Environmental Justice

"Aaron Szabo, the head of EPA’s air office who has overseen a dramatic scaling back of climate regulations, is leaving the agency."

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said on Tuesday that it will host a roundtable to hear from scientists, farmworkers, community advocates, and others to discuss the “documented safety challenges associated with the chemical,” and explore “potential solutions and alternatives.”"

"Seven former EPA workers on Tuesday joined a growing list of employees suing the agency after they were fired for signing a public letter critical of the Trump administration."

"A deal to bring Colorado River water to Native American communities in northern Arizona, where a third of homes lack running water, is being blocked by neighboring states, caught up in a broader battle over how to divide the dwindling river."

"As the Trump administration censors history on parks and public lands — a move out of the autocrats’ playbook — people have six ways to honor and defend our shared history."

"Twenty-five Metro Detroit communities exceeded Michigan’s lead action level for drinking water since 2018, according to state compliance data analyzed by a drinking water engineer and reviewed by Planet Detroit."

"A business controlled by the American billionaire Ira Rennert reached a $150 million settlement in the United States with 1,373 Peruvians who claimed ​they were poisoned by lead and other toxic substances while growing ‌up near a Peruvian smelter, lawyers for the plaintiffs said on Wednesday."

"More than 40 million people in the United States and Canada depend on the Great Lakes for drinking water. Each glass of treated lake water is laden with tiny bits of plastic — microplastics — made of toxic chemicals linked to cancer and other diseases. Also contaminated are fish, staples of Midwestern fish fries and fish boils, and an important part of the diet of Indigenous tribes, certain immigrant populations and communities of color."

"Officials from the Nueces River Authority collected millions of dollars from cities and utility districts near San Antonio and Austin before they partnered with an Israeli desalination giant."

"At least 358 human rights defenders were killed last year, according to a report released last week by Front Line Defenders, a Dublin-based group that provides support for global human rights activists. Nearly a quarter, 84, were targeted because of their often unpaid work protecting land and the environment."