Environmental Politics

After an investigation, EPA's Inspector General is saying the agency is not enforcing lead paint abatement rules adequately.

"The Secretary of Commerce threatened to fire top employees at the federal scientific agency responsible for weather forecasts last Friday after the agency’s Birmingham office contradicted President Trump’s claim that Hurricane Dorian might hit Alabama, according to three people familiar with the discussion."

"The Trump administration said this month it plans to issue a permit to an American trophy hunter hoping to bring back the skin and skull of a rhino he paid $400,000 to kill in Namibia last year."

"The Justice Department has opened an antitrust inquiry into the four major automakers that struck a deal with California this year to reduce automobile emissions, according to people familiar with the matter, escalating a standoff over one of the president’s most significant rollbacks of climate regulations."

"Air quality regulators on Friday killed a years-long push for stronger regulation of a dangerous acid used at two South Bay refineries that has frightened many neighbors, voting instead to accept a voluntary, oil industry pledge to enhance safety measures."

"Louisiana activists battling a polluting chemical and plastics industry are claiming a victory in a community just outside Reserve, where the Guardian has investigated high cancer rates and toxic emissions from a nearby factory."

"The chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee requested a government watchdog investigate additional details in its ongoing probe of the Interior Department’s new public records policy, which allows political appointees to review and potentially withhold documents from release."

"Nearly a week before the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration publicly backed President Trump over its own scientists, a top NOAA official warned its staff against contradicting the president."

"The FBI yesterday approved anti-government activist Ammon Bundy for purchase of an AR-15 rifle, reversing its initial rejection days after the Idaho resident staged a social media campaign on his quest for a new firearm."

"The Trump administration is sitting on tens of billions of dollars in unspent recovery money meant to help Americans recover from disasters, leaving people less able to rebound from the effects of Hurricane Dorian and other storms."