"Sludge Contaminated 10,000 Acres of Farmland. What Should Be Done?"
"For years a textile mill gave farmers its sewage sludge as free fertilizer. Today the land is full of “forever chemicals.”"
Source: NYTimes, 04/22/2025
EJToday: Top Headlines
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New Books About Public Lands, the Threats They Face, and Their Importance
"These new books cover challenges to our shared land, ranging from Indigenous appropriation to current corporate grabs."
Source: The Revelator, 04/22/2025"Trump Admin Reveals Timeline For Approving Resolution Copper Mine"
"The Trump administration gave notice Thursday that it’s advancing Arizona’s Resolution Copper mine, a divisive project that’s opposed by members of Native American tribes who are asking the Supreme Court to intervene." "The Forest Service on Thursday said it intends to advance the contentious Arizona project that some tribal members are asking the Supreme Court to halt."
Source: E&E News, 04/21/2025Trump Admin Severs ‘Lifeline’ for Families Struggling to Pay Utility Bills
"A federal program that helps low-income households pay for heating and cooling costs is in limbo."
Source: Inside Climate News, 04/21/2025"Trump May Target Environmental Nonprofits in Executive Orders"
"Sources in Washington, including within the Department of Justice and on Capitol Hill, have told Inside Climate News that White House officials are preparing executive orders on environmental issues. One order, they say, would target the tax exempt status of environmental nonprofits, particularly those that do legal work."
Source: Inside Climate News, 04/21/2025"DOJ Questions Science Journal About Bias, Triggering Free-Speech Concerns"
"Amid brewing conflict between scientists and the administration of President Donald Trump, the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia sent an unusual letter this week to a scientific journal focused on diseases and medicine related to the chest, asking about its editorial policies."
Source: Washington Post, 04/21/2025"EPA Withholds Layoff, Restructuring Plan"
"EPA rebuffed attempts to make public its initial downsizing and reorganization plan submitted for White House review." "The Phase 1 “Agency RIF and Reorganization Plan,” which was due at the White House on March 13, remains shrouded in secrecy."
Source: E&E News, 04/21/2025"Trump’s Tariffs Push ‘Drill, Baby, Drill’ Into Limbo"
"U.S. oil producers are stuck between President Donald Trump’s policies, benefiting from relaxed environmental regulations but facing weakening oil prices as tariffs weigh on the global economy."
Source: E&E News, 04/21/2025Energy Efficiency Program Killed; Advocates Say Louisianans Will Pay Price
"In a move energy advocates say will increase electric bills for Louisiana residents and allow the state’s utilities to keep earning money for electricity they don’t provide, Louisiana’s energy regulators voted 3-2 Wednesday to scrap plans for an independently operated energy efficiency program more than 14 years in the making."
Source: Floodlight, 04/21/2025"About A Sixth Of Global Cropland Likely Polluted With Toxic Metals: Study"
"Up to 17 percent of the planet’s agricultural land may be contaminated by toxic heavy metals, a new study has found. As many as 1.4 billion people reside in areas with soil dangerously polluted with compounds like arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, nickel and lead, according to the study, published in Science."
Source: The Hill, 04/21/2025Everglades Restoration Would Protect Florida Keys Amid Drought
"The Everglades is more than just swamps, fan boats and alligators and restoration efforts impact more than the land between Florida’s east and west coasts. Florida Bay, a body of water located between the southern end of mainland Florida and the Florida Keys, makes up about a third of Everglades National Park."
Source: AP, 04/21/2025"Listening for Whale Sounds 1,000 Feet Deep in the Antarctic Ocean"
"Heidi Ahonen is a bioacoustician recording whale calls, whistles and songs to understand if the marine mammals are crossing paths with krill fishing vessels in one of the most extreme environments on Earth."
Source: Inside Climate News, 04/21/2025"Trump Opens a Huge Marine Protected Zone to Commercial Fishing"
"President Trump on Thursday said he was allowing commercial fishing in one of the world’s largest ocean reserves, introducing industrial operations for the first time in more than a decade to a vast area of the Pacific dotted with coral atolls and populated by endangered sea turtles and whales."
Source: NYTimes, 04/18/2025Top NIH Researcher On Ultraprocessed Foods Departs, Citing RFK Jr. Censorship
"When President Donald Trump named Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his choice to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services, one group of health researchers was cautiously optimistic that their cause would finally have a champion at the highest levels of government: those focused on food and nutrition."
Source: CNN, 04/18/2025"Court Blocks Enforcement of New Silica Dust Protections for Coal Miners"
"A federal appeals court has temporarily blocked enforcement of a new rule to limit silica dust exposure for coal and other miners. The rule, from the Mine Safety and Health Administration (MSHA), was imposed last year in response to an epidemic of severe black lung disease among coal miners."
Source: Public Health Watch/WVPB, 04/18/2025
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