EJToday: Top Headlines

Trump Approves Federal Emergency Declaration For Potomac River Sewage Spill [9]

"Donald Trump approved a federal emergency declaration Saturday related to a sewer main break north of Washington DC that threatens to put a stink on the US’s 250th anniversary celebrations in the US capital this summer."

Disasters [10]
Environmental Health [11]
Environmental Politics [12]
Infrastructure [13]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Pollution [15]
Waste [16]
Water & Oceans [17]
Public [18]
National (U.S.) [19]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [20]
Source: Guardian [21], 02/23/2026
- Read more about Trump Approves Federal Emergency Declaration For Potomac River Sewage Spill [9]
Research Uncovers Shocking Level of Trade in Protected Chambered Nautiluses [22]

"The beautiful marine mollusks have international protections, but sale of their shells continues by the tens of thousands."

Biodiversity [23]
Economy & Business [24]
Fish & Fisheries [25]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Water & Oceans [17]
Public [18]
National (U.S.) [19]
International [26]
Source: The Revelator [27], 02/23/2026
- Read more about Research Uncovers Shocking Level of Trade in Protected Chambered Nautiluses [22]
As Climate Crisis Upended Homeowners Insurance, Industry Resisted Regulation [28]

"When an international organization sought to create guidelines on climate risk, insurance lobbying groups pushed back."

Climate Change [29]
Disasters [10]
Economy & Business [24]
Environmental Politics [12]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Water & Oceans [17]
Public [18]
National (U.S.) [19]
Source: Capital & Main [30], 02/23/2026
- Read more about As Climate Crisis Upended Homeowners Insurance, Industry Resisted Regulation [28]
"Group Files Suit Over Lack Of Saltmarsh Sparrow Action" [31]

"The Center for Biological Diversity filed suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service on Feb. 11 for failing to make a preliminary decision about whether to expand protection for the saltmarsh sparrow, a bird whose population is in sharp decline around the Chesapeake Bay and the marshes along the East Coast."

Biodiversity [23]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Wildlife [32]
Public [18]
National (U.S.) [19]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [20]
Source: Bay Journal [33], 02/23/2026
- Read more about "Group Files Suit Over Lack Of Saltmarsh Sparrow Action" [31]
‘There Has To Be Glitter’: Rio Carnival Loves Beach-Polluting Microplastics [34]

"A bill banning the sale and use of plastic and metallic glitter has yet to go through in Brazil as the capital’s sandy shores bear cost of carnival’s shine"

Chemicals [35]
Laws & Regulations [14]
People & Population [36]
Pollution [15]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [37]
Water & Oceans [17]
Public [18]
South America [38]
Source: Guardian [39], 02/23/2026
- Read more about ‘There Has To Be Glitter’: Rio Carnival Loves Beach-Polluting Microplastics [34]
"E.P.A. Plans to Loosen Mercury Rules for Coal Plants, Documents Show" [40]

"The Environmental Protection Agency plans this week to loosen restrictions on coal-burning power plants, allowing them to emit more hazardous pollutants including mercury, a powerful neurotoxin that can impair babies’ brain development, internal agency documents show."

Air [41]
Energy & Fuel [42]
Environmental Health [11]
Environmental Politics [12]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Pollution [15]
Public [18]
National (U.S.) [19]
Source: NYTimes [43], 02/20/2026
- Read more about "E.P.A. Plans to Loosen Mercury Rules for Coal Plants, Documents Show" [40]
Doctors, Scientists and Kids Sue EPA for Backtracking on Climate Regs [44]

"Two lawsuits filed Wednesday in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals mark the beginning of a rocky legal road for the Environmental Protection Agency following its reversal of a 2009 rule underpinning federal regulation of greenhouse gas emissions."

Climate Change [29]
Environmental Health [11]
Laws & Regulations [14]
People & Population [36]
Pollution [15]
Public [18]
National (U.S.) [19]
Source: Inside Climate News [45], 02/20/2026
- Read more about Doctors, Scientists and Kids Sue EPA for Backtracking on Climate Regs [44]
"Pesticide Use And Cancer Risk Rise Together Across America’s Heartland" [46]

"America’s farmers and farmworkers, their families and neighbors, are being diagnosed with cancer at rates higher than the national average. A growing body of research indicates that pesticides are partly to blame."

