Laws & Regulations

"Communities alongside rail lines had two more close calls this week as freight trains carrying hazardous materials derailed in Houston and Detroit."

"The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved new rules Thursday to help protect the electricity system during severe winter weather, but grid experts said more action is needed to prevent deadly power outages like those that occurred during Winter Storm Uri."

"A coalition of environmental organizations on Thursday called on Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg to act on a rail safety rule scrapped by the Trump administration, arguing failure to enforce it increases the likelihood of environmental rail disasters."

"The fossil fuel industry is failing to tackle methane emissions despite its pledges to uncover and fix leaking infrastructure, according to a report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) published on Tuesday."

"Drinking water systems are preparing for the possibility that the EPA will try to codify its 2022 health advisories suggesting no amount of PFAS substances are safe, water attorneys say."

"Roger Houser's ranching business was getting squeezed. The calves he raises in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley were selling for about the same price they had a few years earlier, while costs for essentials like fuel and fertilizer kept going up. But Houser found another use for his 500 acres."

"The Biden administration on Friday restored the legal foundation of an Obama-era regulation governing mercury, a pollutant from power plants that can damage brain development in babies and cause heart disease in adults."

"The Trump administration abandoned rail safety rules that were pursued during the Obama era. The Biden administration is trying to revive some of them."

"United Nations members gather Monday in New York to resume efforts to forge a long-awaited and elusive treaty to safeguard the world’s marine biodiversity."