When Reporter’s Toolbox scours a new dataset for your environment and energy reporting use, it asks a key question: Where does the data come from? This time, the answer serves more as a warning. The latest column looks at a previously stellar data source — the CDC — and finds it lacking. Here’s what you need to know.
"The Environmental Protection Agency has quietly backtracked on a claim that the US has phased out two of the most dangerous Pfas compounds – Pfoa and Pfos."
"The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing to expand a controversial loophole to allow some of the world’s most toxic chemicals to be added directly to food without a safety review."
"Oil analyst Patrick De Haan said Monday that President Trump’s deal with Russia to supply the U.S. and global markets with diesel fuel may not lower fuel prices."
"In Whitted, testing has confirmed the water is contaminated with arsenic and PFAS/PFOS. An effort to connect the residents to the local water system has moved slowly."
"The Public Utility Commission of Texas is asking a Travis County judge to block the release of information showing where data centers and virtual currency mines operate, saying those details could aid terrorists."
"The price of water increased faster than inflation, grocery prices and median household income, nonprofit Food & Water Watch found in a new analysis."
"Simply put, a rain garden is a depressed bed planted with native perennials and shrubs selected for their high-water tolerance. It’s strategically situated in a spot where water — from downspouts, driveways, compacted soil and other sources of runoff — flows downward toward it. That runoff waters the plants and filters pollutants as the soil absorbs it."
"Households in the contiguous United States will pay thousands of dollars more for energy through 2040 because of federal policy changes since President Donald Trump returned to office such as canceling new clean energy projects, according to modeling released Friday by a nonpartisan think tank."
"Americans will pay more at the pump as the president eases up expectations on automakers. It’s one of several ways the White House is raising the cost of living."
