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Farmers issue warning on major health hazard in US food system: ‘Very, very concerning’

by The Cool Down | October 15, 2025
“All conventional farms are allowed to use biosolids,” Kyla Bennett, the director of science policy at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said. “So that’s hundreds of millions of people in the U.S. eating food from farms that use biosolids. So the ...

‘Immediate consequences’: How a US government shutdown could derail global climate progress

by Euronews | October 15, 2025
Until recently, the EPA had been using carryover funds to keep its staff on the job. At the end of last week – 10 days into the shutdown – the agency began sending furlough notices to workers. Tim Whitehouse, executive director at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, ...

EPA’s ‘Comeback’ a Sham Fueled by Trump’s Authoritarian Power Grab, Critics Charge

by Inside Climate News | October 11, 2025
“We are seeing an unprecedented and illegal purge of nonpartisan federal workers,” said Joanna Citron Day, general counsel at PEER, “and it’s getting worse.” “PEER is challenging the Trump administration’s illegal attempt through executive order to allow the president and his ...

Trump’s promised shutdown layoffs lead to at least 4,200 cuts at seven agencies

by Government Executive | October 10, 2025
Tim Whitehouse, executive director at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, called the EPA layoffs “illegal and morally corrupt” and said they would inflict trauma on both the federal workforce and the American people who rely on the agency’s services. Read ...

EPA furloughs employees after using carryover funds to keep them working

by | October 9, 2025
Tim Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said furloughing most EPA staff “will have lasting negative impacts on the environment of this country.” “This is yet another blow to the hardworking employees at EPA, who have witnessed so much ...

Trump Is Using the Shutdown to Supercharge His War on Equity

by Rolling Stone | October 9, 2025
Trump has made clear that he cares little about any unequal fallout from the government shutdown. As he sent National Guard troops into Democratic cities across the country, Trump was asked about a White House memo threatening to deny backpay to the hundreds of thousands of furloughed ...

Trump administration acts on majority of industry wish list

by The New Lede | October 9, 2025
Tim Whitehouse, the executive director at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), said the moves by the EPA show who the agency is serving. “The whole chemical industry has had a stranglehold for a long time on the EPA,” he said. Read the PEER Story… ...

The Shutdown’s Climate Bait and Switch

by Atmos | October 8, 2025
“I think the lesson we need to learn from the first nine months of the Trump administration is that when they say things, they mean it,” said Tim Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, speaking about the proposed additional layoffs at ...

White House Says Federal Workers’ Back Pay During Shutdown Isn’t Guaranteed

by The Wall Street Journal | October 7, 2025
Vought had asked federal agencies to develop plans for layoffs during the shutdown beyond usual furloughs. Democrats and unions have questioned whether such layoffs would be legal, and they said the new threat regarding back pay wasn’t on firm ground. The OMB memo “is an effort for ...

Federal judge dismisses attempt to make EPA regulate PFAS in biosolids

by Waste Dive | October 2, 2025
The judge’s decision is a setback for the farmers in Texas and elsewhere who are searching for federal leadership on PFAS, said Laura Dumais, staff counsel at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. “It’s a hugely disappointing decision for them,” said Dumais, who ...

Science Agencies Shuttered in Government Shutdown

by Eos | October 1, 2025
Trump had doubled down on the threat to fire federal employees yesterday afternoon, which spurred a set of federal employee unions to file a lawsuit alleging that the threats are an unlawful abuse of power. “The plan to exploit a shutdown to purge federal workers is illegal, ...

Court dismisses lawsuit alleging EPA failed to protect farmers from PFAS in fertilizer

by The New Lede | October 1, 2025
“We disagree,” Laura Dumais, staff counsel at PEER, said. “We think a timeline should be inferred from the statute. It’s just really heartbreaking for the ranching families that are plaintiffs in this case and for farmers all across the country whose land has been contaminated from ...

Recycle company’s bankruptcy leaves tons of discarded artificial turf across the state

by Philadelphia Inquirer | September 30, 2025
“We’re all going to suffer because these turf fields — particularly the old ones, which we know have PFAS — are going to leach off and contaminate farmers’ fields, groundwater, drinking water supplies, and surface waters,” said Kyla Bennett, a former EPA official who is now ...

‘Wholesale destruction’: Government shutdown or not, critical science programs are at risk

by Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists | September 29, 2025
Organizations that represent the interests of public workers have been more explicit: “The plan to exploit a shutdown to purge federal workers is illegal, unconstitutional, and deeply disturbing,” Tim Whitehouse, the executive director of Public Employees for Environmental ...

The Plague of PFAs: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility

by A Better World | September 28, 2025
PFAs (aka Forever Chemicals) are ubiquitous synthetic compounds found in products from food packaging, to cosmetics, water-repellent clothing, carpets, dental floss, nonstick cookware, fire-fighting foam, fertilizers and especially in our water supply. They degrade the environment and are ...

Sludge with forever chemicals spread on US farms threatens food supply, livelihoods

by Spotlight on America | September 22, 2025
Wastewater treatment facilities pay companies to haul away tons of human excrement or “biosolids.” These companies then have to get rid of the waste and often give it to farmers for free, who then spread it on their land. Kyla Bennett, Director of Science Policy at Public ...

EPA tells some scientists to stop publishing studies, employees say

by The Washington Post | September 20, 2025
The move to halt the agency’s scientific research has prompted concern from scientists and environmental groups that findings could be altered to conform to the Trump administration’s political agenda. “Science is not supposed to be political,” said Kyla Bennett, director of ...

Can New Jersey’s $2 billion PFAS deal with DuPont be a model?

by Chemical & Engineering News | September 17, 2025
“Settlements are a step forward, but they don’t pay medical bills, allow farmers to use their land again, or actually clean—rather than just filter—contaminated water,” Bennett concludes. “What needs to happen is federal action—something we won’t see under this ...

Trump’s Attack on Science/ Year of the Co-op

by Ralph Nader Radio Hour | September 13, 2025
Ralph welcomes Timothy Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) to speak about how federal workers across all government agencies are being unfairly denigrated and summarily fired by the Trump Administration to clear the way for corporate ...

EPA Approves Four New Pesticides That Qualify as PFAS

by Civil Eats | September 8, 2025
On August 13, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), a federal environmental policy watchdog organization, sent Kennedy a petition asking the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission to take several concrete actions on forever chemicals. PEER recommends that the EPA ...
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