The BLM oversees 246 million acres of land — the vast majority of it in the Western U.S. The agency’s mission is to “sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of public lands for the use and enjoyment of present and future generations,” but according to records obtained by ...

In 2000, Congress passed the National Parks Air Tour Management Act, which requires the Federal Aviation Administration and National Park Service to develop a plan or voluntary agreement for each park where air tour operations occur or are proposed. When the agencies failed to create the ...

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, analyzed BLM data covering assessments of about 108 million acres of land that has been leased for livestock grazing, and found that about 54 million acres — an area about the size of the state of Washington — failed so-called ...

Roughly half of all rangelands leased by the Bureau of Land Management for livestock grazing do not meet baseline health standards, according to a new analysis by a government watchdog group. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, or PEER, analyzed BLM data covering assessments ...

The size of the Whitmore settlement will likely get the attention of many federal officials, said Paula Dinerstein, a lawyer who has represented Whitmore. “It sends a message to employers: Retaliate against whistle-blowers at your peril,” said Dinerstein, senior counsel for Public ...

The national organization Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) responded to the release of the data on Thursday, stating  that the publication only occurred following three years’ worth of requests from the group. “We are glad this information was finally released ...

This is happening despite a joint federal-state emergency effort to drop tons of lettuce and other produce to starving manatees. The unprecedented feeding operation began on January 20 for manatees that gather in the warm waters near a power plant on Florida’s east coast particularly ...

Thousands of facilities are located in areas considered at high risk for flooding, with hundreds in areas that may be inundated by storm surge or with high wildfire hazard potential. The report found that more than 150 facilities, especially in the Gulf Coast, are located in areas that may ...

Despite more than two decades to get the task accomplished, and almost two years after a federal judge ordered the Federal Aviation Administration and National Park Service to get the job done by this summer, air tour management plans for eight national parks will not be completed on ...

In a 31-page report, PEER requested that the Federal Trade Commission investigate the vendors, manufacturers, and marketers of artificial turf. “Our review of numerous websites advertising artificial turf and statements made to consumers shows at least one type of deceptive or unfair ...

PolyMet is hoping to open Minnesota’s first copper-nickel mine near Babbitt and Hoyt Lakes. Supporters say the project would bring much-needed jobs to the region and can be done in an environmentally safe way, but environmental groups fear it could pollute waterways. AFGE Local 704 ...

They also doubt the agency’s capacity to tackle PFAS. The 200 chemicals the EPA is now tracking represent just a fraction of the 12,000 PFAS known to exist. PEER, an organization that supports current and former employees of public environmental agencies, calculates that based on ...

“The GAO report itself is good, though like most government reports, it understates the threat in bureaucratese,” said Kevin Bell, an environmental attorney with the nonprofit Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, who has challenged the EPA in court. “A major winter ...

PFAS contamination in mosquito control products emerged as a public health issue when a product similar to one used in Maryland was tested in Massachusetts and found to have high levels of PFAS, prompting Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and Maryland Pesticide Education ...

THE WHISTLEBLOWERS WHO have alleged systemic corruption in the Environmental Protection Agency’s New Chemicals Division have refrained from releasing the names of the managers and other agency officials who they say have repeatedly interfered with the chemical assessment process. But now ...

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility and other conservation advocates are instead urging executive branch agencies leading the “America the Beautiful” program to institute strict parameters and exclude areas with only temporary prohibitions on activities like ...

After E&E News reported that Biden officials said America the Beautiful includes all lands, “from synthetic turf to new wilderness,” Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) sued to investigate if fake grass companies are trying to greenwash their image. “The suit ...

Bills that have cleared their House and Senate committee hearings without opposition would block the state from setting or enforcing cleanups for hazardous “PFAS” chemicals that are used in household items like stain-resistant carpets. Response — But a national environmental group ...

But a 2018 lawsuit led by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) with co-counsel Atchafalaya Basinkeeper said the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service used “false assumptions and shoddy science” to make its decision for removal. It contends the bears still need ...

The only public comments sent before the meeting concerned air permits, specifically the permit for Xcel’s Cherokee power station. Chandra Rosenthal, who leads the Rocky Mountain office for Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which works with whistleblowers to expose ...