Laws & Regulations

"SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A coalition of 11 environmental groups has sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for revoking California’s authority to set tougher emission standards for cars and trucks than the federal government.

The federal government has allowed California to set its own emission standards since the 1970s because the state has the most cars on the road and struggles to meet air quality standards. Thirteen other states plus the District of Columbia follow California’s rules.

"Environmentalists this week sued the Forest Service, accusing the agency of kowtowing to 'scofflaw grazing permittees' on public lands in Utah."

"The Tennessee Valley Authority has long argued it shouldn't be required to limit the toxic metals that its coal-fired power plant dumps into the Cumberland River."

"Monsanto pleaded guilty to spraying a banned pesticide on the Hawaiian island of Maui, and agreed to pay $10.2 million in criminal fines and other payments for the spraying and for illegally storing hazardous waste, U.S. prosecutors said."

"The Trump administration wants offshore drillers to tap more of the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico for oil and natural gas production. And it has just figured out a way of encouraging them to do so: cutting the operators of some new wells a break on how much they have to pay the federal government."

"The Supreme Court on Friday will consider whether to take up a prominent climatologist's defamation suit against a venerated conservative magazine, in a case that pits climate scientists against the free speech rights of global warming skeptics."

"A pollution-plagued oil refinery that shut down in 2012 is now on the verge of reopening in the U.S. Virgin Islands, thanks to the aid of EPA chief Andrew Wheeler."

"Barry Myers, the former CEO of AccuWeather Inc., withdrew late yesterday his hot-button nomination to lead NOAA and its 12,000 employees, citing health concerns."

"The Trump administration announced a plan Thursday that could allow oil drilling on over three-quarters of the nation’s largest piece of unprotected wilderness, overhauling a 2013 plan that limited development on the Alaskan reserve."

"The Environmental Protection Agency weakened a rule Thursday governing how companies store dangerous chemicals. The standards were enacted under President Barack Obama in the wake of a 2013 explosion in West, Tex., that killed 15 people, including 12 first responders."