EPA finalizes water rule that repeals Trump-era changes
President Joe Biden’s administration has finalized regulations that protect hundreds of thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways, repealing a Trump-era rule that federal courts had thrown out and that environmentalists said left waterways vulnerable to pollution.
Kansas oil spill biggest in Keystone pipeline history
A ruptured section of the Keystone Oil Pipeline dumped nearly 600,000 gallons of crude oil into a Kansas creek. The Environmental Protection Agency says no drinking water was affected — but nearby residents are complaining of a strong odor.
news.yahoo.comActivists pressure Biden to quickly issue new executive actions to fight climate change
Climate change activists and experts are calling on the Biden administration to swiftly deploy a series of executive actions to speed up the transition away from fossil fuels now that Republicans are set to retake control of the House of Representatives, effectively blocking new climate legislation from being passed.
news.yahoo.comDenver gets go-ahead from EPA after progress on lead pipes
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday approved a nearly $700 million plan to remove all lead water pipes in the Denver region, saying the local water utility’s approach for reducing lead levels is succeedings and making swift progress.
Biden tightens methane emissions rule amid push for more oil
The Biden administration has ramped up efforts to reduce methane emissions, targeting the oil and gas industry for its role in global warming even as President Joe Biden has pressed energy producers for more oil drilling to lower prices at the gasoline pump.
Tankship Commercial Manager Convicted of Violation for Air Pollution
Between Jan. 3, 2017, and July 10, 2018, the M/T Ocean Princess entered and operated within the ECA using fuel that contained excessive sulfur on twenty-six separate occasions. U.S. Coast Guard inspectors boarded the M/T Ocean Princess on July 10, 2018, to conduct an inspection. During the inspection, the U.S. Coast Guard discovered the vessel’s use of fuel with an excessive sulfur content. “I am exceptionally proud of the dedicated work by our Coast Guard Resident Inspection Office in St. Croix, our Coast Guard Sector San Juan marine inspectors who identified the violation, and our Coast Guard Investigative Service agents who worked with the Environmental Protection Agency in San Juan to investigate this case. The Coast Guard Investigative Service and the Environmental Protection Agency-Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.
justice.govEPA: Racial disparity in Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley'
The Environmental Protection Agency said it has evidence that Black residents in an industrial section of Louisiana face an increased risk of cancer from a nearby chemical plant — and that state officials have let air pollution remain high and downplayed its threat.
Invasive stink bugs could make life a lot smellier in the northern U.S. as climate change expands their habitat, study suggests
Now that it's autumn, people could see stink bugs creeping into their homes "by the thousands." One study suggests that within a few decades, even more people will be impacted.
cbsnews.comNAACP says Jackson's water problems are civil rights issue
The NAACP on Tuesday accused Mississippi of discriminating against Black residents by denying badly needed federal funds for drinking water infrastructure in Jackson and instead diverting money to largely-white communities that needed it less.
Biden administration launches environmental justice office
Forty years after a predominantly Black community in Warren County, North Carolina, rallied against hosting a hazardous waste landfill, President Joe Biden’s top environment official has returned to what is widely considered the birthplace of the environmental justice movement to unveil a national office that will distribute $3 billion in block grants to underserved communities burdened by pollution.
Activists petition EPA to restrict the use of home and commercial furnaces by 2030
A coalition of 26 climate change, public health and environmental justice advocacy organizations formally petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday to regulate air pollution produced by residential and commercial heating appliances, a move that would require homeowners and businesses to swap out heating and hot water furnaces.
news.yahoo.comHidden Menace: Massive methane leaks speed up climate change
To the naked eye, the Mako Compressor Station outside the dusty West Texas crossroads of Lenorah appears unremarkable, similar to tens of thousands of oil and gas operations scattered throughout the oil-rich Permian Basin. What’s not visible through the chain-link fence is the plume of invisible gas, primarily methane, billowing from the gleaming white storage tanks up into the cloudless blue sky. The Mako station, owned by a subsidiary of West Texas Gas Inc., was observed releasing an estimated 870 kilograms of methane – an extraordinarily potent greenhouse gas — into the atmosphere each hour.
news.yahoo.comEnvironmental justice advocates slam Supreme Court ruling
The Supreme Court decision Thursday to limit how the Environmental Protection Agency may regulate carbon dioxide emissions could make an already grave situation worse for those most affected by air pollution and climate change, community residents and advocates fear.
Michigan officials, climate activists bemoan Supreme Court ruling
LANSING, MI — Officials and activists in Michigan expressed bitter disappointment in a U.S. Supreme Court decision that severely curbs the federal government’s ability to regulate climate-warming carbon emissions in the energy sector. Acting in a lawsuit filed by West Virginia and others, the Supreme Court blocked it in 2016 by a 5-4 vote, with conservatives in the majority. Nonetheless, activists and experts say the ruling comes at a critical juncture in the fight against climate change. “I have so many friends who say how stunned I am — I guess I shouldn’t be stunned — but how worried I am about what the Supreme Court did today,” Dingell said. Ironically, the UN report was released on the same day as oral arguments in the West Virgina case before the Supreme Court in February.
mlive.comBiden restores California's power to set car emissions rules
The Biden administration is restoring California’s authority to set its own tailpipe pollution standards for cars, reversing a Trump administration policy and likely ushering in stricter emissions standards for new passenger vehicles nationwide.