceptions."

"Oklahoma took on an ambitious project to catalog all of the state’s injection wells, which shoot toxic waste generated by oil drilling back into the ground. Despite records showing risk of drinking water pollution, the state chose not to act."

"Elmer Brown was following two friends on his four-wheeler last November, hunting caribou across a frozen channel in northern Alaska when the ice gave way. All three plunged into the frigid water. One friend drowned, and Brown, 45, later died of hypothermia, leaving behind five children."