“Environmental crime prosecutions have continued falling in recent months, a new analysis shows, boosting pressure for the Biden administration to ramp up enforcement. The Justice Department prosecuted 32 criminal cases referred by the Environmental Protection Agency during the first ...

“Wayland is the latest town to discover high levels of PFAS in tap water. Town administrator Louise Miller said two of their four wells detected more than 20 parts per trillion of this dangerous chemical, which surpasses the state’s new safety standard. Dr. Kyla Bennett is the ...

“Since Massachusetts enacted new safety regulations last fall, more communities have found elevated levels of toxic chemicals known as PFAS in their drinking water. Kyla Bennett, a former scientist at the US Environmental Protection Agency, noted that Massachusetts requires testing ...

“On January 27, 2021, President Biden issued an executive order committing his administration “to achieve the goal of conserving at least 30% of our lands and waters by 2030.” That’s an ambitious goal. The U.S. currently conserves around 26% of its coastal waters and about 12% ...

“House Energy and Commerce Committee leaders from both parties are concerned about ongoing controversies at a key federal agency tasked with investigating chemical crises. Questions have emerged around Lemos and the CSB’s spending. Earlier this month, the group Public Employees ...

“Attorneys for state employee whistleblowers are asking EPA administrator Michael Regan to reexamine an emissions permit granted to the Cherokee Generating Station north of Denver. If the Biden administration agrees to the request, Xcel Energy may be forced to obtain a new emissions ...

“The White House on Friday held its first task force meeting to develop strategies for empowering career federal scientists, including through identifying incidents of interference in previous administrations. Tim Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental ...

“EPA’s inspector general today issued another damning report showing the agency’s pursuit of polluters violating federal air, water and toxics laws has plummeted. “Enforcement decline was exacerbated by the Trump administration, but this is not solely a Trump issue ...

“EPA’s inspector general issued a stinging rebuke of the agency’s forensics center, highlighting challenges left for the Biden administration to address. Tim Whitehouse, a former EPA enforcement official, generally found the report “unsurprising,” saying the ...

“A lingering Trump appointee overseeing the struggling federal agency charged with investigating chemical disasters is spending excessive amounts of taxpayer money, according to documents obtained by a watchdog group. Katherine Lemos, chair of the Chemical Safety and Hazard ...

“An environmental whistleblower group claims Katherine Lemos, chair and sole current member of the Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) rewrote the panel’s governing rules to “consolidate” her power at the expense of three pending nominees, and claims she has ...

“In drafting their long-disputed permit renewal for Suncor Energy’s refinery in Commerce City, state air pollution officials used the same 2010 internal guidance memo that they recently “retired” after whistleblowers called the memo illegal and protested it with the ...

“Attorneys for the whistleblowing state air pollution division employees late Friday asked the Colorado Attorney General’s Office to broadly expand the scope of its previously announced investigation into the state health department’s handling of numerous industry permits. The ...

“The controversial SA Dunn landfill will have to apply for what would essentially be a new permit rather than for a renewal of their existing permit to accept construction and demolition debris. That would be a more extensive process, with more scrutiny than a renewal. Additionally, ...

“The former head of EPA’s Office of Children’s Health Protection has filed a whistleblower complaint with the agency asking to be restored to her former post. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which is representing Etzel, said she is working as a ...

“A new report from the Palm Beach County Office of Inspector General (OIG) revealed the City of Delray Beach failed to disclose to the Florida Department of Health that a resident possibly got sick from drinking water mixed with reclaimed water. A whistleblower report had been ...

“EPA’s top enforcement official has directed agents to ramp up inspections in communities that have long been afflicted by pollution and called on agents “to step in and take necessary action” in cases where state regulators are falling short on the job. Kyla ...

“It’s probably apocryphal, but German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer supposedly said, “All truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as self-evident.” Regardless of whether he said it back in the 19th ...

“A decision by Maryland to switch mosquito sprays due to “forever chemicals” reveals choices that states and companies are quickly making as they and the EPA tackle a quandary: PFAS in pesticides. Maryland’s Department of Agriculture is pausing plans to use Bayer CropScience LP ...

“Yellowstone National Park’s proposal to bury fiber optic cable alongside 187 miles of roadway has drawn fire from an environmental group. Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility wrote in a recent press release, “Unfortunately, those roads traverse areas that run the ...