Environmental Politics

EPA Open Data Plan Is Worth Putting Into Action

Public databases — a boon to good environmental reporting — have long been a priority for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, as evidenced in its just-published “open data plan.” But as an analysis in the latest Reporter’s Toolbox notes, that pioneering approach may succumb to Trump 2.0 policies. What’s at stake and what’s already being lost.

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Environmental Justice Test for Trump EPA: A Creek That Smells Like Death

"EPA expressed alarm at contamination in a creek near a predominantly Black neighborhood. Then the agency eliminated its civil-rights office and has taken no further action."

Source: Inside Climate News, 08/15/2025

"Forest Experts Warn Spending Bill Sets Up US Forest Service to Fail"

"The recently passed spending bill sets logging targets that federal officials don’t have the capacity to meet"  "The new law sets aggressive timber harvesting goals and slashes spending for the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. Environmental advocates and industry insiders say those goals are contradictory and unworkable."

Source: Sierra, 08/15/2025

Trump FTC Blocks California’s Emissions Agreement With Truck Manufacturers

"The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has declared that an emissions agreement between California and four major truck makers is “unenforceable” — paving the way for noncompliance with the Golden State’s pollution rules, which are stricter than federal standards."

Source: The Hill, 08/15/2025

"Forcing Dirty Power Plants To Stay Open Would Cost Americans Billions"

"The Trump admin’s scheme to keep old fossil-fuel plants running could saddle utility customers with nearly $6 billion a year in unnecessary costs, a report finds."

Source: Canary Media, 08/15/2025

"In Appalachia, Fracking Is Not The Job Creator The Industry Claims"

"As the Trump administration aims to bolster fossil fuels at the expense of clean energy expansion, new research shows the oil and gas sector has so far failed to become a major jobs creator for heavily fracked areas of northern Appalachia."

Source: Canary Media, 08/15/2025

"Her Dogs Kept Dying, And She Got Cancer. Then They Tested Her Water."

"Debbie Blankenship’s wheelchair carved perfect lines in the grass as she rolled into her backyard garden, passing a wooden arch filled with small grapes, a bush with plump blueberries and yellow crates filled with sprouting potatoes. She stopped at a dirt patch with a burial marker for her beagle — the latest of her dogs to die of cancer."

Source: Washington Post, 08/15/2025

"Plastics Treaty Talks Collapse Without A Deal After “Chaotic” Negotiations"

"UN talks on creating a global pact to stem plastic pollution collapsed in Geneva with no agreement or clear way forward after chaotic nights of negotiations failed to break a deadlock over whether to include measures aimed at curbing runaway plastic production."

Source: Climate Home News, 08/15/2025

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