"Trump EPA Punished Dissenters Despite ‘Legal Risk‘ Warning"
"An EPA lawyer said the dissent letter “is likely protected speech under the First Amendment” and advised against “retaliatory” moves."
Source: E&E News, 04/03/2026
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).
Warming Winters Bring More Nitrate Pollution In Drinking Water Near Farms
"When pollution gets bad enough in the rivers supplying Iowa’s largest city with drinking water, it costs Des Moines around $16,000 a day to run a special system to filter out dangerous nitrates. It’s a fact of life in the agriculture-dependent state — and climate change is making the water quality problem even worse."
Source: AP, 04/03/2026"Trump’s Budget May Target Climate Programs. Here’s What Still Survives."
"President Trump has tried to cut funding for virtually every federal program that addresses climate change. But Congress has been pushing back, sometimes with surprising bipartisan support."
Source: NYTimes, 04/03/2026Marina Silva Steps Down As Brazil Environment Minister To Run For Congress
"Brazil’s Environment Minister Marina Silva, a globally recognized climate leader, said she was stepping down Wednesday from her role in President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s administration to run for Congress later this year."
Source: AP, 04/03/2026Record Low Colo. Snow Bodes Ill For Water In The Drought-Stricken US West
"Hydrologist Maureen Gutsch trudged through the mud and slush to confirm a grim picture: Colorado just had its worst snowpack since statewide recordkeeping began in 1941."
Source: AP, 04/03/2026EPA Mulls Microplastics, Pharmaceuticals As Contaminants In Drinking Water
"The Environmental Protection Agency proposed Thursday to include microplastics and pharmaceuticals on a list of contaminants in drinking water for the first time, a step that could lead to new limits on those substances for water utilities."
Source: AP, 04/03/2026"Republicans Seek Protections for Oil Giants Against Climate Lawsuits"
"Republicans at the state and federal levels are working to shield fossil fuel companies from laws and legal claims that aim to make them pay for some of the damage caused by climate change."
Source: AP, 04/03/2026"Forest Service Shake-Up Comes As Risky Wildfire Season Looms"
"In announcing one of the largest reorganizations in the 120-year history of the U.S. Forest Service, the Trump administration declared that there would be “no interruption or change” to the agency’s firefighting force. But critics say the upheaval comes at the worst possible time ... .
Source: Inside Climate News, 04/03/2026Trump Plans To Move Forest Service HQ To Utah And Shutter Research Sites
"President Donald Trump’s administration will move the U.S. Forest Service headquarters out of the nation’s capital to Salt Lake City as part of an organizational overhaul that involves shuttering research facilities in 31 states and concentrating resources in the West, the agency announced Tuesday."
Source: AP, 04/02/2026Trump EPA Official In Charge Of Methane Regs Helped Write Oil's Case Against Them
"Before becoming a top official at the Environmental Protection Agency, Aaron Szabo was a lobbyist for the oil and gas industry. Metadata shows he helped draft a trade group’s 2022 letter to the EPA objecting to controls on methane emissions."
Source: ProPublica, 04/02/2026"EPA Wants To Let Plastic Incinerators Skirt Clean Air Act"
"The US Environmental Protection Agency has proposed to remove air emission regulations from plastic pyrolysis plants, also known as chemical or advanced recycling facilities, that essentially burn plastic to make fuel."
Source: C&EN, 04/02/2026"Trump Officials Cite ESA Threats To Gulf Oil, But Production Is Soaring"
"The administration moved to block endangered species protections in the Gulf of Mexico, but few see a real threat to oil production."
Source: E&E News, 04/02/2026"Work To Get Lead Paint Out Of NJ Homes Faces Funding Cliff"
"Work to get lead out of Garden State homes has surged in recent years, fueled by an influx of federal pandemic relief money and urgency from Newark’s drinking water crisis. But it’s been years since Newark largely dealt with its water problems, with the subsequent calm taking attention away from lead issues."
Source: Gothamist, 04/02/2026Oil Explosion in Black Texas Town Rises From Trump’s Iran and Venezuela Wars
"John Beard takes no pleasure in being right. In January, he told Capital B that he feared U.S. military action in Venezuela, which ultimately gave America preferential access to the South American nation’s vast oil reserves, would lead to disaster in southeast Texas."
Source: Capital B, 04/02/2026"Iraqi Militia Offers to Negotiate Release of Kidnapped U.S. Journalist"
"An Iraqi militia allied with Iran offered on Wednesday to negotiate with the Iraqi government for the release of a kidnapped American journalist, according to two Iraqi security officials." "The Iranian-aligned militia, Kataib Hezbollah, is pressing for the release of members detained by the Iraqi government in exchange for freeing the journalist, Shelly Kittleson."
Source: NYTimes, 04/02/2026
