Environmental Politics

"Flowing down the Mississippi River, the excess fertilizer that washes off vast swaths of farmland fuels a persistent “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico and threatens drinking water supplies upstream. Yet despite more than a quarter-century of federal effort and billions spent on potential solutions, experts say the watershed is “not even close” to its targets for fixing the problem."

"President Joe Biden on Tuesday proposed a new rule to address excessive heat in the workplace, warning — as tens of millions of people in the U.S. are under heat advisories — that high temperatures are the country’s leading weather-related killer."

"The long-awaited rule could be finalized before November, but it faces political hurdles either way."

"The oil industry withdrew its $40 million campaign to kill a historic law to protect neighborhoods from oil drilling’s toxic effects, but is threatening to challenge the measure in court."

"Companies have spent decades obstructing efforts to take on the plastics crisis and may have breached a host of US laws, a new report argues."

"The Environment Agency is refusing to provide campaigners with details of potential conflicts of interests with water companies held by its directors across England."

"Over more than an hour and a half of back-and-forth, climate change got just a couple minutes of airtime during a CNN-hosted debate between President Joe Biden and former president Donald Trump on Thursday."

"The Supreme Court’s decision on Friday to limit the broad regulatory authority of federal agencies could lead to the elimination or weakening of thousands of rules on the environment, health care, worker protection, food and drug safety, telecommunications, the financial sector and more."

"Stephen Roe Lewis grew up seeing stacks of legal briefs at the dinner table — often, about his tribe’s water. His father, the late Rodney Lewis, was general counsel for the Gila River Indian Community and fought for the tribe’s rights to water in the Southwest, eventually securing in 2004 the largest Native American water settlement in U.S. history."

"For the second time this year, a chemical recycling plant built to turn waste into usable products has closed, casting further doubt on the viability of an upstart industry that has been plagued by financial and technical challenges in its effort to scale up."