Pollution

"One bill that would have required oil companies to help pay for damages from climate-driven disasters failed and another that would levy heavy fines on refineries that release toxic air contaminants was watered down."

"About 780 coal units, individual generators with a boiler and a turbine capable of producing electricity, have retired since 2000. And more than half of the remaining units are also slated for retirement, according to new data from the Global Energy Monitor, an organization that collects international energy data."

"The EPA on Thursday put 168 employees within its environmental justice office on administrative leave as the Trump administration executes presidential actions to roll back diversity initiatives."

"A new and starkly different vision for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been outlined by the Trump administration – one that involves mass staff cuts, an influx of industry lobbyists and, unusually, the promotion of artificial intelligence as a key agency priority."

"A new artificial intelligence model from China not only upended stock markets this week, it also called into question whether the rush to build new, mostly fossil-fueled power plants to run data centers is premature."

"Exxon's proposal for a plastics factory on the Gulf Coast raises alarms for a community already dealing with pollution."

"Republicans in Congress and the Trump administration are attempting to repeal the Biden administration’s groundbreaking rules that require all the country’s lead pipes to be replaced over the next 13 years and lower the limit on lead in water."

"US regulators are failing to address concerns about toxic PFAS chemicals in foods despite having the scientific tools to do so, according to a lawsuit filed by an environmental group in Tucson, Arizona."

"Top advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are asking the agency’s acting director to explain the abrupt removal of information and data from CDC websites, and say when it will be restored." "Agencies took down info on topics including gender, vaccines, and climate change"

"Nearly five years ago, the United States Department of Energy, or DOE, began an unusual partnership with the country’s largest lobbying group for the plastics industry." "Critics argue that the agency’s work with a lobbying group is a conflict of interest."