“New changes to EPA, Interior Department advisory groups could restrict or paralyze them, critics say.” More…
Environment
Trump Is Slashing Programs Linking Climate Change to U.S. National Security
“President Donald Trump, with nearly all the government’s climate change work in his crosshairs, is poised to dramatically scale back environmental security programs — perhaps eliminating many entirely — through dramatic budget cuts. Many of these programs help cities cope with water emergencies. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, one microbiologist interviewed by ABC News sampled floodwaters in New Orleans and found bacteria linked to sewage at 45,000 times the level considered safe for swimming. Seven years later, Hurricane Sandy inundated East Coast water treatment plants to the point of overflow, releasing a total of 10.9 billion gallons of sewage into waterways and streets along the mid-Atlantic coast. In places like Camden, New Jersey, an economically depressed, mostly black and Latino community with an outdated sewer system, the risk of contaminated water is more routine: Sewage flows into the streets amid hard rains.” More.
EPA Seeks to Scuttle Cleanup of Coal Power Plant Pollution
“Last week EPA administrator Scott Pruitt announced he would seek to rewrite Obama-era rules limiting water pollution from coal-fired power plants. The agency also sought to roll back tighter restrictions on pollution from coal mines.” More.
Trump’s Budget Would Eliminate Key Program Testing Everglades Water
“For more than 20 years, the little-known South Florida Geographic Initiative has been monitoring the threat of phosphorous, mercury and other damaging nutrients seeping into the ecologically fragile region — sometimes with dramatic results. The data it collected for the Environmental Protection Agency and Florida agencies was key to a massive court-ordered settlement in 2012 to protect the River of Grass from encroaching pollution. The initiative is now among more than 50 EPA programs the administration has proposed eliminating in an effort to return “the responsibility for funding local environmental efforts and programs to state and local entities.” More.
Trump’s EPA Scott Pruitt Requests 24/7 Security Detail Amid Massive Budget Cuts
“The Trump administration has proposed whacking the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency by nearly a third, eliminating thousands of employees and scrapping dozens of programs, including climate-change research and cleanup efforts in the Great Lakes and Chesapeake Bay. But a detailed budget plan includes a request to add positions within the agency’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance ‘to provide 24/7 security detail’ for EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt.” More.
Republicans Want to Destroy Our National Parks. It’s Up to Us to Save Them
You can protect our public lands. Here’s how. Advice from Scientific American.
Study of Fracking in Four States Uncovers Over 6,600 Spills
House Republicans Vote to Allow Coal Mines to Poison Water Near Mines
“Disapproving the rule submitted by the Department of the Interior known as the Stream Protection Rule.” The Interior Department rule that prohibited coal companies from polluting the water sources near mines has been overturned by the Republicans.