Agriculture [47]
Chemicals [35]
Environmental Health [11]
Environmental Politics [12]
Laws & Regulations [14]
People & Population [36]
Pollution [15]
Public [18]
National (U.S.) [19]
Source: Investgate Midwest [48], 02/20/2026
- Read more about "Pesticide Use And Cancer Risk Rise Together Across America’s Heartland" [46]
"Trump Order Aims to Boost Weedkiller Targeted in Health Lawsuits" [49]

"President Trump issued an executive order late Wednesday aimed at spurring the domestic production of glyphosate, a widely used weedkiller that has figured in health lawsuits."

Agriculture [47]
Chemicals [35]
Environmental Health [11]
Environmental Politics [12]
Government [50]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Pollution [15]
Technology [51]
Public [18]
National (U.S.) [19]
Source: NYTimes [52], 02/20/2026
- Read more about "Trump Order Aims to Boost Weedkiller Targeted in Health Lawsuits" [49]
‘Safe’ BPA Substitutes Tied To Infertility, Fetal Harm, Review Finds [53]

"Chemicals increasingly used to replace the toxic plastic additive bisphenol A (BPA) may disrupt fertility, fetal development, and reproductive health through many of the same biological mechanisms, according to a narrative review of human, animal and laboratory studies."

Chemicals [35]
Consumer [54]
Environmental Health [11]
Environmental Politics [12]
Laws & Regulations [14]
People & Population [36]
Pollution [15]
Science [55]
Public [18]
National (U.S.) [19]
Source: U.S. Right to Know [56], 02/20/2026
- Read more about ‘Safe’ BPA Substitutes Tied To Infertility, Fetal Harm, Review Finds [53]
"U.S. Tells International Energy Agency to Drop Its Focus on Climate Change" [57]

"The Trump administration this week threatened to pull the United States out of the world’s leading energy agency unless it abandoned its focus on tackling climate change."

Climate Change [29]
Environmental Politics [12]
Public [18]
National (U.S.) [19]
International [26]
Source: NYTimes [58], 02/20/2026
- Read more about "U.S. Tells International Energy Agency to Drop Its Focus on Climate Change" [57]
"Whale Migration Season To Chile Underscores Threat From Ships And Nets" [59]

"Increased activity by the fin whale - the world's second-largest whale species - along Chile's northern coast during feeding season is highlighting a growing threat of collisions with ships and fishing net entanglements, marine experts and conservationists warned this week."

Biodiversity [23]
Fish & Fisheries [25]
Water & Oceans [17]
Public [18]
South America [38]
Source: Reuters [60], 02/20/2026
- Read more about "Whale Migration Season To Chile Underscores Threat From Ships And Nets" [59]
"Border Wall Closes in on Big Bend" [61]

"Residents and elected officials are speaking out against a proposed border barrier through Texas’ biggest state park and one of the jewels of the national park system."

Biodiversity [23]
Environmental Politics [12]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Natural Resources [62]
People & Population [36]
Water & Oceans [17]
Wildlife [32]
Public [18]
National (U.S.) [19]
Mexico [63]
Source: Inside Climate News [64], 02/20/2026
- Read more about "Border Wall Closes in on Big Bend" [61]
Trump Climate Rollback Likely To Hit Poor, Minority Areas Hardest: Experts [65]

"In a stretch of Louisiana with about 170 fossil fuel and petrochemical plants, premature death is a fact of life for people living nearby. The air is so polluted and the cancer rates so high it is known as Cancer Alley."

Climate Change [29]
Environmental Health [11]
Environmental Politics [12]
Laws & Regulations [14]
People & Population [36]
Public [18]
National (U.S.) [19]
Source: AP [66], 02/20/2026
- Read more about Trump Climate Rollback Likely To Hit Poor, Minority Areas Hardest: Experts [65]
To Fans, Fungi Are Freaky, Mystical, Overlooked. They Help Scientists Learn [67]

"Jessica Allen crunched through fallen leaves among Manzanita trees hunting for something few have spotted before: the Manzanita butter clump — a rare and little-known yellow mushroom found, so far, only along North America’s Western coastlines."

Biodiversity [23]
Science [55]
Public [18]
National (U.S.) [19]
California [68]
Source: AP [69], 02/20/2026
- Read more about To Fans, Fungi Are Freaky, Mystical, Overlooked. They Help Scientists Learn [67]

Pages