Split Court Stops EPA From Rolling Back Climate Change Safeguard
The D.C. Circuit blocked the government Tuesday from stripping limits on a class of chemicals known as hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, that spew harmful greenhouse gases.
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EPA
DC Circuit Tosses Challenge to Power-Plant Permitting
The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday struck down the Sierra Club’s challenge to the Trump administration’s roundabout strategy to issue permits to power plants that the environmentalists warn will clog the nation’s air with even higher levels of harmful pollution.
Read moreWestern Water
Upper Missouri Waterkeeper sued EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler in federal court for approving a poison-pill variance that voids the science-based nutrient water quality standard that protects Montana water.
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Suit Claims EPA-Approved Rules Put Montana Waterways at Risk
Montana rivers and waterways are in store for toxic algae blooms thanks to the Trump administration’s rollback on water-quality standards, according to an environmental group’s federal lawsuit filed on Tuesday.
Read moreCiting Virus, EPA Has Stopped Enforcing Pollution Controls
The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday abruptly waived enforcement on a range of legally mandated public health and environmental protections, saying industries could have trouble complying with them during the coronavirus pandemic.
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Fast-Tracking Deregulation, EPA Pays No Heed to Virus Pandemic
As worries mount over the disjointed U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, the Trump administration is taking deliberate steps on another issue, ramping up deregulation at the Environmental Protection Agency.
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Scientists Booted From EPA Committees Get New Shot at Suit
Striking at the state of scientific integrity in Trump’s EPA, the First Circuit revived a lawsuit Monday that says the administration tripled the number of industry affiliates on at least one advisory committee meant to be unbiased.
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Groups Bring Suit Over Secret Approval Process for PFAS Chemicals
Bemoaning the government’s clandestine process of approving widely unregulated PFAS chemicals, environmentalists brought a federal complaint Wednesday to make the chemical program transparent.
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EPA Directed to Reconsider Pollution-Measurement Exemptions
The D.C. Circuit ordered the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday to reconsider the exemptions regarding hazardous air pollutants that it gives to coal- and oil-burning power plants.
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Judge Unlikely to Make EPA Update Pollution Rules for Coke Ovens
A federal judge signaled Thursday he will likely reject a bid to make the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency update pollution standards for coke ovens — coal-processing plants that emit dozens of hazardous air toxins — because the agency’s duty under the law is “ambiguous.”
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Arco Agrees to Pay $28 Million to Clean Up Montana Mining Town
Adding to its $1.4 billion already spent on cleaning up former mining sites near Butte, Montana, Atlantic Richfield Company agreed Tuesday to pay another $28 million for mining cleanup costs in Anaconda, Montana.
Read moreRecalcitrant EPA
Our Children’s Earth Foundation sued EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler in federal court for missing deadlines to act on California’s implementation of National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
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EPA Will Regulate Two Toxic Chemicals in Drinking Water
The Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it plans to regulate two nonstick and stain-resistant compounds in the drinking water amid growing concerns the chemicals found in everything from pizza boxes to carpet pose a health hazard.
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Toxic Superfund Cleanups Hit 30-Year Low
The Trump administration completed the fewest cleanups of toxic Superfund sites last year than any administration since the program’s first years in the 1980s, figures released by the Environmental Protection Agency showed Wednesday.
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Report: 10 US Refineries Emitting Toxic Pollutant Above Limit
Ten U.S. oil refineries were in late 2019 spewing levels of the cancer-causing pollutant benzene above a regulatory limit set by the Environmental Protection Agency, an environmental group said in a report released Thursday.
Read moreOcean Pollution
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and its Administrator Andrew Wheeler in federal court for failing to consider microplastics pollution in Ocean waters off Hawaii in a mandatory report, in violation of the Clean Water Act.
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San Diego Lawmakers Secure $300M for Cross-Border Pollution Crisis
Standing in front of the San Diego Bay on Friday and touting the importance of being able to surf with dolphins, elected leaders called on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to immediately allocate $300 million secured by a trade agreement signed this week to address a cross-border wastewater pollution crisis.
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Seventh Circuit Says Hands Are Tied in Tribe’s Fight With EPA Over Mine
A Seventh Circuit panel ruled Monday that federal law offers no recourse for a Wisconsin tribe challenging a permit which would allow runoff from a Michigan sulfide mine into a river on the border between Wisconsin and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, leaving the tribe to fight administratively in Michigan.
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