EJToday: Top Headlines

"E.P.A. Plans to Loosen Mercury Rules for Coal Plants, Documents Show" [9]

"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 [10]
Energy & Fuel [11]
Environmental Health [12]
Environmental Politics [13]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Pollution [15]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [17]
Source: NYTimes [18], 02/20/2026
- Read more about "E.P.A. Plans to Loosen Mercury Rules for Coal Plants, Documents Show" [9]
Doctors, Scientists and Kids Sue EPA for Backtracking on Climate Regs [19]

"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 [20]
Environmental Health [12]
Laws & Regulations [14]
People & Population [21]
Pollution [15]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [17]
Source: Inside Climate News [22], 02/20/2026
- Read more about Doctors, Scientists and Kids Sue EPA for Backtracking on Climate Regs [19]
"Pesticide Use And Cancer Risk Rise Together Across America’s Heartland" [23]

"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 [24]
Chemicals [25]
Environmental Health [12]
Environmental Politics [13]
Laws & Regulations [14]
People & Population [21]
Pollution [15]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [17]
Source: Investgate Midwest [26], 02/20/2026
- Read more about "Pesticide Use And Cancer Risk Rise Together Across America’s Heartland" [23]
"Trump Order Aims to Boost Weedkiller Targeted in Health Lawsuits" [27]

"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 [24]
Chemicals [25]
Environmental Health [12]
Environmental Politics [13]
Government [28]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Pollution [15]
Technology [29]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [17]
Source: NYTimes [30], 02/20/2026
- Read more about "Trump Order Aims to Boost Weedkiller Targeted in Health Lawsuits" [27]
‘Safe’ BPA Substitutes Tied To Infertility, Fetal Harm, Review Finds [31]

"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 [25]
Consumer [32]
Environmental Health [12]
Environmental Politics [13]
Laws & Regulations [14]
People & Population [21]
Pollution [15]
Science [33]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [17]
Source: U.S. Right to Know [34], 02/20/2026
- Read more about ‘Safe’ BPA Substitutes Tied To Infertility, Fetal Harm, Review Finds [31]
"U.S. Tells International Energy Agency to Drop Its Focus on Climate Change" [35]

"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 [20]
Environmental Politics [13]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [17]
International [36]
Source: NYTimes [37], 02/20/2026
- Read more about "U.S. Tells International Energy Agency to Drop Its Focus on Climate Change" [35]
"Whale Migration Season To Chile Underscores Threat From Ships And Nets" [38]

"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 [39]
Fish & Fisheries [40]
Water & Oceans [41]
Public [16]
South America [42]
Source: Reuters [43], 02/20/2026
- Read more about "Whale Migration Season To Chile Underscores Threat From Ships And Nets" [38]
"Border Wall Closes in on Big Bend" [44]

"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 [39]
Environmental Politics [13]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Natural Resources [45]
People & Population [21]
Water & Oceans [41]
Wildlife [46]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [17]
Mexico [47]
Source: Inside Climate News [48], 02/20/2026
- Read more about "Border Wall Closes in on Big Bend" [44]
Trump Climate Rollback Likely To Hit Poor, Minority Areas Hardest: Experts [49]

"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 [20]
Environmental Health [12]
Environmental Politics [13]
Laws & Regulations [14]
People & Population [21]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [17]
Source: AP [50], 02/20/2026
- Read more about Trump Climate Rollback Likely To Hit Poor, Minority Areas Hardest: Experts [49]
To Fans, Fungi Are Freaky, Mystical, Overlooked. They Help Scientists Learn [51]

"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 [39]
Science [33]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [17]
California [52]
Source: AP [53], 02/20/2026
- Read more about To Fans, Fungi Are Freaky, Mystical, Overlooked. They Help Scientists Learn [51]
Environmental Groups Sue Trump EPA Over Repeal Of Landmark Climate Finding [54]

"More than a dozen health and environmental justice non-profits have sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over its revocation of the legal determination that underpins US federal climate regulations."

Activism [55]
Climate Change [20]
Environmental Health [12]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Pollution [15]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [17]
Source: Guardian [56], 02/19/2026
- Read more about Environmental Groups Sue Trump EPA Over Repeal Of Landmark Climate Finding [54]
NIH’s Bhattacharya Will Also Run CDC While Trump Seeks Permanent Director [57]

"National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya will also temporarily become acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an administration official said Wednesday."

Environmental Health [12]
Environmental Politics [13]
Government [28]
Health [58]
Laws & Regulations [14]
People & Population [21]
Pollution [15]
Science [33]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [17]
Source: AP [59], 02/19/2026
- Read more about NIH’s Bhattacharya Will Also Run CDC While Trump Seeks Permanent Director [57]
"Trump Taps Ex-RFK Jr. Aide To Lead National Science Foundation" [60]

"President Donald Trump plans to nominate a former senior aide to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to serve as director of the National Science Foundation."

Environmental Health [12]
Environmental Politics [13]
Government [28]
Science [33]
Technology [29]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [17]
Source: E&E News [61], 02/19/2026
- Read more about "Trump Taps Ex-RFK Jr. Aide To Lead National Science Foundation" [60]
"Environmental Protest Group Says FBI Is Investigating It For Terrorism" [62]

"Environmental group Extinction Rebellion said on Wednesday it was under federal US investigation and that some of its members had been visited by FBI agents, including from the agency’s taskforce on extremism, in the last year."

Activism [55]
Environmental Justice [63]
Environmental Politics [13]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [17]
Source: Reuters [64], 02/19/2026
- Read more about "Environmental Protest Group Says FBI Is Investigating It For Terrorism" [62]
"How The NRC Lost Its Independence" [65]

"One year ago, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission was an independent agency, setting safety standards without White House interference. Those days are over."

Energy & Fuel [11]
Environmental Politics [13]
Laws & Regulations [14]
Nuclear Power & Radiation [66]
Technology [29]
Public [16]
National (U.S.) [17]
Source: E&E News [67], 02/19/2026
- Read more about "How The NRC Lost Its Independence" [65]

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