“Should national parks sell plastic water bottles? Environmental stewardship or nanny state. The change in the White House has some groups pushing to reinstate the ban on the sale of disposable water bottles in national parks. Now, environmental groups led by Public Employees for ...

“Government Accountability Project today praised the House Committee on Oversight and Reform for approving landmark legislation to modernize the Whistleblower Protection Act (WPA) of 1989. The last time Congress updated our national whistleblowing law was through the Whistleblowing ...

“A group representing a federal environmental specialist blasted the Bureau of Land Management last week after the agency filed new termination papers against him. Public Employees for Environmental Ethics calls Walter Loewen a whistleblower who is being unfairly sacked after he ...

“A bipartisan group of senators, led by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), introduced the False Claims Amendments Act of 2021 to beef up the government’s most potent tool to fight fraud. Full text of the Administrative False Claims Act can be found HERE. A summary of the legislation can ...

“The White House is asking the public for help over the next 30 days on how to best restore scientific integrity to the federal government, as a part of its effort to bring science back to the forefront of policymaking and restoring faith in government — no small task. “ ...

“The change of administrations in Washington, D.C., has led to a renewed call for a ban on disposable plastic bottles in the National Park System, along with a commitment from the agency that plastic wastes in the parks be reduced by 75 percent over the next five years. This week ...

“President Joe Biden’s laudable Jan. 27 executive order, “Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad,” called for (among other things) conserving 30% of U.S. lands and waters by 2030. However, the administration’s “Conserving and Restoring America the Beautiful” plan ...

“Advocacy groups are urging the Biden administration to revive a ban on the sale of plastic water bottles at national parks. The coalition — which includes Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER), GreenLatinos and Beyond Plastics — filed a petition yesterday ...

“Dear Senator Grassley: The undersigned members of the Make It Safe Coalition (MISC) write to applaud introduction of the Administrative False Claims Act of 2021 (AFCA). The False Claims Act is America’s most effective anti-corruption law, but as a practical matter it only has been ...

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has formally denied a 2011 rulemaking petition that sought to “revise the regulatory threshold for defining waste as corrosive from the current value of pH 12.5, to pH 11.5; and expand the scope of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ...

“A D.C. federal judge said the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency does not have to release a draft assessment of the human health risks of formaldehyde, deciding that it reveals the deliberations of the agency and is exempt from public records law. U.S. District Judge Beryl A. ...

“The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has no obligation to share its study of the risks of inhaling formaldehyde with Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, because the document sought is only a draft, a Washington federal court ruled. Kevin Bell, staff counsel for ...

“Glacier National Park is proposing to expand its telecommunication coverage, but some question the need or intent of doing so. In addition to telecommunication towers, park managers want to install a radio repeater at the Loop on the Going-to-the-Sun Road. But the plan also leaves ...

“One of the tell-tale signs you’ve crossed into Glacier National Park is that your phone turns into a mostly useless brick of electronics — unless of course you want to use it to take a photo of the stunning mountain vistas. But that could soon change after the National Park ...

“Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances called PFAS contaminate some pesticides used in mosquito control in Massachusetts and permitted in Vermont. These chemicals never fully break down in the environment, are very soluble in water and bio-accumulate in organisms, including humans. ...

“When Randy Hampton moved from Hawaii last year to again work in public information for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, good friends, including within the agency, told him to be careful with the issue of wolf reintroduction, calling it “touchy.” He was speaking on the phone ...

“Two wolf reintroduction advocates — one of them a member of the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Commission — are concerned by reports that a CPW staff member worked to inhibit implementation of a ballot initiative requiring the return of the animals to the state. CPW Commissioner ...

“EPA’s scientific integrity official says career staff “quietly documented” alleged violations of the agency’s scientific integrity policy during the Trump era, pointing to a potential trove of evidence for the investigation of “political interference” in TSCA and other ...

“Should the natural beauty of our night sky be protected under law, or should it be free and open for anyone to use as they see fit? That is a question many have grappled with for the past two years, since the arrival of so-called mega constellations. These vast groups of satellites ...

“EPA this afternoon convened a virtual hearing on its scientific integrity policy, following a Biden memo directing the agency to review all past allegations. Science groups and other advocates have welcomed the approach but stressed some shortcomings. For one, the watchdog group ...