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Three of the five top shareholders in Norfolk Southern — the freight rail carrier under the spotlight for its saftey and environmental record following last month's toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio — have been aligned with the eco-conscious, socially aware ESG (environmental, social, governance) investing framework embraced by many leading financial firms in recent years. Asset management firms BlackRock Fund Advisors, JPMorgan Investment Management, and The Vanguard Group were all part of the Net Zero Asset Managers initiative, a coalition of ESG-minded money mangers committed to channeling investment capital to firms working toward the goal of net-zero greenhouse...

EAST PALESTINE, Ohio - Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Tuesday visited the homes of East Palestine residents and drank tap water from each in an effort to reassure village residents that their municipal water supply is safe for human consumption. Joining DeWine were U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan, U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson, R-Marietta, and first lady Fran DeWine. "That's good," Regan said as he swallowed a mouthful of Carolyn Brown's tap water.

top official of the Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Administrator Michael Regan touring the contaminated area created by last week’s catastrophic Norfolk Southern Railroad derailment, subsequent chemical spill, and fire had a message for Ohioans that, in light of FEMA’s recent refusal to assist them, has raised many eyebrows. According to The Associated Press, Regan walked along a creek described as reeking of chemicals and spoke to reporters attempting to convince the people of East Palestine that the water is fit to drink and the air is safe to breathe. “I’m asking they trust the government. I know that’s hard. We...

Rail crash in Palestine, Ohio, toxic chemicals released, government mis-managed, people getting sick, livestock and fish dying. Buttigieg finally tweeted mention of it.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Friday it will not repay claims totaling more than $1.2 billion for economic damages from a mine waste spill the agency accidentally triggered in Colorado, saying the law prohibits it. The EPA said the claims could be refiled in federal court, or Congress could authorize payments. But attorneys for the EPA and the Justice Department concluded the EPA is barred from paying the claims because of sovereign immunity, which prohibits most lawsuits against the government. …

DENVER — The Environmental Protection Agency came under fire Thursday after an official said the agency would not fully cover a Colorado county’s expenses stemming from the EPA-caused toxic wastewater spill at the Gold King Mine. Colorado Republicans blasted the agency after the Durango Herald reported that an EPA official nixed some of La Plata County’s proposed cooperative agreement for $2.4 million in spill-related costs over 10 years at a Wednesday board of county commissioners meeting. Sen. Cory Gardner, Colorado Republican, described the report as “outrageous” and “yet another example of the Washington double standard,” adding that he would work...

A short history of Obama administration accountability: 1. No one fired at ATF or the Justice Department over Fast and Furious gun walking scandal 2. No one fired at IRS, two employees temporarily demoted over targeting scandal 3. Only 6 managers at the VA fired or allowed to resign over falsifying wait time records 4. No HHS employee fired over Obamacare exchange fiasco 5. No senior officers have been demoted or removed from CENTCOM for "cooking the books" on ISIS intelligence 6.. No EPA employee disciplined for toxic spill at Colorado mine As for that last scandal, Interior Secretary Sally...

Government investigators squarely blamed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Thursday for a 3 million gallon wastewater spill from a Colorado gold mine, saying an EPA cleanup crew rushed its work and failed to consider the complex engineering involved, triggering the very blowout it hoped to avoid. The spill that fouled rivers in three states would have been avoided had the EPA team checked on water levels inside the Gold King Mine before digging into a collapsed and leaking mine entrance, Interior Department investigators concluded. …

In August, the Environmental Protection Agency, in their infinite wisdom, decided to let three million gallons of toxic water from the abandoned Gold King Mine contaminate the Animas River. The EPA was sent there on a clean up mission, as the mine had been abandoned for nearly a decade–and accumulating hazardous water waste as a result. All told, the arsenic levels in the river are now 300 times the normal rate, with lead levels at 3,500 times what is considered healthy. The Navajo nation slammed the president’s inaction over the Animas river spill in Colorado that is threatening their...

Federal officials refused to share water-quality data for weeks following a blowout of toxic wastewater from a Colorado mine that fouled rivers across the Southwest, New Mexico’s top environmental regulator said Thursday. The move by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency aimed to downplay the severity of the spill, hobbling the state’s response, said Ryan Flynn, New Mexico secretary of Environment. His criticisms, aired before a U.S. House committee investigating the Aug. 5 accident, offered more fodder for congressional Republicans eager to find fault with a federal agency they perceive as having an anti-business agenda. An EPA cleanup team accidentally triggered...

DENVER—Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper’s big gulp of water from the formerly orange Animas River wasn’t just icky, it was “reckless and irresponsible,” said New Mexico’s top environmental official. New Mexico environment department secretary Ryan Flynn said Mr. Hickenlooper’s decision to fill up his water bottle from the site of the EPA’s 3-million-gallon wastewater spill in Durango, Colorado, sends the wrong message. “If it’s true, it’s a reckless and irresponsible act by a public official,” said Mr. Flynn in the Farmington (N.M.) Daily Times. “He might as well stick 15 cigarettes in his mouth and light them all at the same...

DENVER — Unlike BP, which was fined $5.5 billion for the 2010 Deepwater Horizon disaster, the EPA will pay nothing in fines for unleashing the Animas River spill. “Sovereign immunity. The government doesn’t fine itself,” said Thomas L. Sansonetti, former assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s division of environment and natural resource. New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez and other lawmakers have called on the EPA to hold itself to the same standards as it would a private company in the aftermath of Wednesday’s accident, in which an EPA-led crew uncorked a 3 million-gallon spill of orange wastewater from the...

•Head of Turkmengaz Fired and Replaced with Deputy •CYBERCOM to Go Operational This Month •Govt Takes over Hungarian Plant after Deadly Toxic Spill •French Transport and Oil Industry Strikes Risks Radicalization •Bolivia to Start Lithium Production in October •ISAF’s Torkham AfPak Border Crossing Reopened •Iran’s President Visits Lebanon in Clear Attempt to Boost Hezbollah Head of Turkmengaz Fired and Replaced with Deputy Local media in the Turkmen capital of Ashgabat reported on 8 October that Turkmenistan’s President Gurbangulu Berdimuhammedov fired the head of the state-run Turkmengaz for mismanagement (specifically for “serious miscalculations”), and replaced him with Dovlet Mommayev, who until...

Saturday November 26, 2005 5:46 PM AP Photo XIN108 By JOE McDONALD Associated Press Writer HARBIN, China (AP) - Premier Wen Jiabao visited this city in China's northeast Saturday and expressed concern for the 3.8 million residents enduring a fourth day without running water while they wait for a spill of toxic benzene in a nearby river to pass. The government warned residents that water supplies, suspended to protect the city after a chemical plant explosion, would not resume until 11 p.m. Sunday, a full day later than initially planned. China has been criticized by environmentalists for its slow response...