"Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt vowed Tuesday to cut through bureaucratic red tape that has slowed the cleanup of toxic Superfund sites and follow a task force’s recommendations to act more boldly in holding companies responsible for past contamination."
"Michael Dourson, President Donald Trump’s nominee to head the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, founded and ran a toxicology consulting firm whose work enabled DuPont to avoid providing clean water to people in West Virginia after the company contaminated the area around one of its plants with a dangerous industrial chemical."
"Attorneys general from 11 states today filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over a delay in Obama-era rules aimed at preventing accidents at chemical plants."
"Colorado native David Bernhardt’s nomination by President Donald Trump to the post of deputy Interior secretary was confirmed Monday by the U.S. Senate, despite concerns from Democrats who call him a Washington insider and from conservationists worried about his environmental record."
"A U.S. appeals court on Tuesday denied a petition by environmental groups to force the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to ban the agricultural pesticide chlorpyrifos, ending one of three parallel attempts to bring about the ban, court filings show."
"The top Democrats on the Senate and House energy panels are seeking an assessment of the cyber and physical security protections for natural gas, oil and other hazardous pipeline infrastructure, warning of increased cyberthreats from foreign state-backed and criminal hacking organizations."
"House appropriators are quietly urging the Trump administration to abandon proposed U.S. EPA regulations that would ban certain uses of three dangerous chemicals and restrict the number of hazardous waste reviews done by the Department of Health and Human Services."
"Lead has been detected in more than half of the water fountains and sinks in 47 school districts tested in Bergen County, according to a new report by an environmental advocacy group."
"Michael Dourson, President Donald J. Trump’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency’s office that oversees commercial chemicals and pesticides, is a board-certified toxicologist with decades of experience in risk assessment. Dourson’s close ties to the chemical industry, however, have some environmental groups raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest."
"California’s five-year drought made worldwide headlines as wells went dry and thousands of people were left without water. But many of those whose taps still flow face an even more insidious threat. The state estimates that 1.5 million Californians rely on drinking water that has violated health standards."
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