"Some of the country's most polluting industries have flooded state regulators with requests to ease environmental regulations, according to an NPR review of hundreds of state environmental records.

Companies across the country say the pandemic is interfering with their ability to comply with laws that protect the public from pollution.

State environmental authorities are currently the only source of official information about which companies have sought regulatory relief. That's because in March, the Environmental Protection Agency told companies that they do not need to warn federal regulators if the pandemic interferes with routine pollution monitoring or testing."

Rebecca Hersher reports for NPR June 9, 2020. [2]