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Tag: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

  • Trump EPA Takes ‘Yet Another Sledgehammer’ to Clean Water Act

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    Article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    Alkali wetlands are seen on April 22, 2023, in Carrizo Plain National Monument, California.
     (Photo by George Rose/Getty Images)

    “This proposal declares open season on the nation’s waterways,” one critic charged.

    President Donald Trump’s administration sparked fresh fury on Friday when it proposed a supplemental rule to further gut Clean Water Act protections for streams and wetlands in the wake of a “catastrophic” US Supreme Court ruling three years ago.

    The supplemental proposal from the Department of the Army and Environmental Protection Agency builds on their widely criticized proposed rule from November for defining “waters of the United States” (WOTUS)—both of which go further than the high court did with its 2023 decision in Sackett v. EPA.

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    While the American Petroleum Institute and some Republicans in Congress joined Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Adam Telle and EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin in promoting the new proposal, environmental and public health advocates sounded the alarm.

    “What the Supreme Court did in its Sackett decision was an inexcusable assault on clean water,” Jon Devine, director of freshwater ecosystems at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a Friday statement. “Communities and wildlife will pay the price until Congress fixes it. The Trump administration’s answer has been to make a bad situation worse.”

    “This proposal declares open season on the nation’s waterways. It denies federal protection to virtually all wetlands and more than three-quarters of our streams, endangering drinking water supplies and flood-prone communities—and the agencies admit it themselves,” he noted. “The proposal would virtually eliminate protection for freshwater wetlands. Their own analysis says most streams would lose protection, with the West hit hardest.”

    Food & Water Watch legal director Tarah Heinzen declared that “Trump is taking yet another sledgehammer to our bedrock Clean Water Act, shamelessly doubling down on his initial terrible proposal to strip protections from countless streams and wetlands.”

    “Make no mistake: This unlawful proposal gives bad actors the green light to fill, drain, and poison sensitive waterways from coast to coast,” she warned. “The result will be dirtier water for everyone. The administration must reverse course on this dangerous proposal.”

    Gary Belan, senior director of American Rivers’ Clean Water Program, stressed that “our nation’s water resources are precious and increasingly at risk. This is not the moment to be jeopardizing the nation’s water security by narrowing the safeguards of the Clean Water Act.”

    The public comment period for the initial proposal has closed but, as Belan noted, the publication of the supplemental rule in the Federal Register kicks off a new 30-day period. He said that “while we appreciate EPA’s effort to seek more public comment, the proposed changes will have consequences that will impact communities across the nation if finalized.”

    “The proposed definitions do not reflect the established science on how rivers function and would significantly reduce the scope of the Clean Water Act,” he continued. “When headwater and intermittent streams and wetlands lose protection, downstream flooding worsens, the costs of drinking water treatment rises, and water supplies become less reliable.”

    Jim Murphy, the National Wildlife Federation’s associate vice president for legal advocacy, pointed out that “this is now the fifth effort to define the scope of the waters protected by the Clean Water Act in the past decade. We need Congress’ help to get off this merry-go-round at a place that protects our waters, our wildlife, and our way of life.”

    “The administration is clearly struggling to craft a rule that will hold up in court while satisfying their donors’ desire to effectively scrap these protections wherever possible,” he added. “One thing is clear: If we don’t protect our streams and wetlands, the cost of dirtier drinking water and increased flooding will flow downstream to households at a time when most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.”

    Article by Jessica Corbett republished from Common Dreams under under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

    Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.
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  • The US Environmental Protection Agency’s retreat from science endangers the health of people and the planet

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    Andromeda stock/Shutterstock

    Scott Glaberman, University of Birmingham; H. Christopher Frey, North Carolina State University, and Tamara Tal, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ

    Pollution causes more illness and early death than any other environmental threat, accounting for one in six deaths worldwide. For decades, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Research and Development (ORD) has driven many of the biggest advances for safeguarding human health and ecosystems from chemicals. Now, this scientific research office is being closed down by the US government

    Earlier this year, the Trump administration began dismantling the office by terminating programmes, cutting staff, closing laboratories and moving remaining scientists into regulatory offices. Legal challenges temporarily blocked mass government layoffs.

