Environmental groups call for government to label ‘forever chemicals’

[Source: Newsweek] Eighty-two environmental organizations expressed concern on Tuesday that Senator Jim Inhofe had stripped language about so-called “forever chemicals” suspected to affect 400 U.S. military sites from the National Defense Authorization Bill. In a “skinny” NDAA bill submitted last month, Inhofe, the Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, removed language regarding pervasive Per-and Read More…

EPA cites San Francisco for ‘water pollution’, fulfilling Trump’s threat

[Source: The Guardian] The Trump administration issued an environmental notice of violation to San Francisco on Wednesday, fulfilling Donald Trump’s threat to cite the city over an inaccurate claim that linked water pollution with the city’s homeless crisis. Trump said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) would issue a notice because the city allowed needles and waste Read More…

The Energy 202: EPA’s new ‘no surprises’ inspection policy has some critics worried

[Source: The Washington Post] The Environmental Protection Agency will no longer have inspectors drop by power plants and other potential illegal polluters without giving states notice, a move Trump administration critics say will limit the agency’s ability to enforce environmental laws. A July 11 memo from Susan Bodine, the EPA’s top enforcement official, to regional administrators spelled out the Read More…

Trump EPA rolls back Obama rule on coal-fired power plants

[Source: Associated Press] The Trump administration on Wednesday completed one of its biggest rollbacks of environmental rules, replacing a landmark Obama-era effort that sought to wean the nation’s electrical grid off coal-fired power plants and their climate-damaging pollution. Environmental Protection Agency chief Andrew Wheeler, a former coal industry lobbyist, signed a replacement rule that gives Read More…

Battle over science roils EPA

[Source: The Hill] Environmental Protection Agency is battling its own board of science advisers over its controversial plan to dismiss certain types of scientific research from consideration when issuing rules. A meeting this week between the agency and some of the nation’s top scientists highlighted the growing rift between the EPA and the scientific community, Read More…

Trump says he will name EPA’s acting chief Andrew Wheeler to post permanently

[Source: Los Angeles Times] President Trump says he will name the Environmental Protection Agency’s acting head, Andrew Wheeler, to the post permanently. Trump made the announcement almost in passing Friday at a White House ceremony for Presidential Medal of Freedom honorees. The president singled out Wheeler in the audience at the ceremony, adding Wheeler “is Read More…