After White Town Rejected a Data Center, Developers Targeted a Black Area
"Four million Americans live within 1 mile of a data center. The communities closest to them are 'overwhelmingly' non-white."
Source: Capital B, 01/09/2026
EJToday: Top Headlines
EJToday is a daily weekday digest of top environment/energy news and information of interest to environmental journalists, independently curated by Editor Joseph A. Davis. Sign up below to receive in your inbox. For queries, email EJToday@SEJ.org. For more info, read an EJToday FAQ. Plus, follow EJToday on social media at @EJTodayNews, and flag stories of note by including the @EJTodayNews handle on your posts. And tell us how to make EJToday even better by taking this brief survey.
Want to join the EJToday team? Volunteer time commitments can vary from just an hour a month up to a daily contribution, and would involve helping to curate content of interest. To learn more, reach out to the director of publications, Adam Glenn, at sejournaleditor@sej.org.
Note: Members have additional options to choose from (you'll need your log-in info).
"FEMA Staff Bracing for Dismissal of 1,000 Disaster Workers"
"Federal Emergency Management Agency supervisors are advising their staff to prepare for the elimination of 1,000 jobs this month as part of changes that Kristi Noem, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, is overseeing at the agency, according to three people with knowledge of the discussions."
Source: NYTimes, 01/09/2026"Here’s Why New EPA Rules On ‘Everywhere Chemicals’ Could Fall Short"
"The Environmental Protection Agency has announced plans to regulate five types of phthalates, chemicals that are widely used in plastics and other common products."
Source: Washington Post, 01/09/2026"EPA Delays Enforcement Of Regional Haze Guidelines"
"The Environmental Protection Agency is once again delaying the enforcement of regional haze guidelines. The agency has given states a three-year extension to submit plans to clean up harmful air pollution at national parks and improve public health, according to Sierra Club."
Source: National Parks Traveler, 01/09/2026"House GOP Prioritizes Trump’s Changes To Showerheads"
"House Republicans are hoping to soon deliver a win for President Donald Trump’s agenda — or at least his hair — by voting to codify his long-desired showerhead changes into law, one of their top priorities of the new session."
Source: Washington Post, 01/09/2026"Ohio Utility Corruption Defendants To SCOTUS: Bribes Are Free Speech"
"The only two individuals who have stood trial for their role in the largest utility corruption scandal in Ohio’s history have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review their cases and reverse their convictions."
Source: Canary Media, 01/09/2026"White House Finalizes Overhaul of Environmental Permitting Rules"
"A White House environmental office will officially strike down its federal permitting rules Thursday, wiping out a set of standards that had been in place nearly 50 years."
Source: Bloomberg Environment, 01/09/2026My Brush With Dengue Was Excruciating. Even Scarier: How Fast It’s Spreading
"When the chills, body shivers, and pounding headache first hijacked my system, I was 30,000 feet above the Pacific Ocean, midway through a 14-hour flight to Manila in the Philippines."
Source: Yale Climate Connections, 01/09/2026"Trump Pulls Out of Global Climate Agreement"
"President Trump announced on Wednesday that he was withdrawing the United States from the bedrock international agreement that forms the basis for countries to rein in climate change."
Source: NYTimes, 01/08/2026"New Dietary Guidance Pushes Whole Milk, Warns Against Processed Food"
"The Trump administration released new dietary guidelines Wednesday that call for Americans to limit highly processed foods, such as those high in added sugars and sodium, and that endorse products that had once been discouraged by many nutritionists, such as whole milk, butter and red meat."
Source: Washington Post, 01/08/2026FDA Misses Another Deadline To Ban Formaldehyde In Hair-Straighteners
"The US Food and Drug Administration has missed its latest deadline to propose banning formaldehyde and certain formaldehyde-releasing chemicals from hair-straightening products, often used by Black women."
Source: CNN, 01/08/2026What a Trump Invasion Could Mean for Greenland’s Minerals and Environment
"The Danish territory holds significant stores of oil, gas and minerals. But regulations and the extreme environment have kept the vast majority in the ground."
Source: Inside Climate News, 01/08/2026"Oil Industry Will Eye Venezuela Warily, Experts Say"
"Given Venezuela’s murky political future, few analysts expect a rush to invest the billions needed to pump more oil from the world’s largest reserves."
Source: Inside Climate News, 01/08/2026"Environmental Health Perspectives Joins The ACS Publications Portfolio"
"The Publications Division of the American Chemical Society (ACS) is proud to announce that Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) has joined the ACS Publications portfolio. EHP is a globally respected journal with a legacy as a premier source for research findings at the intersection of the environment and human health."
Source: ACS, 01/08/2026"Hundreds Of Groups Urge Congress Not To Weaken Chemical Safety Law"
"Hundreds of environmental and health groups are urging Congress not to weaken the nation’s premier chemical safety law as Republican lawmakers signal a willingness to reopen the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA)."
Source: The New Lede, 01/08/2026
Advertisement 
