Most environmental groups that commented said they support the rule, but Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility said in its comments that the BLM lacks the staff and resources to implement it. The bureau, which already manages the health of its land poorly, needs to conduct a ...

While much is unknown about how microplastics affect human health, scientists have detected the tiny plastic fragments in blood and warn about possible toxic effects on fetuses. Lawmakers and advocates have been pushing the Biden administration for years to increase research into ...

The vast majority of BLM lands are managed for either extraction or livestock grazing. A 2016 analysis conducted by the Wilderness Society found that 90 percent of BLM land is open for oil and gas drilling. Meanwhile, about 60 percent of BLM lands are leased for grazing, according to an ...

“In the U.S., chemicals are innocent until proven guilty,” said Kyla Bennett, director of science policy at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a nonprofit based outside Washington, D.C. “In the EU and Japan, chemicals are guilty until proven safe — and ...

At any rate, Ruch said he thinks the BIE’s initial decision to withhold the document in its entirety indicates that any disfunction at Haskell isn’t just confined to its campus but extends to the BIE as an agency. He added that the first step to resolving problems on this scale is ...

“PFAS chemicals are one of the top chemical exposure concerns these days, linked to cancer, liver problems and high cholesterol. These “forever” chemicals have been widely used in firefighting foam, non-stick pans, rain gear and more. And they’ve gotten out into the environment ...

“Our biggest concern is that the agency doesn’t have the capacity to implement the sort of ambitious goals that they have laid out in this rule,” said Chandra Rosenthal, a spokeswoman for PEER. “Because right now we think that they are really struggling with the agenda ...

When the National Park Service issued rules implementing Bernhardt’s order shortly after it was issued, it gave individual superintendents the ability to close certain areas to e-bike use, banned e-bikes that could be driven without pedaling and prohibited e-bikes in wilderness areas ...

The situation at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard has resulted in ongoing litigation, with the Navy and the U.S. Department of Justice facing 12 lawsuits related to the site. Residents living in a previously turned-over parcel have reported health issues and attribute them to the ...

The EPA initially said the new testing “reads as if the navy is suppressing data results it doesn’t like”, but the agency has since been silent on the issue, and the Navy’s Office of Inspector General has refused to investigate, said Jeff Ruch, an attorney with the Public Employees ...

The whistleblower group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility says it questions the BLM’s ability to apply land health standards on all lands, not just grazing lands, particularly when “approximately 1/3 of the grazing lands, nearly 41 million acres, are unassessed,” it ...

Environmental agencies have criticized the state’s approach to predators, saying that it compromises healthy populations of wildlife through predator control. Last year, the group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility requested that the U.S. Department of Interior end the use ...

“How does this affect the rest of the public visiting a park? We want to make sure everyone has a great experience,” she added. “What does (an eBike) do to everyone else’s experience there? That’s why there needs to be a rulemaking and public comment. Depending on what this ...

But some environmental groups have objected to the proposal, saying the change isn’t minor and should undergo a more extensive environmental review. “Burning diesel is a lot dirtier than the existing plant, so it could increase both local air pollution that hurts people and also ...

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility  (PEER) have joined the list of environmental groups outraged by the state of Alaska’s execution of just shy of 100 bears and a handful of wolves that once roamed a remote area about the size of Rhode Island. The group this week ...

Earlier this year, an analysis by watchdog group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility found that more than 25 million acres of BLM-managed land, about one-fifth of its total acreage, failed to reach land-health benchmarks for such considerations. Western Energy Alliance takes ...

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, an organization dedicated to upholding environmental laws and duties, recommends the BLM be staffed at about 15,000 full-time employees; as of June 2022, the agency had less than 9,000. In 2010, the agency had 11,000 full-time employees ...

There is mounting evidence that scientists and regulators themselves want to see reform. A 2022 survey of agricultural scientists found that many—especially university researchers—believe that EPA underestimates risk significantly, and they support regulation of inert ingredients as ...

What stopped the Alexandria projects, finally, was statistics on stream bank testing. Science based analysis changed the way the Department of Environmental Quality does analysis. $2.5 million of Stormwater assistance funds were taken off the table when it became clear the original data ...

The EPA sued the container maker, a Houston-based firm called Inhance, back in December 2022, on the grounds that Inhance had repeatedly lied to regulators about the presence of PFAS — a notoriously toxic “forever” plastic known to cause or contribute to serious health ...