    But that changed when a recent Supreme Court ruling gave the Trump administration the green light to proceed with widespread redundancies and the total elimination of ORD.

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    Now, in so doing, the US is not just gutting its own scientific foundation. It’s also putting decades of global progress in chemical safety, pollution control and public health at risk.

    ORD is the EPA’s independent science arm, conducting research that supports clean air, water and land. From detecting pollutants and assessing health risks to guiding environmental cleanup, it ensures EPA decisions are grounded in credible, evidence-based research. ORD develops this science under intense scientific, policy, political and legal scrutiny, which means it produces the best available science that is credible and robust.

    ORD doesn’t just study pollution, it uncovers threats before they become crises. Take North Carolina’s Cape Fear River, which supplies drinking water to an estimated 2 million people.

    While most scientists focused on known pollutants, ORD used advanced screening tools to detect GenX, a little-known synthetic “forever chemical”. Despite evidence that GenX was contaminating the river basin since the 1980s, not much was known about its potential to harm living systems.

    waterfront by cape fear river, sunny blue skies
    Forever chemicals were found to be polluting North Carolina’s Cape Fear River in the US. Kosoff/Shutterstock, CC BY-NC-ND

    ORD rapidly filled this void, linking GenX to decreased birth weight and increased mortality in newborn rats, prompting swift regulatory action against the manufacturer to ensure cleaner, safer water for local communities. No other government agency in the world delivers this kind of rapid, science-led response.

    It’s not just the strength of ORD’s science that sets it apart, but also its visionary thinking. Among ORD’s most influential ideas is a model that maps out how a chemical is causing harm.

    This works like a chain of building blocks, linking tiny effects (like a chemical disrupting a hormone) to much bigger problems, such as cancer or even extinction. Each step shows how one change leads to another until it reaches something we truly care about. This approach helps scientists detect danger early, before it leads to irreversible damage.

    Then there’s the EPA’s groundbreaking work in computational toxicology. Nearly two decades ago, leading scientists warned that chemical safety testing relied too heavily on outdated methods and animal experiments.

    In response, ORD built ToxCast, a system that uses tiny cells and computer models to screen thousands of chemicals for effects like endocrine disruption or cell damage. It’s faster, cheaper and more humane, and helps scientists predict which substances may pose serious risks.

    These scientific breakthroughs don’t come from policy offices. They require researchers with the independence to explore and innovate.

    Beyond the US

    Europe has bold goals to phase out animal testing. Much of the science driving this shift comes from ORD.

    Tools like Ecotox (the world’s largest chemical toxicity database) and the CompTox dashboard (a platform that links predictive models and non-animal test data for over a million substances) are widely used across the EU and UK. Without ORD, these vital resources, hosted by EPA, could disappear, stalling global progress toward safer, more ethical chemical testing.

    EPA also collaborates closely with European partners. It maintains formal agreements and joint programmes with the European Chemicals Agency and the UK’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Areas of focus include air quality, computational toxicology and chemical risk assessment.

    ORD has been a leading scientific institution with global reach. Its tools and ideas have shaped how governments detect hazardous chemicals, understand their effects, and protect people and the planet. From toxicity databases to modern, non-animal testing methods, ORD has underpinned how we respond to pollution. Eliminating it could create a dangerous void, just as chemical and climate threats are accelerating.

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    Scott Glaberman, Associate Professor of Comparative Toxicology, University of Birmingham; H. Christopher Frey, Glenn E. Futrell Distinguished University Professor of Environmental Engineering, North Carolina State University, and Tamara Tal, Mechanistic Toxicology Group Leader, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research UFZ and Professor of Integrated Systems Toxicology, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

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  • An Open Letter from EPA Staff to the American Public

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    Original article by Guest republished from DeSmog.

    Credit: Ashley Spratt/USFWS (Public Domain)

    “We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

    This op-ed was written by a group of current and former employees of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), who have asked to remain anonymous due to concerns about retaliation. It was originally published by Environmental Health News and is republished with permission.

    The Trump administration is making accusations of fraud, waste, and abuse associated with federal environmental justice programs under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) as justification for firing federal workers and defunding critical environmental programs. But the real waste, fraud, and abuse would be to strip away these funds from the American people.

