Environmental Justice

"EPA has resumed its efforts to reorganize the agency after the Supreme Court earlier this month lifted a lower court’s injunction that stalled the Trump administration’s restructuring efforts. But EPA employees will have less say in where they end up under the restructuring because of the time lost while the injunction was in place, an EPA official told colleagues in an internal email obtained by POLITICO’s E&E News."

"The Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday that it would give utility companies an additional year to begin cleaning up contamination from toxic coal ash landfills across the country."

"The Trump administration slashed fines for safety violations by small businesses and other employers and plans to reduce already rare workplace inspections. Experts say that will lead to more worker injuries, illnesses and deaths."

"Twenty Democratic-led states filed suit Wednesday against the Federal Emergency Management Agency, challenging the elimination of a long-running grant program that helps communities guard against damage from natural disasters."

"Documents expose the huge cleanup BC faces for Port Alice and 11 more shut mills. Will new projects also slip off the hook?" 

"In the past decade, as extreme weather killed nearly 700 people in Texas, the state relinquished $225 million in federal grant money that it was supposed to spend on protecting residents from disasters, federal records show."  "States across the country have not used billions of dollars from FEMA intended to reduce damage from flooding and other disasters."

"Recognized for their environmental stewardship rooted in ancestral practices, seven tribes in Virginia are seeking full membership in the Chesapeake Bay Program alongside its existing signatory partners" 

"Trump officials have directed staff at national parks to review all items in gift shops for anti-American content, according to an internal directive reviewed by The Washington Post. The move is part of the administration’s wider campaign to scrub federal institutions of “corrosive ideology” recognizing historical racism and sexism."

"A union for employees at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is demanding the agency reinstate workers who were placed on leave for signing a letter critical of the Trump administration’s environmental and personnel policies."

"In an effort to shrink the federal government, President Trump and congressional Republicans have taken steps that are diluting the country’s ability to anticipate, prepare for and respond to catastrophic flooding and other extreme weather events, disaster experts say."