Environmental Politics

"When industry wants a chemical safety assessment done yesterday, EPA managers classify it as “hair on fire.”"

"President Biden on Thursday unveiled a far-reaching, multipronged plan to make U.S. cars and light trucks more fuel-efficient and to begin a shift to electric vehicles over the coming decade. The move marks one of the administration’s most consequential pushes so far to combat climate change and tackle the nation’s biggest source of greenhouse gas emissions."

"Under orders from President Biden, EPA has taken its first overt step to revisit one of the Trump administration’s most bitterly contested air quality rollbacks."

"Citizens for Responsible Energy Solutions (CRES) on Tuesday launched a $1.5 million TV, radio and digital ad campaign to build GOP support for the bipartisan infrastructure bill. The advocacy group, which urges Republicans to support clean energy policies, is targeting nine GOP senators who have expressed interest in voting for the bill."

"President Joe Biden has repeatedly bragged that the bipartisan infrastructure bill germinating in the U.S. Senate will spur the removal of America’s toxic drinking water pipes made of lead. ... But the bill does not require water utilities to replace lead pipes. Rather, it provides $15 billion to a revolving fund that utilities can use to replace lead pipes if they want ― something that’s only happened in a handful of cities to date."

"The Interior Department today said it will restart an environmental review of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge’s oil and gas program, following its determination earlier this year that the Trump administration’s assessment was flawed."

"When India failed to show up at climate talks in London last week, the meeting’s British hosts took it as a snub. It was also a stark reminder of how hard it’s going to be for diplomats to pull the global climate back from the brink of disaster, with less than three months to go before the next round of high-stakes negotiations."

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday announced the new members of its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) after previously firing the board members who had been appointed during the Trump administration."

"As the United States staggers through another year of devastating wildfires, drought, storms and other calamities, the infrastructure bill before Congress would pour major resources into a response. The measure agreed to over the weekend includes billions of dollars to better prepare the country for the effects of global warming, in what could be the largest investment in climate resilience in American history."

"A coalition of climate-focused groups is readying a multimillion-dollar blitz of advertising, organizing and public events over Congress’s recess in August, seeing it as their best and last opportunity to influence members before Democrats start crafting crucial climate legislation this fall."