Environmental Health

"Six environmental organizations on Tuesday called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take more aggressive action in response to reports that an agency office manipulated assessments of chemical safety."

"In the decade since the record-breaking use of oil dispersants in the Deepwater Horizon oil spill response, science shows they’re dangerous, potentially deadly, and rarely useful. A new court case is forcing the US EPA to reconsider their use."

"Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is ramping up the pressure to finish his party’s climate and social spending bill by Christmas, but it looks like an increasingly difficult task given continued concerns from Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and the lengthy process of clearing the legislation with the Senate parliamentarian."

"The American food supply is likely riddled with far more dangerous toxins than the average consumer would anticipate, and scientists say they lack sufficient, streamlined data about the “forever chemicals” lurking in food packaging and farmlands."

"The EPA has all but stopped posting online data about new types of problems commercial chemicals may cause, frustrating public interest groups and businesses that use the information to make health and safety decisions."

"On the frosty morning of Dec. 9, 1921, in Dayton, Ohio, researchers at a General Motors lab poured a new fuel blend into one of their test engines. Immediately, the engine began running more quietly and putting out more power."

"The White House’s ban on federal purchasing of PFAS-containing products will focus on cookware, carpets and couches, according to the Office of Management and Budget’s memo implementing President Biden’s sustainability executive order."

"Plans to use billions of infrastructure dollars to clean up and redevelop long-neglected brownsfield waste sites may cause unintended harm to low-income neighborhoods, advocates warned a House panel Wednesday."

"Progressives set out to write a reconciliation bill that would scrap special tax treatment for fossil fuel companies. Instead, they might hand the oil and gas industry a new subsidy."

"Nearly two years into a coronavirus pandemic that has killed more than 5 million people, every country, including the United States, remains dangerously unprepared to respond to future epidemic and pandemic threats, according to a report released Wednesday assessing the efforts of 195 countries."