EJToday: Top Headlines

Groundbreaking Indigenous Treaty on Whales’ Rights Could Change Laws [9]

"A declaration recognizing whales as legal rights-holders is influencing legislation in New Zealand and sparking an international push to translate Indigenous customs into binding protections."

Activism [10]
Biodiversity [11]
Environmental Politics [12]
Laws & Regulations [13]
Water & Oceans [14]
Wildlife [15]
Public [16]
International [17]
Australia & Oceania [18]
Source: Inside Climate News [19], 02/23/2026
- Read more about Groundbreaking Indigenous Treaty on Whales’ Rights Could Change Laws [9]
Trump Approves Federal Emergency Declaration For Potomac River Sewage Spill [20]

"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 [21]
Environmental Health [22]
Environmental Politics [12]
Infrastructure [23]
Laws & Regulations [13]
Pollution [24]
Waste [25]
Water & Oceans [14]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [26]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [27]
Source: Guardian [28], 02/23/2026
- Read more about Trump Approves Federal Emergency Declaration For Potomac River Sewage Spill [20]
Research Uncovers Shocking Level of Trade in Protected Chambered Nautiluses [29]

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

Biodiversity [11]
Economy & Business [30]
Fish & Fisheries [31]
Laws & Regulations [13]
Water & Oceans [14]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [26]
International [17]
Source: The Revelator [32], 02/23/2026
- Read more about Research Uncovers Shocking Level of Trade in Protected Chambered Nautiluses [29]
As Climate Crisis Upended Homeowners Insurance, Industry Resisted Regulation [33]

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

Climate Change [34]
Disasters [21]
Economy & Business [30]
Environmental Politics [12]
Laws & Regulations [13]
Water & Oceans [14]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [26]
Source: Capital & Main [35], 02/23/2026
- Read more about As Climate Crisis Upended Homeowners Insurance, Industry Resisted Regulation [33]
"Group Files Suit Over Lack Of Saltmarsh Sparrow Action" [36]

"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 [11]
Laws & Regulations [13]
Wildlife [15]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [26]
Mid-Atlantic (DC DE MD PA VA WV) [27]
Source: Bay Journal [37], 02/23/2026
- Read more about "Group Files Suit Over Lack Of Saltmarsh Sparrow Action" [36]
‘There Has To Be Glitter’: Rio Carnival Loves Beach-Polluting Microplastics [38]

"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 [39]
Laws & Regulations [13]
People & Population [40]
Pollution [24]
Religion, Faith and Spirituality [41]
Water & Oceans [14]
Public [16]
South America [42]
Source: Guardian [43], 02/23/2026
- Read more about ‘There Has To Be Glitter’: Rio Carnival Loves Beach-Polluting Microplastics [38]
"E.P.A. Plans to Loosen Mercury Rules for Coal Plants, Documents Show" [44]

"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 [45]
Energy & Fuel [46]
Environmental Health [22]
Environmental Politics [12]
Laws & Regulations [13]
Pollution [24]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [26]
Source: NYTimes [47], 02/20/2026
- Read more about "E.P.A. Plans to Loosen Mercury Rules for Coal Plants, Documents Show" [44]
Doctors, Scientists and Kids Sue EPA for Backtracking on Climate Regs [48]

"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 [34]
Environmental Health [22]
Laws & Regulations [13]
People & Population [40]
Pollution [24]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [26]
Source: Inside Climate News [49], 02/20/2026
- Read more about Doctors, Scientists and Kids Sue EPA for Backtracking on Climate Regs [48]
"Pesticide Use And Cancer Risk Rise Together Across America’s Heartland" [50]

"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 [51]
Chemicals [39]
Environmental Health [22]
Environmental Politics [12]
Laws & Regulations [13]
People & Population [40]
Pollution [24]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [26]
Source: Investgate Midwest [52], 02/20/2026
- Read more about "Pesticide Use And Cancer Risk Rise Together Across America’s Heartland" [50]
"Trump Order Aims to Boost Weedkiller Targeted in Health Lawsuits" [53]

"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 [51]
Chemicals [39]
Environmental Health [22]
Environmental Politics [12]
Government [54]
Laws & Regulations [13]
Pollution [24]
Technology [55]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [26]
Source: NYTimes [56], 02/20/2026
- Read more about "Trump Order Aims to Boost Weedkiller Targeted in Health Lawsuits" [53]
‘Safe’ BPA Substitutes Tied To Infertility, Fetal Harm, Review Finds [57]

"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 [39]
Consumer [58]
Environmental Health [22]
Environmental Politics [12]
Laws & Regulations [13]
People & Population [40]
Pollution [24]
Science [59]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [26]
Source: U.S. Right to Know [60], 02/20/2026
- Read more about ‘Safe’ BPA Substitutes Tied To Infertility, Fetal Harm, Review Finds [57]
"U.S. Tells International Energy Agency to Drop Its Focus on Climate Change" [61]

"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 [34]
Environmental Politics [12]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [26]
International [17]
Source: NYTimes [62], 02/20/2026
- Read more about "U.S. Tells International Energy Agency to Drop Its Focus on Climate Change" [61]
"Whale Migration Season To Chile Underscores Threat From Ships And Nets" [63]

"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 [11]
Fish & Fisheries [31]
Water & Oceans [14]
Public [16]
South America [42]
Source: Reuters [64], 02/20/2026
- Read more about "Whale Migration Season To Chile Underscores Threat From Ships And Nets" [63]
"Border Wall Closes in on Big Bend" [65]

"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 [11]
Environmental Politics [12]
Laws & Regulations [13]
Natural Resources [66]
People & Population [40]
Water & Oceans [14]
Wildlife [15]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [26]
Mexico [67]
Source: Inside Climate News [68], 02/20/2026
- Read more about "Border Wall Closes in on Big Bend" [65]
Trump Climate Rollback Likely To Hit Poor, Minority Areas Hardest: Experts [69]

"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 [34]
Environmental Health [22]
Environmental Politics [12]
Laws & Regulations [13]
People & Population [40]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [26]
Source: AP [70], 02/20/2026
- Read more about Trump Climate Rollback Likely To Hit Poor, Minority Areas Hardest: Experts [69]

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