Budget Includes Increases for National Park Service, EPA – Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — It’s hard to remember a time when a president’s budget plan was greeted with more enthusiasm than the $5.8 trillion budget proposal issued by the Biden Administration on Monday. The last time this happened was probably 1999, in Bill Clinton’s…
By Glynn Wilson – As part of the Biden-Harris Administration’s commitment to action on climate change and restoring science to federal government agencies, the Environmental Protection Agency is taking the first step in a relaunch of its climate change website, according to a press release just out on the newly launched email list. Both the…
Editor’s Note: For the past five years, while the New American Journal has continued to keep up with some major stories related to the natural environment such as the latest news on global warming and climate change, our priorities have tended to focus largely on coverage of national science and public affairs, and some state…
EDITOR’S NOTE: Under normal political and media circumstances, we would never run raw PR from a federal agency that has had it’s share of legal slip-ups and intelligence blunders and abuses over the years. But at this time with the Federal Bureau of Investigation under such a major political assault from the president to Republicans…
By Glynn Wilson — WASHINGTON, D.C. — Squeezing information out of the federal government has long been a problem for journalists, researchers, lawyers and the American public. But it has become even harder under the Trump administration, where factual information and real journalism don’t seem to matter to those in charge of the executive branch…
By Lorie Shaull – As a candidate for president, Donald Trump made exaggerated promises tailor-made for his base. One of those was a vow to eliminate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency “in almost every form.” In its most literal sense, the idea seemed ludicrous. But that did not stop a Florida congressman from introducing a…
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Two Birmingham lawyers and an Alabama coal company executive were indicted by a federal grand jury on Wednesday on charges of conspiracy, bribery, wire fraud and money laundering for paying a state legislator to fight the cleanup of a Superfund site in north Birmingham. U.S. attorneys, IRS and…
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Former Alabama legislator Oliver Robinson pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday to accepting bribes from a Birmingham lawyer and an Alabama coal company executive in exchange for advocating their employers’ opposition to EPA actions in North Birmingham, according to a press release just out from the U.S.…
By Glynn Wilson – A freshman Florida congressman has introduced legislation to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency and he’s joined by co-sponsors in Georgia, Mississippi and Kentucky. Matt Gaetz, a Republican from Fort Walton Beach, introduced House Bill 861: To terminate the Environmental Protection Agency on February 10 to be effective on December 31, 2018.…
By Glynn Wilson – A day after announcing fines totaling $4.3 billion against Volkswagen, the outgoing Obama administration put Fiat Chrysler on notice for similar violations of the Clean Air Act. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a notice of violation to Fiat Chrysler for allegedly installing and failing to disclose engine management software in…
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – In the continuing drive to reduce the sources of air pollution in the environment before leaving office next January, the Obama administration has announced a new set of strategies aimed at improving air quality around the nation’s ports. An EPA report released Thursday shows that air pollution at…
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Obama administration has finalized green house gas standards and fuel efficiency rules for trucks to cut carbon pollution in the U.S., all while bolstering energy security and spurring manufacturing innovation, according to an announcement just out from the Environmental Protection Agency. The product of four years of…
By Glynn Wilson – Scientists have located 39 new major sources of toxic sulfur dioxide emissions previously unreported by existing methods, according to a study published this week in the journal Nature Geosciences. A known health hazard and contributor to acid rain, sulfur dioxide (SO2) is one of six air pollutants regulated by the U.S.…
By Glynn Wilson – The Obama administration on Friday released the first national regulations to provide for the safe disposal of coal ash from coal-fired power plants. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the final rule that establishes safeguards to protect communities from coal ash impoundment failures, like the catastrophic 2008 spill in Kingston, Tennessee,…
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Based on extensive recent scientific evidence about the harmful effects of ground-level ozone, also known as smog, the Obama administration is proposing to strengthen air quality standards to better protect Americans’ health and the environment. The Clean Air Act requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to review the standards every five years…
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Due to federal regulations, like it or not, automobile fuel economy has hit an all time high in the United States, while carbon dioxide emissions are now at a record low, according to a report from the Environmental Protection Agency. Model year 2013 vehicles achieved an average of…
Glynn Wilson – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is now seeking public comment on what information could be reported and disclosed about chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing operations. As we reported in-depth two years ago, when the Alabama division of the U.S. Forest proposed opening up large tracts of the Talladega National Forest to natural…
By Glynn Wilson – The United States Supreme Court upheld the authority of the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate the air pollution from coal-fired power plants on Tuesday in a ruling that is being hailed as a major victory for the environment but a political setback for the Obama administration. The 6-to-2 ruling upholds the…
Slashing Air Pollution and Providing Health Benefits to ThousandsBy Glynn Wilson – The Obama administration issued the final emission standards for cars and gasoline Monday to improve fuel efficiency in cars and trucks, significantly reduce harmful pollution and prevent thousands of premature deaths and illnesses every year. Based on extensive input from the public and…
By Glynn Wilson – How the federal government fights climate change will be on the docket of the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday in a rare 90 minute oral argument session, an indication that the court thinks cases against the Environmental Protection Agency filed by chemical industry groups, conservative states and the U.S. Chamber of…
