"The Senate is taking up a spending package passed by the House of Representatives that would cut $125 million in funding promised this year to replace toxic lead pipes. "
"The Trump administration and northeast Minnesota Republican Congressman Pete Stauber are taking action to end a 20-year mining ban near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area that was imposed three years ago under former President Joe Biden."
"By pulling the United States out of the main international climate treaty, seizing Venezuelan crude oil and using government power to resuscitate the domestic coal industry while choking off clean energy, the Trump administration is not just ignoring climate change, it is likely making the problem worse."
"In a reversal, the agency plans to calculate only the cost to industry when setting pollution limits, and not the monetary value of saving human lives, documents show."
Hundreds of thousands of polluted, abandoned industrial sites — called brownfields — dot the United States. For reporters seeking local environmental stories, this profusion of problem spots cries out for coverage. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox points you to a series of government databases that track them and let you map them, but warns that the going won’t be easy. Find out why.
"The Supreme Court is poised to decide whether to take up a case involving weedkillers and cancer that could effectively curtail one of the largest waves of tort litigation in American history."
"A new 9.1-MW solar array will help residents of Waukegan, Illinois, reduce energy bills. State incentives for low-income solar made the project possible."
"Texas is responsible for more greenhouse-gas emissions than Saudi Arabia or the global maritime industry. Its oil, gas and petrochemical operations discharge tens of millions of pounds of toxic pollutants into the air each year, comprising almost one-fifth of such releases in the United States. It is the nation’s top emitter of the carcinogens benzene, ethylene oxide and 1,3-butadiene."
"The Environmental Protection Agency plans to let 11 coal plants dump toxic coal ash into unlined pits until 2031 — a full decade later than allowed under current federal rules."
"Yvette Lyles thought of the modest brick ranch home as a Christmas present for her family. It was close to a state park where she and her kids could picnic, fish and enjoy the outdoors. A place to make memories. But she soon learned her southern Illinois community had a big problem: Recurring floods from heavy rains sent untreated sewage into streets, yards and homes where they buckled floors, cracked walls and destroyed belongings."
