Environmental Protection Agency

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EPA to Loosen Clean-Air Rules in National Parks

Bush moves to allow coal-fired plants nearer US land preserves

(Newser) - Polluting facilities like coal-fired power plants could soon be allowed to operate closer to national parks, according to documents obtained by the Washington Post. Rules being finalized by the EPA—against strong objections from several officials—will weaken Clean Air Act protections by averaging out emission counts over a year,...

Bush's EPA Gutted Toxic Chemical Protections
Bush's EPA Gutted Toxic Chemical Protections
ANALYSIS
Nov 11, 2008 4:15 PM CST

Bush's EPA Gutted Toxic Chemical Protections

Military-use substances were deemed less toxic, key reviews stalled

(Newser) - The Environmental Protection Agency program that rates the toxicity of chemicals used in the US, and around the world, has been manipulated in favor of industry and the military under the Bush administration, Rebecca Claren reports in Salon. Budget-cutting directives from the White House have allowed outside organizations, including the...

Biofuels' Green Cred in Dispute

Some say producing more of the greener fuel makes world less green overall

(Newser) - Biofuels, once hailed as a planet-saving alternative to gasoline, are now savaged as much the opposite, the Wall Street Journal reports, with critics charging the “ripple effect” on land use globally actually adds climate-harming carbon. The EPA has signaled plans to modify biofuel emissions measurements to reflect that, but...

EPA Won't Limit Rocket-Fuel Ingredient in Water

Contaminant perchlorate is linked to thyroid problems

(Newser) - The EPA has decided not to set limits for a component of rocket fuel that contaminates drinking water, according to an agency document reviewed by the AP. Perchlorate, linked to thyroid problems in pregnant women and babies, enters the water supply through improper disposal by rocket test sites and chemical...

Bayer Knew Pesticide Killed Bees, Critics Charge

(Newser) - A German prosecutor is investigating allegations that chemical giant Bayer CropScience knowingly sold a pesticide that kills honeybees, the Raleigh News & Observer reports. The investigation follows complaints from German beekeepers and environmentalists that the company covered up incriminating data on chlothianidine. In the US, meanwhile, an environmental group sued...

Safety of US Tap Water Remains Murky
Safety of US
Tap Water Remains Murky
Aug 19, 2008 12:58 PM CDT

Safety of US Tap Water Remains Murky

Consumers, experts worry over effect of drugs present in supply

(Newser) - As critics pan bottled water as wasteful and frivolous, many Americans are turning back to tap water—only to find a debate of equal concern waiting at their kitchen sinks. The Wall Street Journal examines the controversy over tap-water purity, and why many argue the federal government isn’t doing...

Calif. Sues EPA for 'Wantonly' Ignoring Earth

Suit seeks to force EPA action on emissions from ships, planes, industry

(Newser) - California is suing the EPA for "wantonly" shirking its duty to protect the environment, reports Reuters. The lawsuit is aimed at forcing the agency to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from ships, planes, and industrial equipment, said Attorney General Jerry Brown. He said previous efforts to get the agency to...

EPA Staffers Told to Keep Quiet in Memo

Environmental experts suspect politically charged 'gag order'

(Newser) - In what some officials fear is a sign of secrecy and political meddling, an email to Environmental Protection Agency staff asked that they not answer questions from journalists, the Government Accountability Office, or its own inspector general, CNN reports. In the email, which an environmental workers’ group called a “...

Corn-Hungry Texas Calls for Cuts in Biofuel Mandates

Ethanol future in balance as governor pleads for livestock corn

(Newser) - The EPA is considering a proposal from the governor of Texas to slash the amount of ethanol that oil companies are required to blend into gasoline to meet quotas, the New York Times reports. Gov. Rick Perry is calling for the EPA to cut the ethanol mandate in half, from...

EPA Forecasts Longer, Smoggier Summers for US

Agency warns of effects from global warming

(Newser) - Climate change will bring longer, hotter, smoggier summers in the coming decades across the US, a new EPA reports says. Expect more wildfires and hurricanes, too, along with water problems in the West, the Washington Post reports. The federal report is noteworthy because it refutes the Bush administration's rosier outlook...

