"WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency hit a 30-year low in 2018 in the number of pollution cases it referred for criminal prosecution, Justice Department data show.
EPA said in a statement that it is directing “its resources to the most significant and impactful cases.”
After a federal payroll division mistakenly paid workers at the Chemical Safety Board, which investigates toxic and hazardous chemical disasters, Trump officials scrambled to claw back the money.
"The government shutdown has suspended federal cleanups at Superfund sites around the nation and forced the cancellation of public hearings, deepening the mistrust and resentment of surrounding residents who feel people in power long ago abandoned them to live among the toxic residue of the country’s factories and mines."
"The Food and Drug Administration has stopped routine food safety inspections of seafood, fruits, vegetables and many other foods at high risk of contamination because of the federal government’s shutdown, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the agency’s commissioner, said on Wednesday."
"Big-box retailers such as Lowe’s and Home Depot have already dropped it amid a public outcry over fatalities".
"The two-week-old shutdown has halted one of the federal government’s most important public health activities, the inspections of chemical factories, power plants, oil refineries, water treatment plants, and thousands of other industrial sites for pollution violations."
"A plea deal was reached Monday for the fired former head of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's division responsible for overseeing Flint’s water source switch."
"Tackling cumulative exposures, rather than one pollutant at a time, is key to correcting environmental injustice, experts say. But progress remains too slow in the most affected neighborhoods."
"Toxic lead coursed through Christopher Holland Jr.’s body at two critical points in his life: as a toddler poisoned by lead paint and as a 20-year-old struck down by bullets."
"In recent years, thousands of children started kindergarten in Cleveland public schools already poisoned by lead, which threatens their chances to achieve and poses steep challenges for the district charged with educating them."
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