Environmental Health

"For the first time in three decades, the federal government on Tuesday overhauled a rule aimed at reducing lead in drinking water across the country — a long-standing scourge made worse by the nation’s weathered and crumbling infrastructure." "But the government is allowing many of the nation’s 6 million lead water pipes to remain in service, and health advocates say risks remain".

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Monday tightened standards for how much lead can remain as dust on surfaces such as floors and window sills after lead removal activities, in a move that environmentalists said doesn't go far enough."

"In a blunt deregulatory maneuver, the Trump Administration in its waning days is attempting to adopt a regulation that, if finalized, would have a cataclysmic effect on the public health and consumer protection regulatory landscape."

"A group of environmental and union organizations on Friday challenged a new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency policy that would allow phosphogypsum wastes that contain small amounts of radioactivity to be used in federal, state and local road construction projects."

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rationale for freezing air quality regulations was “not scientifically defensible” before the agency finalized the rule earlier this month."

"Many observers see Biden's Council on Environmental Quality nominee as a sign that he will prioritize redoing the National Environmental Policy Act rules — not only to undo President Trump's recent changes but also to boost requirements on issues like climate change."

"Officials have taken the extraordinary step of closing the Washington Monument starting Friday as a precaution after Interior Secretary David Bernhardt — who gave a private, nighttime tour to other Trump appointees this week — tested positive for the coronavirus."

"Five states this week sued the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) over a rule that narrows the areas where farmers are required to limit human presence during the application of pesticides."

"The growing impacts of climate change have already pushed more than 18 million people to migrate within South Asian countries, but that could more than triple in three decades if global warming continues on its current path, researchers warned on Friday."