The Trump Administration Is Enshrining Its Anti-Science Policy in the Midst of an Epidemic
Ron Sachs/CNP via ZUMA As more states learned they have rising numbers of confirmed cases of coronavirus Tuesday evening—now 16 states report at least 135 cases—the EPA made an important announcement: The agency is moving closer to finalizing a policy for restricting what health studies it can consider for any of the EPA’s scientific work. That…
Racist Policies in Urban Neighborhoods Have Created Deadly “Heat Islands”
slobo/iStock/Getty This piece was originally published in The Guardian and appears here as part of our Climate Desk Partnership. Deadly urban heatwaves disproportionately affect underserved neighborhoods because of the legacy of racist housing policies which have denied African Americans home ownership and basic public services, a landmark new study has found. Extreme heat kills hundreds of people…
Trump’s Latest Environmental Rollback Is a Middle Finger to Common Sense
The proposal would be the first major update to the law in more than four decades. The rules are certain to face legal challenges. NEPA has long been a target of industry groups, developers and Republican lawmakers who say it places unnecessary burdens on business and is used as a tool to block and delay…
A New Trump Rule Would Fast-Track Oil Pipelines Without Consideration of Climate Change
Environmental groups gather at the Capitol to oppose oil and gas drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in October 2017. Tom Williams/AP The Trump administration will soon make it easier for projects like oil pipelines and highways to get federal approval regardless of their environmental risks and effects on climate change, according to the New…
Why Is This Federal Pollution Tracker Shutting Down?
Toxmap allowed users to pan and zoom across a map of the United States and Canada to discover information about environmental contamination, and to cross-reference that with other relevant data, like demographics and population. /NLM This piece was originally published in Undark and appears here as part of our Climate Desk Partnership. Fifteen years ago,…
The Supreme Court Is Tackling an Important Superfund Case and It’s—Messy
The U.S. Supreme Court building at sunset.Bill Clark/AP For decades, Anaconda Company Smelter operated an enormous copper smelting factory in Opportunity, Montana. And for more than seven decades, that factory spewed tons of toxic waste, mostly arsenic, into the community’s soil and water supply. In 1983, the EPA made Opportunity one of its Superfund sites, and…