By Natural Resources Defense Council In 1990, Congress passed Clean Water Act amendments that required the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to better prepare for worst-case-scenario spills of hazardous materials, such as those caused by extreme storms or flooding. Now, after more than two decades without action from the EPA, NRDC, together with the Environmental Justice Health […]
By James Goodwin, Center for Progressive Reform Today, the Center for Progressive Reform and 46 other environmental, labor, and public health organizations sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Andrew Wheeler calling on him to withdraw the agency’s pending “benefits-busting” rule. Wheeler was recently confirmed as the official agency head, and, as the letter notes, he […]
By Larissa Liebmann, Waterkeeper Alliance Thanks to air emissions standards created by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Clean Air Act in 2011, important progress in reducing mercury pollution in our waterways has been made. But Trump’s EPA is now taking steps to weaken these standards. Please take a stand against this polluter handout […]
By the American Lung Association “Where Does Air Pollution Come From?” That’s our theme for the month of March as part of the Year of Air Pollution & Health, and we are doing a series of blogs featuring success stories of reducing pollution from major sources. First up: The success of the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards in […]
Bu Susan Harley, Public Citizen This week marks Sunshine Week, when the media, civil society organizations and the government all join together to celebrate transparency and the power of open government. Named in reference to the famous quote from Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, “sunlight is the best of disinfectants,” Sunshine Week is focused on […]
By Sylvia Fallon, Natural Resources Defense Council No one was surprised when the Trump administration proposed removing Endangered Species Act protections from wolves across the entire Lower 48 states with the exception of the small, struggling population of Mexican wolves in the Southwest. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) has been trying to cut wolves loose […]
By Ellen Simon, Waterkeeper Alliance As Houston grows, the city and its suburbs are devouring its wetlands. Building subdivisions on top of wetlands has made the nation’s fourth-largest city vulnerable to the stronger and more frequent storms that come with climate change, as Hurricane Harvey demonstrated in 2017. Now, a Trump administration proposal to gut […]
By Rachel Cleetus, Union of Concerned Scientists A couple of days after Christmas last year, during the federal government shut-down, EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler somehow found time to issue a pernicious proposal to undermine a crucial clean air rule, the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS) for coal-fired power plants. More insidiously, the proposal is an attack […]
By Joel Clement, Union of Concerned Scientists Laws are good to have. Take the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), which requires the federal government to complete a science-based Environmental Impact Assessment for any project that might damage the surrounding landscape, endanger wildlife, or cause other environmental harm. This helps ensure the wise use of science […]
By Jon Devine, Natural Resources Defense Council The White House released its proposed federal government budget this week and it’s a plan only water polluters can love. If followed, it would mean more polluted drinking water supplies, make restoring the fisheries of the Chesapeake Bay and other waters harder, delay needed fixes to failing sewer […]
By Laurie Ristino, Center for Progressive Reform The Democratic majority in the U.S. House of Representatives has a weighty agenda – from policy reform to oversight of the Trump administration. Given all that the House Democrats have on their plate, urging them to restore policy rationality by making the support of science-based policy central to […]
By Christopher Williams, American Rivers On February 14, the Trump Administration published a proposed federal rule that would roll back protection for streams and wetlands across the United States. But we don’t have this accept this awful valentine — Write to the Administration today and let them know that you support healthy rivers and clean water.Urge […]