Free Republic

The Trump White House has intervened to weaken one of the few public health protections pursued by its own administration, a rule to limit the use of a toxic industrial compound in consumer products, according to communications between the White House and Environmental Protection Agency. The documents show that the White House Office of Management and Budget formally notified the EPA by email last July that it was stepping into the crafting of the rule on the compound, perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, used in nonstick and stain-resistant frying pans, rugs, and countless other consumer products. The White House repeatedly pressed...

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) suspended its enforcement of a variety of environmental laws on Thursday, saying that industries could have trouble complying with them due to the coronavirus pandemic. The agency added that it won't expect "to seek penalties for noncompliance with routine monitoring and reporting obligations." "EPA is committed to protecting human health and the environment, but recognizes challenges resulting from efforts to protect workers and the public from COVID-19 may directly impact the ability of regulated facilities to meet all federal regulatory requirements," said EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler. "This temporary policy is designed to provide enforcement discretion...

At a campaign rally, President Donald Trump mocked concerns about global warming, saying that oceans would rise just “[o]ne-eighth of an inch within the next 250 years.” Although Trump’s comment may have been a joke - and not intended to be a prediction of sea level rise - his figure is many times lower than scientific estimates. Trump’s remark came in Hershey, Pennsylvania, during a section of his speech bashing wind power - one of his favorite topics at rallies. This time, the president also jokingly referenced global warming, poking fun at people who are concerned about sea level rise....

The era of secret science at EPA is coming to an end,” Pruitt said when announcing the rule. “The ability to test, authenticate, and reproduce scientific findings is vital for the integrity of the rule-making process. Americans deserve to assess the legitimacy of the science underpinning EPA decisions that may impact their lives.”

President Trump briefly stopped by a daylong summit of world leaders meeting to discuss climate change at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York before leaving to address a meeting on the persecution of religious minorities and his administration's efforts to support religious freedom. Earlier Monday morning, White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham raised the possibility that Mr. Trump might find time to appear at the climate change summit. "His schedule is ever changing, but it wouldn't surprise me if he popped by," she said in an appearance on Fox News. And Mr. Trump did end up dropping...

The Trump administration plans to deliver a notice of environmental violation to San Francisco over its homelessness problem. President Trump said late Wednesday the notice would come from the Environmental Protection Agency. He said waste, specifically used needles, in storm sewers is contributing to ocean pollution. He added: “They have to clean it up. We can’t have our cities going to hell.” In a statement, San Francisco Mayor London Breed said the city has a sewer system that runs effectively, keeping debris from reaching the Bay or the Pacific Ocean.

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — President Trump on Wednesday said he expects the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to slap San Francisco with a violation notice in the coming days related to pollution associated with the city’s homeless population. Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One, Trump again took aim at Los Angeles and San Francisco over the volume of homeless people in each city. But he escalated his rhetoric, saying an announcement citing San Francisco for environmental violations would come in the next week.

U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry has ordered his agency to release more than four years' worth of data from air monitors near an Ohio school where trace amounts of radioactive material were discovered. Perry says the data from 2015 through the first quarter of this year comes from six air monitoring stations on Energy Department property and ten in the surrounding southern Ohio community. Perry told Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine in a letter Monday the data was provided to Pike County authorities, and to the Ohio Department of Health and the state Environmental Protection Agency. Zahn's Corner Middle School was...

U.S. greenhouse gas emissions fell 2.7 percent from 2016 levels, according to the EPA. Emissions on a per-capita basis hit a 67-year low last year, federal data shows, and supporters are touting EPA’s data as proof Trump’s agenda is working. EPA’s new data comes on news that, globally, greenhouse gas emissions are set to rise to historic highs by the end of the year, despite nearly 200 countries signing the Paris climate accord.

The White House on Monday rolled out a new plan that would allow higher blends of ethanol in vehicle fuels, amid concerns that the change could lead to more air pollution. The administration’s memo calls to extend the sale of E15 -- consisting of 15 percent of ethanol blended into gasoline -- year round. The fuel was blocked between June 1 and Sept. 15, as science shows burning ethanol in warmer temperature leads to heightened ground-level ozone pollution and smog. A senior White House official said the plan was part of President Trump’s free market plan. “This action is basically...