    As current and former employees at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) who developed and implemented the agency’s environmental justice funding and grant programs, we want to offer our first-hand insights about the efficiency and importance of this work. This is not about defending our paychecks. This is about protecting the health of our communities.

    IRA funding is often described as a “once-in-a-generation investment,” putting billions of dollars toward improving the lives of American families in red, blue, and purple states. Working with communities, we’ve been placing these resources directly into their hands, supporting people to better protect the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the land where we live, learn, work, play, and grow — including key protections from natural disasters. 

    As civil servants, we took an oath to protect and invest in the American public. We are committed to providing effective programs and being responsible stewards of taxpayer dollars, and there are many policies in place to ensure our accountability. But despite our careful planning and oversight, the new administration is halting programs Americans depend on for their health and wellbeing. 

    We should work together to demand that the Trump administration restore this critical funding back to the people.

    The Risks of Losing a Once-in-a-generation Investment

    The Bush administration introduced environmental equity (and justice) programming to the EPA in the 1990s. EPA staff working on environmental justice programs partnered with communities to meet their needs and used rigorous systems to track funds and results. 

    The Trump administration recently paused many of these environmental justice programs that fund community-led projects like air, water, and soil testing; training and workforce development; construction or cleanup projects; gardens and tree planting; and preparing and responding to natural disasters. Other examples of the EPA’s environmental justice programs include providing safe shelters during and after hurricanes, land cleanups to reduce communities’ exposure to harmful pollutants, and providing water filters to protect residents from lead in drinking water. 

    Global Investigations

    This administration has halted funds, claiming “the objectives of the awards are no longer consistent with EPA funding priorities.” In reality, these funds were approved by Congress, and these grants remain in alignment with the agency’s mission to protect human health and the environment. Even though there are court orders to unfreeze billions of dollars in federal grants, the Trump administration continues to withhold this critical money from the people who need it most.

    We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable to serving the American people, applying the same mandates that we have held our federal workforce and grant recipients to: follow the law, follow the science, and be transparent.

    Terminating the EPA’s Environmental Justice Programs Is Hurting Our Communities and the Economy

    Some grant recipients who have lost access to EPA funding had already been working for more than a year on projects that must now be paused. Many recipients have hired local employees and made commitments in their communities.

    Now that funds are being pulled back, these organizations have had to lay off staff, pause local contracts with private companies and small businesses, and shut down community-driven projects. These attacks will impact the integrity of programs funded by our hard-earned tax dollars and take money away from communities across the country.

    By withholding promised funding and terminating existing contracts, the Trump administration is exposing the EPA to increased risks of litigation. Relationships that were built through years of meaningful engagement between communities and the federal government are being jeopardized. Organizations, institutions, and companies will likely shy away from future federal grant or contracting opportunities because no one wants to work with someone who doesn’t pay their bills and backs out on their promises. 

    It is a waste of taxpayer dollars for the U.S. Government to cancel its agreements with grantees and contractors. It is fraud for the U.S. Government to delay payments for services already received. And it is an abuse of power for the Trump administration to block the IRA laws that were mandated by Congress.

    How to Take Action to Restore Funding to the American People 

    It can feel impossible to keep up with the news right now, but this story touches all of us. We should pay attention to what’s going on in our communities and find ways to stay engaged, like attending town halls to hear about the local impacts of federal policies and making your voice heard.

    If you are interested in advocating for the return of federal funding to the American people, we urge you to:

    • Share on social media. Share our story or similar news stories on social media with  #federalfundingfreeze, #federalcuts, or #truthtopower. 
    • Advocate for funding to be restored in your community. Take part in local town hall and other events in your area to advocate for federal funding to be returned to the people. Make your voice heard and claim your right to clean water, clean air, and a safe environment.
    • Learn how the EPA’s environmental justice programs are investing in your state, city, or community. View this environmental justice grants map to see where IRA dollars and funding from the EPA’s environmental justice programs were invested.
    • Learn how federal cuts are impacting your communities. Stay tuned to view a Federal Cuts Tracker Map (we’ll add a link here when it’s live) to read and share stories about how federal cuts are currently impacting your communities.

    Original article by Guest republished from DeSmog.

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