All posts tagged "Epa"

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to reverse a longstanding policy that calculated the health benefits of reducing air pollution.

The agency has referred to "estimates of avoided asthma attacks and premature deaths to justify clean-air rules" for decades, and that is now set to end under the Trump administration, according to a New York Times report.

The Times reportedly obtained internal agency emails and documents indicating that the EPA will no longer factor the "gains from the health benefits caused by curbing two of the most widespread deadly air pollutants, fine particulate matter and ozone, when regulating industry." ...

As Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. calls for the removal of forever chemicals, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin is putting “every single American” at risk by rolling back regulations, according to an MSNBC column by Rachel Frazin and Sharon Udasin.

The pair are co-authors of "Poisoning the Well: How Forever Chemicals Contaminated America," and the oxymoronic calls from Trump administrators are not lost on them.

“Today, the Trump administration is currently straddling the divide between the burgeoning MAHA movement and its traditional big business allies,” they said. ...

CNN's chief climate correspondent Bill Weir scoffed Thursday at the White House assertion that President Donald Trump 'follows science.'

This week the Trump administration put out a statement, titled, "On Earth Day, We Finally Have a President Who Follows Science."

CNN's Dana Bash read part of the statement, saying the Trump administration was "leveraging environmental policies rooted in reality to promote economic growth while maintaining the standards that have afforded Americans the cleanest air and water in the world for generations." ...

CNN's chief climate correspondent issued a dire warning about the future of the planet now that the Trump administration's Environmental Protection Agency has announced plans to rip away regulations meant to stave off global warning.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin took to social media to announce "31 historic actions to Power the Great American Comeback in the greatest day of deregulation in American history!"

Wolf Blitzer said Thursday that the administration's moves "stand to impact everything from clean water to power plant pollution here in the United States," as he introduced correspondent Bill Weir. ...

Washington (AFP) - A California man has become the first person in the United States charged with illegally smuggling greenhouse gases into the country, officials said Monday. Michael Hart of San Diego was arrested under the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act of 2020, which prohibits the importation of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) without proper permits from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  HFCs are potent greenhouse gases commonly found in refrigerators and air conditioners, building insulation, fire extinguishing systems, and aerosols. They can be hundreds to thousands of time......

This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist's weekly newsletter here.

Last year, climate change came into sharp relief for much of the world: The planet experienced its hottest 12-month period in 125,000 years. Flooding events inundated communities from California to East Africa to India. A heat wave in South America caused temperatures to spike above 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the middle of winter, and a heat dome across much of the southern United States spurred a 31-day streak in Phoenix of 110 degree-plus temperatures. The formation of an El Niño, the natural phenomenon that raises temperatures globally, intensified extreme weather already strengthened by climate change. The U.S. alone counted 25 billion-dollar weather disasters in 2023 — more than any other year.

Yet this devastation was met by some of the largest gains in climate action to date. World leaders agreed for the first time to “transition away” from oil and gas at the annual United Nations climate summit, hosted last month by the United Arab Emirates. Funds and incentives from President Joe Biden’s signature climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act, started to roll out to companies and municipalities. Electric vehicle sales skyrocketed, thousands of young people signed up for the first-ever American Climate Corps, and companies agreed to pay billions of dollars to remove harmful chemicals called PFAS from drinking water supplies....