"The Trump administration is creating a new office that critics say could weaken the environmental oversight of oil drilling and seabed mining in territorial waters." "The new federal office will undo a change made after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil disaster. Critics say it could reduce environmental oversight."
"Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin appointed four chemical industry representatives to the agency’s Science Advisory Board last week, including employees of pesticide companies and of a leading manufacturer of the forever chemicals that now contaminate U.S. farm soils, waterways, and food."
"The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is putting public health at risk by continuing to let farmers spray glyphosate, a weed killer linked to cancer, directly on top of oats before harvest, a practice that commonly results in residues of the pesticide remaining on popular foods made with oats, according to a new lawsuit."
"After Texas regulators said Tesla’s lithium refinery near Corpus Christi wasn’t violating its permits by discharging what local officials reported as black wastewater into a drainage ditch, independent water testing there this month found two toxic metals and other contaminants."
"The pharmacologist gathered more than 60 researchers to push back on the retraction of a Monsanto-linked research paper."
SEJournal is providing full coverage of all eight of the day-long tours from the annual Society of Environmental Journalists’ conference, April 15-18, in Chicago. In Part 2, contributors Meg Duff, Nathaniel Eisen, Nhung Nguyen and Marlowe Starling provide detailed reports from tours focused on the transitioning steel industry, microgrids, climate-friendly crop practices and evolving Midwestern agricultural systems.
Also check out the first round of tour coverage and read all the great work from our team of early-career freelance journalists, part of SEJournal’s live #SEJ2026 Live conference reporting.
Nearly as rejuvenating as attending the Society of Environmental Journalists’ annual gathering is perusing the après-conference spoof by contributing quipster David Helvarg. While it seemed he was mostly there unabashedly preselling his forthcoming book, he somehow found time to send up SEJ’s earnest sessions, lambast its blown-up tours and rib its beat dinners. Read his Chicago roast.
"Nearly four dozen water systems that provide drinking water across Maine would be at risk of violating new limits on “forever chemicals” if the state began enforcing updated rules on the toxic substances today, showing how much work they have left to do to meet new requirements."
"Independent testing of the Salween River began in September 2025 after researchers found alarming levels of toxic contaminants in the nearby Kok, Sai and Ruak rivers in Thailand, much of it linked to unregulated mining in Myanmar."
"The Potomac River, otherwise known as “the nation’s river,” has been named the most endangered river in the country, following a massive sewage spill earlier this year and the ongoing buildout of thirsty data centers across the watershed."
