"Wildlife trusts have warned of potential “devastating” impacts of pollution after an oil tanker carrying jet fuel and a cargo ship loaded with highly toxic chemicals collided in the North Sea."
Anti-science policies are being instituted by the Trump administration at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and other federal offices, reports the latest Backgrounder. That makes it especially challenging to keep politics out of decision-making around everything from natural disasters to public health. An examination of scientific integrity under Trump 2.0 and what environmental journalists should watch for.
"After a year of product tests that show pesticides in California cannabis products, regulators have yet to update standards. Santa Cruz County commissioners say the delay warrants a “public health emergency” and shifting responsibility to other state agencies."
"The case could establish the nation’s first independent repository for spent nuclear fuel in West Texas, despite the objections of state leaders."
"Two bills in Congress would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency from using hundreds of chemical assessments completed by its IRIS program in environmental regulations or enforcement."
"The number of butterflies in the contiguous United States declined by 22 percent this century, a collapse with potentially dire implications."
"Butterflies are rapidly fluttering out of existence from coast to coast, according to a new assessment published Thursday, at a rate that scientists worry could upend ecosystems and undercut pollination that sustains America’s crops.
"The Trump administration has moved to rewrite rules designed to prevent disasters at thousands of chemical facilities across the country."
"Regulation of toxic substances has long exempted synthetic chemicals made of large molecules believed too big to escape products to cause harm. A new study shows how dangerous that assumption is."
"Buffeted by PFAS-emitting industries, Fayetteville could soon be home to a financially troubled company that wants to turn tons of plastic waste into diesel fuel using a polluting, energy-intensive process called pyrolysis."
"The United Nations Environment Programme on Monday said a new round of negotiations toward a global plastics treaty will take place from August 5 to 14 in Geneva, Switzerland, after countries failed to agree on the parameters of a final agreement last December in Busan, South Korea."
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