Wetlands protection at issue in Maine offshore wind plans
by E&E News | April 1, 2024
Maine’s plan to build an offshore wind port on an undeveloped island is facing pushback from some environmental groups, exemplifying the trade-offs and land use conflicts embedded in the clean energy transition. Gov. Janet Mills (D) announced this year that Sears Island was the “ ...
EPA to scrutinize ‘forever chemicals’ in wastewater, sewage
by E&E News | March 26, 2024
EPA is collecting data on “forever chemicals” in wastewater that eventually make their way to rivers and streams across the nation, a move that could inform future limits on the substances. While the data collection is a welcome step, EPA should have begun gathering the information “ ...
5th Circuit curbs EPA authority under chemical safety law
by E&E News | March 22, 2024
EPA used the wrong process when it ordered a plastics company, Inhance, to stop unintentionally creating “forever chemicals,” the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in a Thursday opinion. It’s a major blow to environmental and health advocates like Kyla Bennett, ...
Watchdog questions BLM’s attempts at ‘culture change’
by E&E News | March 18, 2024
A watchdog group released a report Monday highly critical of the Bureau of Land Management and its attempts to improve its culture over the past three years. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, released the results of a 2023 federal survey that it says was never ...
Rock climbers, feds tangle over wilderness rules
by E&E News | March 15, 2024
Federal land managers have sparked a heated debate about recreation in some of this country’s most wild places with a proposed overhaul of rules governing rock climbing on public lands, angering both wilderness advocates and climbers alike. Murdock said the divide between climbing and ...