"Trump’s EPA Quietly Revamps Rules For Air Pollution"
"The Trump administration has quietly reshaped enforcement of air pollution standards in recent months through a series of regulatory memos."
Source: The Hill, 04/18/2018
EJToday: Top Headlines
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Pruitt Upgraded To A Larger, Custom SUV With Bulletproof Seat Covers
"Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt upgraded his official car last year to a costlier, larger vehicle with bullet-resistant covers over bucket seats, according to federal records and interviews with current and former agency officials."
Source: Washington Post, 04/18/2018Chairman Barrasso Seeks Answers on Scott Pruitt's Email Practices
"Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) is now scrutinizing whether Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt is fully complying with public records requests, given the fact that he has multiple government email addresses."
Source: Washington Post, 04/18/2018"Interior Won't Lower Offshore Drilling Royalty Rates"
"The Interior Department will not be lowering the royalty rates from profits made from offshore drilling, despite a recommendation from an agency committee comprised largely of energy industry representatives."
Source: The Hill, 04/18/2018"Trump Energy Aide to Return to Lobbying Firm"
"Michael Catanzaro, a chief architect of President Donald Trump’s energy policy, is leaving the White House and returning to his former lobbying firm."
Source: Bloomberg, 04/18/2018"Senators Oppose Measure Removing EPA Power Over Ballast"
"Conservation groups say a measure under consideration in the U.S. Senate this week could have a far-reaching ecological effect in the Great Lakes by changing the regulation of ballast water discharged by large ships."
Source: Detroit News, 04/18/2018"Chicago, Surfers Criticize US Steel Spills Settlement"
"A proposed federal settlement inadequately punishes U.S. Steel for chemical spills into Lake Michigan, according to Chicago officials and a surfing organization."
Source: AP, 04/18/2018"Judge Orders New Lead Inspections in New York Public Housing"
"A Manhattan judge hearing a lawsuit by public-housing tenants ordered the New York City Housing Authority on Tuesday to conduct lead inspections in thousands of apartments where young children live."
Source: NY Times, 04/18/2018Farm Bill Lets EPA Approve Pesticides Without Endangered Species Review
"A provision in the 2018 farm bill would allow the EPA to approve pesticides without undertaking reviews now required to protect endangered species."
Source: Roll Call, 04/18/2018"Baboons Work Together To Escape From Biomedical Testing Facility"
"Four baboons held at a Texas biomedical research facility briefly escaped on Saturday after figuring out how to use a large barrel to break free."
Source: HuffPost, 04/18/2018EPA Chief’s $43,000 Phone Booth Broke Law, Congressional Auditors Say
"The Environmental Protection Agency violated the law when it installed a soundproof phone booth for the administrator, Scott Pruitt, at a cost of roughly $43,000, a congressional watchdog agency ruled on Monday."
Source: NY Times, 04/17/2018"Zinke Failed To Disclose Campaign Ties To Speech Host, IG Says"
"Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke failed to disclose relevant information to ethics officials when he traveled to Las Vegas to speak to the Golden Knights hockey team last year, the department’s watchdog reported Monday — including the fact that one of his biggest campaign donors owned the team."
Source: Politico, 04/17/2018As Okla. Attorney General, Scott Pruitt Was Big Spender in Small State
"Scott Pruitt, the embattled EPA chief whose lavish spending has come under intense scrutiny, had extravagant tastes well before he came to Washington. In 2014, while he was attorney general of Oklahoma, the expenses of his office were $27.7 million higher than those of his predecessor, Drew Edmondson, according to a state audit published in 2016."
Source: The Intercept, 04/17/2018Urban-Rural Collision as Farm Bill Confounds Vulnerable Calif. GOPers
"Help the farmers or help the poor? The farm bill House lawmakers will consider Wednesday forces vulnerable Republicans in contested House races in largely rural districts to make a difficult, perhaps politically lethal choice between the two constituencies."
Source: McClatchy, 04/17/20182 Canada Provinces Feud Over Pipeline: Will It Bring Jobs or Spills?
"While much of the world may be focused on President Trump’s threats of a trade war with China, Canada’s attention right now is on a commercial feud within its own borders. The provinces of British Columbia and Alberta are locked in a battle over a $7.4 billion expansion of a pipeline that runs from Alberta’s oil sands to a tanker port near Vancouver, a plan approved long ago."
Source: NY Times, 04/17/2018
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