"Trappers can keep using sodium cyanide bombs to kill coyotes and other livestock predators, the Trump administration said Thursday, rejecting calls for a ban despite repeated instances of the devices also poisoning other wildlife, pets and people."
"Most U.S. states have cut funding and staffing at their environmental agencies over the past decade, according to a study by a green advocacy group, raising questions about the Trump administration’s policy to shift more enforcement of federal environmental laws to states."
"The widely used solvent methylene chloride poses an even greater chance of hurting people and the environment than the EPA found in an analysis that determined most uses of the chemical are too risky, environmental, health, and labor groups said Dec. 3."
"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Tuesday released its newest definition for ambient air in a move critics say will ease burdens on polluting industries. On its surface, the guidance deals less directly with air quality than it does with fencing."
"EPA is poised to leave its national soot standards unchanged after a fractured advisory panel yesterday formally opted to recommend the status quo. While career EPA staff had tentatively concluded that the annual exposure benchmark is too weak to prevent thousands of premature deaths, a majority on the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee found otherwise."
"A new Harvard University study for the first time links hospitalizations for common blood, skin and kidney ailments to short-term exposure to fine particulate matter from fossil fuel combustion and wildfires."
"A debate over Montana landowners’ potential liability for toxic metals in their backyards, deposited over decades of smelting operations, dominated oral arguments involving the landowners, the U.S. EPA, and Atlantic Richfield Co. before the Supreme Court Dec. 3."
"Senate lawmakers this week will question President Trump's pick to lead the White House regulatory review office."
If radon is the forgotten environmental health story, per our recent TipSheet, then at least journalists ready to report have some good resources to do it. Our latest Reporter’s Toolbox details several databases that provide invaluable info on the problem, including a new comprehensive, and mappable, database from the Centers for Disease Control.
"The hulking wall of rubber was first discovered by a borough maintenance crew. About 6,000 rolled pieces were neatly stacked about 10 feet high, covering more than an acre of private land, according to the mayor of Cleona, Pennsylvania."
