Environmental Politics

Coal Country Voices Say Closures Of MSHA Offices Will Endanger Mine Safety

"Retired coal miner Stanley “Goose” Stewart questions whether it’s safe for anyone to work in the industry right now. The Department of Government Efficiency, created by President Donald Trump and run by Elon Musk, has been targeting federal agencies for spending cuts. That includes terminating leases for three dozen offices in the Mine Safety and Health Administration, the agency responsible for enforcing mine safety laws."

Source: AP, 04/07/2025

"Milwaukee Faces Lead Crisis Without CDC Experts RFK Jr. Fired"

"When Milwaukee officials discovered in January that lead paint in school buildings had poisoned kids, they called the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention." "“The people who were answering our questions are just gone,” City Health Commissioner Michael Totoraitis said in an interview after the firings Tuesday at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention."

Source: E&E News, 04/07/2025

US Electric Vehicle Industry Is Collateral Damage In Trump’s Trade War

"President Donald Trump’s tariff blitz has sent shock waves throughout every aspect of the global economy, including the auto sector, where multi-billion-dollar plans to electrify in the United States are especially at risk."

Source: AP, 04/07/2025

Nearly Half of NWS Offices Have 20% Vacancy Rates. Experts Say It’s A Risk

"After Trump administration job cuts, nearly half of National Weather Service forecast offices have 20% vacancy rates — twice that of just a decade ago — as severe weather chugs across the nation’s heartland, according to data obtained by The Associated Press."

Source: AP, 04/07/2025

"Trump Officials Quietly Move To Reverse Bans On Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’"

"The Trump administration is quietly carrying out a plan that aims to kill hundreds of bans on highly toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” and other dangerous compounds in consumer goods. The bans, largely at the state level, touch most facets of daily life, prohibiting everything from bisphenol in children’s products to mercury in personal care products to PFAS in food packaging and clothing."

Source: Guardian, 04/07/2025

How the Potomac Imparts the Capital’s Story

The Potomac is one of the most prominent rivers in the United States, a defining ecological feature of Washington, D.C., at the same time it reveals the city’s history of racial inequality and disenfranchisement. Writer, historian, educator and herbalist Charlotte Taylor Fryar recounts that tale in her ambitious “Potomac Fever,” reviewed in the latest BookShelf by contributing editor Jennifer Weeks, herself a Washington native.

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Dam Safety Firings Leave Downstream Residents at Risk

Among the widespread federal firings that look like they’re putting the public increasingly at risk are those that strip away government oversight of dam safety. The latest TipSheet looks at what’s at stake and offers up a dozen story ideas, questions to ask and reporting resources to help environmental journalists spot the dam dangers nearest them.

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White House Weighs Executive Order To Fast-Track Deep-Sea Mining: Sources

"The White House is weighing an executive order that would fast-track permitting for deep-sea mining in international waters and let mining companies bypass a United Nations-backed review process, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the deliberations."

Source: Reuters, 04/04/2025

B.C. Quietly Let Oil And Gas Giant Sidestep Rules For 4,300+ Pipelines

"The British Columbia government quietly granted one of Canada’s biggest oil and gas companies an exemption for thousands of pipelines that should have been deactivated before a legal deadline, according to documents obtained under freedom of information legislation."

Source: The Narwhal/IJF, 04/04/2025

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