"The Trump administration is moving closer to opening up U.S. waters for deep-sea mining—a contentious and largely untested industry focused on extracting mineral-rich deposits from the ocean floor containing cobalt, copper, nickel and manganese." "If the sale moves forward, mining activities could begin in federal waters near American Samoa. The proposed site is directly adjacent to a national wildlife refuge."

"Recent studies show that microplastics are already present in a variety of Amazonian environments: Major rivers such as the Amazon, urban streams, floodplain areas and mangroves in the Amazon’s Mouth."

"Approximately a billion tiny plastic nurdles have entered the River Tyne after a “devastating spill”, with the pellets thought to have spread much further than first thought."

"More than twice the amount of swimming pool chemicals as planned were improperly stored at a Georgia plant, setting conditions for a fire in 2024 that sent a huge plume of orange and black smoke into the sky and forced residents to shelter in place, a federal agency report concluded."

"EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin promised to deliver for the coal industry Tuesday, as part of a broader push to reverse the sector’s fate. “Many of the items that were on your wish list are now done,” Zeldin told members of the National Coal Council gathered at the Willard hotel in Washington."

"Smoke from wildfires — which are burning more of the Northern Hemisphere as Earth warms — attacks nearly every system in the human body, killing tens of thousands of people a year, numerous medical studies show."

"The Trump administration has killed the regulatory review of sewage sludge contaminated with Pfas and spread on farmland as fertilizer, a practice that has sickened farmers, destroyed their livelihoods, killed livestock, polluted water supplies, and poisoned meat and food products sold to the public."

"The U.S. Bureau of Land Management scheduled a September 2026 lease sale for 2,800 acres of Wayne National Forest, a preserve long sought by the oil and gas industry. This could mean fracking Ohio’s only national forest for the first time."

"Research shows Black neighborhoods bear the brunt of diesel pollution. New EPA changes could make that burden worse."
For decades, highways and industrial corridors have exposed Black communities to disproportionate levels of diesel pollution. As the Trump administration eases clean truck standards, environmental advocates warn those neighborhoods could once again pay the highest price."

"Democrats see an opening in rural states for the first time in decades. In Iowa, it’s about water."