News Clips

Though Western states are critical of the BLM policy, environmental activists lauded the rule as a much-needed way for conservation groups to improve the environment and revitalize public lands. Supporters also say the rule gives energy and mining companies a way to offset the ...

Known as “forever chemicals” because of their longevity, these toxic contaminants are now being detected, sometimes at high levels, on farmland across the country, including in Texas, Maine, Michigan, New York and Tennessee. In some cases the chemicals are suspected of sickening or ...

The lawsuit against the EPA states that the federal agency violated the Clean Water Act and the Administrative Procedures Act for failing to identify certain PFAS as “toxic pollutants” in sewage sludge and failing to regulate them where information exists to show that the chemicals ...

As visitation numbers continue to reach new heights, national parks are having trouble staffing enough rangers to keep up with demand, according to the nonprofit organization Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. “The Park Service’s ranger force is in deteriorating ...

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Park Service were required to develop management plans for commercial air tours over national parks and tribal lands after Congress passed the National Parks Air Tour Management Plan Act in 2000. But it took almost two decades for the ...

EPA’s re-classification “dangerously ignores science and downplays the risks individuals face when they are exposed to 1,3-D,” wrote the attorneys general of seven states and the District of Columbia in a 2020 letter to the Office of Pesticide Programs. Top law enforcement officers ...

The NPS held an open comment period last year to gather feedback from the public and local, state, tribal, and federal agencies. The review gauged the potential e-bike impact in national parks on non-motorized trails. The Finding of No Significant Impact confirmed the 2020 decision that ...

A lack of park rangers puts more visitors in harm’s way, said Jeff Ruch, PEER’s Pacific director. “People are going deeper into places where they shouldn’t be and getting into trouble,” said Ruch, noting that park search-and-rescue calls have more than tripled between 2015 ...

The completion of the new environmental assessment and an accompanying finding of no significant impact is the latest turn for a public lands debate that gained speed in 2019 when the Trump administration ordered park superintendents to allow electric bicycles to be used throughout the ...

Parvini and his daughter participated in a small, preliminary study by PEER, or the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which involved wiping their hands with specialized wipes to detect chemicals after playing on turf and grass. The study confirmed that kids pick up PFAS ...

“I think the PFAS drinking water standards are one of the first big cases where you will see how the Loper decision is being applied,” said Tim Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. “These decisions will open everything up to more and ...

The plan also calls for amending the National Environmental Policy Act to favor big business. Among other provisions, NEPA requires the federal government to include the public in federal land decisions. Project 2025 directs a future administration to set page limits and arbitrary ...

Meanwhile, another lawsuit led by the ranchers is challenging the EPA’s inaction on preventing PFAS contamination in fertilizers and added Johnson County, as well as the environmental groups Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association and the Potomac Riverkeeper Network, as co- ...

Massachusetts, like most New England states, has its own regulations about air pollution, safe drinking water, wetlands and wildlife protection, which are often tougher than federal laws. The Massachusetts Wetlands Protection Act and the Massachusetts Rivers Protection Act, for instance, ...

Kyla Bennett, director of science policy at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a Ph.D, and J.D., says: “The things that are wrong with it are plentiful.” She relates how artificial turf emits carbon dioxide and methane, cannot be recycled, and causes “worse injuries ...

A lack of transparency could complicate efforts by environmental or good governance advocates to file lawsuits challenging rules that don’t follow the science. Tim Whitehouse, the executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, said it’s already difficult for ...

Should Harris and Walz prevail in November, how much he could influence PFAS policy is an open question. Some legal experts aren’t sure if a Minnesota-style national ban on PFAS would even be feasible without legislation from Congress, a prospect that’s unlikely in the current ...

Earlier this year, the Maryland-based environmental nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, sued the EPA over the lack of biosolid fertilizer standards. “EPA has deemed it acceptable for biosolids containing PFAS and other known toxic chemicals to be applied ...

PEER maintains that the NPS has all but abandoned efforts to assess its law enforcement needs. Although NPS policy requires each park to perform a Law Enforcement Needs Assessment every three years, the agency has abandoned the practice, the group said. Meanwhile, a five-year-old ...

Sadly, the federal government hasn’t been keeping the number of law enforcement rangers up, despite new records for park visitors every year. Just since 2021, more than a quarter of rangers have left the agency and were not replaced. Since 2010, 48% of ranger slots went vacant with no ...