Pollution

You Don’t Have a Right to Safe Drinking Water, US Court Rules

"On Friday, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit against the city of Jackson, Mississippi, which alleged the city knowingly let residents drink lead-contaminated water." "A Trump-appointed judge also said Americans have no “constitutional right to truthful information” during a public health crisis."

Source: Mother Jones, 09/10/2026

Commentary: The Great Salt Lake — Utah’s Silent Health Emergency

"In recent years, public discourse on air quality in Utah has rightly focused on the dangers of wildfire smoke. Wildfire events across the Western United States have degraded air quality for days and weeks at a time. Yet, while headlines chase each new plume of smoke, a slower and arguably more dangerous crisis has been allowed to develop with remarkably little urgency: the drying of the Great Salt Lake and the toxic dust it is now releasing into the air that Utahns breathe every single day."

Source: Utah News Dispatch, 09/09/2026

After 9/11, Documents Suggest, New Yorkers Were Misled About Air Quality

"In the harrowing months th�at followed the attacks on the World Trade Center, New Yorkers were repeatedly assured that the air around the fallen towers was safe to breathe. But 10 months later, health officials were still finding evidence of asbestos as much as half a mile away, according to a sample of air quality records being released on Tuesday."

Source: New York Times, 09/09/2026

Trump Administration Moves to Drop Protections for More Wetlands

"The Trump administration on Friday took another step toward stripping federal protections from millions of acres of wetlands, which help filter drinking water for many communities and provide critical habitat for birds, fish and other wildlife."

Source: New York Times, 09/08/2026

Pentagon Delays PFAS Cleanup at Over 200 Military Sites for Third Time

"The Pentagon is again delaying its timelines to clean up “forever chemicals” at hundreds of contaminated military sites across �the United States, the third time in a year the department has extended estimates for completing a key phase of the cleanups."

Source: NOTUS, 09/08/2026

New Mexico Bans Uranium Leasing on State Lands

"Officials in New Mexico, the nation’s largest historic producer of uranium ore, banned new leasing of state lands for uranium mining on Friday." "The move to block new mining projects comes as the Trump administration seeks to revive American uranium production."

Source: Inside Climate News, 09/08/2026

Pipeline Firm That Spilled Fuel in Pa. Is Trying to Weaken Clean Water Law

"Energy Transfer, the Dallas-based pipeline giant facing a state-level criminal probe related to a jet fuel spill that polluted drinking water in a suburban Philadelphia neighborhood, is seeking to have part of Pennsylvania’s 89-year-old Clean Streams Law declared unconstitutional."

Source: Inside Climate News, 09/08/2026

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