Appeals Court Blocks EPA Motion to Strike Some Drinking Water PFAS Regs
"A federal appeals court has rejected the EPA’s motion to strike portions of the agency’s Biden-era regulations for PFAS in drinking water."
Source: Circle of Blue, 01/28/2026
EJToday: Top Environmental Politics Headlines
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Despite Low Interest in Drilling, USFS ‘Streamlines’ Oil/Gas Leasing Rules
"The U.S. Forest Service announced revisions to its oil and gas leasing rules today that the agency promises “modernizes and streamlines” the permitting process to drill for fossil fuels in the nation’s forests and grasslands. The changes prompted the ire of environmental groups who say it is the latest in a year’s worth of attacks on public lands protections by President Trump’s administration."
Source: Inside Climate News, 01/28/2026Grand Staircase-Escalante Monument Under Threat, This Time From Congress
"A recent, non-binding opinion from the Government Accountability Office may pave the way for Congress to begin rescinding management plans for national monuments across the country, environmentalists and experts say, potentially leading to protected areas being further opened up for resource extraction. And Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument in southern Utah is yet again at the center of the renewed threats to the nation’s monuments."
Source: Inside Climate News, 01/28/2026"Fourth Wind Farm Blocked By Trump Is Allowed To Resume Construction"
"A fourth offshore wind project halted by the Trump administration was temporarily allowed to resume construction on Tuesday, marking yet another legal setback for the White House on the issue."
Source: The Hill, 01/28/2026"Judge Strikes Down Trump Freeze On EV Charger Funds"
"A federal judge ruled Friday against the Trump administration’s freeze on a $5 billion program that seeks to fund the build-out of electric vehicle (EV) chargers."
Source: The Hill, 01/27/2026Enviros Charge Administration Violated Laws In Approving Alaska Road
"Conservationists fighting Alaskan efforts to build a 211-mile industrial mining road across pristine lands of the southern Brooks Range, including a portion of Gates of the Arctic National Park and Preserve, told a federal court that President Donald Trump and his team violated numerous environmental laws in pushing through approvals to let it proceed."
Source: National Parks Traveler, 01/27/2026Oregon Court Tosses Old Rule that Allowed Logging on Vast Swaths of US Land
"A niche rule established by the U.S. Forest Service to justify the clearing of tens of thousands of acres of forest in the name of reducing wildfire risk was unlawfully created and applied, the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon found last week, invalidating its future use across the United States."
Source: Inside Climate News, 01/27/2026"How Cuts To Federal Climate Funds Could Threaten Polar Vortex Research"
"The storm is very large, and it could be particularly dangerous because a frigid mass of air known as a polar vortex will linger for days after the snow and freezing rain stop falling." "But winter weather patterns are shifting as the global climate warms, and scientists are working to understand those changes." "Cuts made by the Trump administration to federal climate research could threaten that work."
Source: NPR, 01/27/2026Outrage At Euro Science Center As Director Ousted After Glyphosate Study
"A leading European chemical safety institute has ousted the director of its cancer research center after the director led an extensive testing program into the safety of the pesticide glyphosate, sparking concerns about chemical industry influence into what has been an independent research institution."
Source: The New Lede, 01/27/2026New ExxonMobil Climate Accounting Again Blames Consumers, Not Corporation
"For decades, ExxonMobil argued consumers, not oil giants, should take responsibility for fossil fuel pollution."
Source: DeSmog, 01/27/2026"US Congress Set To Reject Trump’s Sweeping Science Budget Cuts"
"The US Congress is poised to approve legislation rejecting the huge and unprecedented cuts to science budgets sought by the administration of US President Donald Trump." "Lawmakers have announced legislation that would increase funding for basic research by more than 2%."
Source: Nature, 01/27/2026Amsterdam Defies Lobbying to Become 1st Capital City to Ban Fossil Fuel Ads
"Amsterdam city council has passed a legally binding ban on advertising for fossil fuels and meat products across public spaces in the city, becoming the first capital in the world to prohibit such ads through local law."
Source: DeSmog, 01/27/2026"Philadelphia Sues Interior Department Over Slavery Exhibit Removal"
"The city of Philadelphia on Thursday sued the Department of the Interior after National Park Service staff removed an exhibit on slavery from the President’s House site in Independence National Historical Park."
Source: The Hill, 01/26/2026"Trump’s Grant Terminations Upheld by Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals"
"Six cities and 13 nonprofit groups still cannot recoup millions of dollars after the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals this week overturned a lower court’s ruling that forbade the Trump administration from terminating or freezing grant funding for environmental justice, agricultural and climate programs."
Source: Inside Climate News, 01/26/2026Virginia AG Takes Steps to Rejoin the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
"Virginia’s newly elected Democratic Attorney General Jay Jones took action Thursday that creates a pathway for Virginia to rejoin the carbon market called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI."
Source: Inside Climate News, 01/26/2026