Bush, EPA Won't Touch Emissions
 Bush, EPA 
 Won't Touch 
 Emissions 
UPDATED
Jul 11, 2008 2:24 PM CDT

Bush, EPA Won't Touch Emissions

Decision flouts Supreme Court, top government officials

(Newser) - Regulation of greenhouse gas emissions will have to wait until President Bush is out of office, the EPA announced today. Instead, the agency will say it needs months of further public comment to make any decision. The statement is the end result of a protracted White House effort to tone...

EPA Cuts the Value of a Life by $1M
EPA Cuts
the Value of a Life by $1M
Jul 11, 2008 4:13 AM CDT

EPA Cuts the Value of a Life by $1M

Statistical trim makes life-saving regulation harder to justify

(Newser) - The Environmental Protection Agency has quietly reduced the hypothetical value of a human life by almost a million dollars to $6.9 million, reports the AP. The figure is used in cost benefit analyses to weigh the life-saving potential of environmental protection policies. Placing a lower value on human life...

Cheney's Staff Cut Testimony on Climate: EPA Official

VP feared regulations on greenhouse gas

(Newser) - Aides to Vice President Dick Cheney censored congressional testimony on climate change by a top government official, a former official at the Environmental Protection Agency charges. Jason Burnett claims Cheney’s office, fearing testimony would lead to greater regulation of greenhouse gases, excised six pages of text regarding the health...

Polluting Pentagon Rebuffs EPA Orders

Pentagon challenges agency's right to order toxic chemical clean up

(Newser) - The Pentagon is holding out on an Environmental Protection Agency order to clean up pollutants from three military bases where chemicals have become an "imminent and substantial" threat to the public health and environment, the Washington Post reports. The Defense Department also won’t sign contracts to clean up...

White House Ignored EPA Pollutants Email

Bush & Co. refused to open report mandated by Supreme Court

(Newser) - The White House didn’t like the findings in a Supreme Court-mandated report on pollutants from the EPA—so it simply refused to open the email, the New York Times reports. Instead, the administration has successfully pressured the agency into releasing a watered-down, recommendation-free report. Among the omitted sections: analysis...

New Shower Curtains Smell Like Cancer

PVC products linked to wide-ranging and long-lasting ills

(Newser) - Ever wonder about that smell given off by new shower curtains? Well, according to a new study, it’s poisonous. An independent organization has found that PVC shower curtains on shelves at Wal-Mart, Target, Sears and others may give off measurable amounts of dangerous, volatile organic compounds that could linger...

Clean-Air Changes 'Imperil Parks'

Rules make allow power plants nearby

(Newser) - Clean air rules likely to be changed this summer are causing serious concerns about future pollution at some of America's most spectacular national parks, reports the Washington Post. The changes will pave the way for 28 new coal-fired power plants near ten parks, according to a report supported by some...

EPA Plans Tough New Lead Limits
EPA Plans
Tough New
Lead Limits
May 2, 2008 2:37 AM CDT

EPA Plans Tough New Lead Limits

Safety standards unchanged for 30 years

(Newser) - The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing stringent new regulations on lead  levels in the air, which have remained unchanged for 30 years. Some 23 counties in the US would be out of compliance once the new standards are established. Lead has been linked to developmental and learning problems in children.

EPA Scientists Rip Political 'Interference'

Survey finds agency 'under siege' from meddling officials

(Newser) - Hundreds of Environmental Protection Agency scientists say they have come under political pressure to fudge their findings, the Los Angeles Times reports. More than half the scientists who responded to a survey said they had experienced interference over the last five years. The report from a nonprofit scientists' group describes...

National Park, Meet Coal Smog
 National Park, Meet Coal Smog 
Apr 23, 2008 4:03 PM CDT

National Park, Meet Coal Smog

Over own experts' objections, EPA moves to allow power plants closer to rec areas

(Newser) - The Environmental Protection Agency is set to change its rules to allow the construction of coal power plants in previously off-limits areas near national parks, the Christian Science Monitor reports. A draft revision to the Clean Air Act would soften standards of pollution in “Class 1” areas (ie, national...

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