I was going to suggest that the most snuggly, feel-good story of recent days was the latest ratings for CNN, which have fallen more than 20 percent over the last year and continued to fall over the summer, such that it now ranks behind the Discovery Channel and HGTV. Makes sense: why tune in to CNN for manure if you can get better manure for your private garden from HGTV? But this story is much more snuggly feel-good inducing: EPA lost more than 1,500 workers in first 18 months of Trump administration: report The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reportedly lost...

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)on Thursday proposed that the nation’s costly and counterproductive fuel-economy standards remain at 2020 levels through 2026, abandoning President Barack Obama’s plans to raise them each year. Eliminating the standards altogether would be ideal, but this move is a reasonable response to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) trying to set standards for the whole country. CARB and its sister “blue” anti-Trump states constitute 35 percent of the nation’s auto buyers, and they are threatening to go their own way and impose the Obama-era standards if EPA ultimately enacts...

Justice Department attorneys told a federal court Wednesday that EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler would discontinue efforts to repeal ozone regulations imposed in 2015 by the Obama administration...The Trump administration will now defend Obama-era ozone regulations in court against a coalition of states and industries suing to have them overturned. [Recently fired EPA Chief Scott Pruitt filed the original lawsuit while he was A.G. of Oklahoma]

The Trump administration on Thursday moved to freeze fuel economy standards in what officials described as an effort to give drivers access to “safer” and “more affordable” vehicles, in the latest swipe at former President Barack Obama's legacy. The proposal comes just one day after the Trump administration announced major changes to health plans, providing consumers with more options to buy cheaper, short-term health insurance. The Department of Transportation and Environmental Protection Agency proposed the vehicle change as the first formal step in setting new standards for model years 2021 through 2026. The plan would freeze the Obama-era requirements set...

According to sources with knowledge of the situation, Chief of Staff John Kelly gave the greenlight to the efforts to remove the three officials after Pruitt’s resignation from the EPA earlier this month. Kelly, along with other senior aides to President Donald Trump, campaigned for months for Pruitt’s firing.

Critics fear move will impact upper Animas River aquatic life. Could the Environmental Protection Agency’s plan to haul waste from the Gold King Mine to the banks of the upper Animas River put undue stress on a fishery already struggling to survive? ... Three months after the EPA triggered the Gold King Mine blowout in August 2015, the agency built a temporary water-treatment plant, in an area known as Gladstone, 10 miles north of Silverton within the Cement Creek watershed. But for the past year, the EPA has said room is running out at Gladstone to store the waste byproduct...

WASHINGTON -- The D.C. mom who confronted now-former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt on Monday and asked him to resign said she was "jumping up and down" at today's news that he had stepped down. "I have accepted the resignation of Scott Pruitt as the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Within the Agency Scott has done an outstanding job, and I will always be thankful to him for this. The Senate confirmed Deputy at EPA, Andrew Wheeler, will on Monday assume duties as the acting Administrator of the EPA," President Trump tweeted this afternoon. "I have no doubt that Andy...

Scott Pruitt was the perfect villain: On top of pursuing Presdient Trump’s deregulatory plan for the Environmental Protection Agency, including pulling out from the Paris climate accords, he had a laundry list of ethical and possibly legal violations that put him at the heart of a at least 13 federal investigations. He was easy to criticize, didn’t seem to know his way around Washington, and constantly found himself in the spotlight for undeniably questionable activity. Moreover, his haste and lack of regulatory know-how led to six of his initiatives being struck down by the courts. Now Pruitt is out and...

“It’s about time,” he tweeted of Pruitt’s departure. “He will go down in the history books as the worst EPA administrator we’ve ever had.” “This is a fantastic day that he’s gone, but of course it doesn’t mean that the problem is gone,’’ said Schwarzenegger, who months ago called for Pruitt’s resignation from the Environmental Protection Agency. In an interview with POLITICO Thursday, Schwarzenegger warned that Andrew Wheeler, who will replace Pruitt as acting director, is “the wrong guy” to protect Americans’ health and environment. “If you want to really do a good job with the environment, you don’t have...

Green groups cheered the resignation Thursday of Scott Pruitt, saying the Environmental Protection Agency administrator’s multiple ethical lapses and pro-polluter tilt made him unsuitable for the nation’s highest environmental post. But the activists doubted that the departure, announced by President Trump via Twitter, would change the administration's policies. The EPA will now be led by an interim chief, Andrew Wheeler, who was a coal industry lobbyist before he was confirmed as Pruitt's deputy in April. Pruitt’s tenure was marked by more than a dozen investigations into alleged conflicts of interest and controversial spending of taxpayer funds — ranging from his...