"E.P.A. Plans to Reconsider a Ban on Cancer-Causing Asbestos"
"The Trump administration plans to reconsider a ban on the last type of asbestos still used in the United States, according to a court filing on Monday."
Source: NYTimes, 06/17/2025
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Fourth Power Plant Approved in Newark Despite Residents' Tearful Protests
"The Ironbound neighborhood in Newark, N.J., has two distinct sections: an immigrant-rich area of rowhouses, ethnic restaurants and shops, and a clogged industrial zone with three power plants, the state’s largest incinerator and biggest sewage facility, a slew of factories and a near-constant parade of diesel trucks."
Source: Inside Climate News, 06/17/2025Trump Orders Merger Of Wildland Firefighting Into Single Force, Despite Chaos
"President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered government officials to consolidate wildland firefighting into a single program, despite warnings from former federal officials that it could be costly and increase the risk of catastrophic blazes."
Source: AP, 06/17/2025Trump Fires Democratic Commissioner Of Independent NRC
"President Donald Trump has fired a Democratic commissioner for the federal agency that oversees nuclear safety as he continues to assert more control over independent regulatory agencies."
Source: AP, 06/17/2025US Proposes Listing Pangolins, Most Trafficked Mammal, As Endangered Species
"U.S. officials proposed Monday to protect the pangolin, a small, nocturnal mammal covered in scales, under the Endangered Species Act. The pangolin is “the most trafficked mammal in the world” in large part for its scales, used in traditional Chinese medicine, and meat, according to the World Wildlife Fund."
Source: AP, 06/17/2025"CDC Virus Expert Resigns After RFK Jr.’s Purge Of Vaccine Advisers"
"A senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who oversaw respiratory virus surveillance has resigned and raised concerns about the future of vaccine policy as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. upends the agency’s long-standing approach to immunization."
Source: Washington Post, 06/17/2025"Birds vs. Wind Turbines: New Research Aims to Prevent Deaths"
"Window collisions and cats kill more birds than wind farms do, but ornithologists say turbine impacts must be taken seriously. Scientists are testing a range of technologies to reduce bird strikes — from painting stripes to using artificial intelligence — to keep birds safe."
Source: YaleE360, 06/17/2025"As Floods Keep Coming, This Small City Can’t Afford To Let People Leave"
"Floodplain buyouts can reduce the financial toll of future disasters. But some small towns losing property and people are now saying no."
Source: Washington Post, 06/17/2025Florida Removes Record Haul Of Invasive Pythons In Control Effort
"It was a milestone moment in Florida’s 25-year war on invasive Burmese pythons: an eye-popping announcement that biologists had removed 20 tons of the slithering invaders from waters in and around the Everglades in little more than a decade, as well as shattering their previous record for a single-season haul."
Source: Guardian, 06/17/2025"National Parks Are Told to Delete Content That ‘Disparages Americans’"
"The Interior Department plans to remove or cover up all “inappropriate content” at national parks and sites by Sept. 17 and is asking the park visitors to report any “negative” information about past or living Americans, according to internal documents."
Source: NYTimes, 06/16/2025"Trump Topples $1 Billion Columbia River Settlement Deal"
"President Donald Trump declared Thursday that the federal government must pull out of a settlement agreement that had halted the long-running legal battle over 14 dams in the Pacific Northwest, reopening a fight over the future of fish populations in the Columbia River Basin."
Source: E&E News, 06/16/2025Head of FEMA Command Center Quits After Trump Says He’ll Phase Out Agency
"The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster command center, who coordinates the national response to earthquakes, floods and other disasters, has submitted his resignation, according to two people familiar with the matter." "His resignation came after other senior staff members have left and a day after President Trump said he would wind down the federal agency by November."
Source: NYTimes, 06/16/2025Chesapeake Bay Health Slips in 2025 Report Card Amid Persistent Challenges
"The Chesapeake Bay’s health has taken a downturn, according to a new report card, with the estuary relegated from a “C+” to a “C” as climate extremes and runaway pollution limit restoration efforts."
Source: Inside Climate News, 06/16/2025Trump Cuts EPA Grants to Address Health Risks on Hopi and Navajo Reservations
"Red Feather, which works to improve housing on the Navajo and Hopi reservations, is just one of hundreds of groups that have had grants meant to help disadvantaged communities terminated by the Trump administration."
Source: Inside Climate News, 06/16/2025UN Ocean Summit Ends With Boost For Marine Conservation, Not Climate
"The UN Ocean Conference in the southern French city of Nice concludes this Friday with countries taking steps towards marine protection and declaring a battle over deep sea-mining, but slammed for leaving fossil fuels off the agenda – the key driver of ocean warming. Nations hoping for new financial pledges to help with battling rising sea levels and overfishing were also left disappointed."
Source: AFP, 06/16/2025
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