"The Trump administration has completed a detailed legal proposal to dramatically weaken a major environmental regulation covering mercury, a toxic chemical emitted from coal-burning power plants, according to a person who has seen the document but is not authorized to speak publicly about it."
Local dams are threatened with floods brought by Hurricane Florence. But already, many of these dams were being removed after decades of building them up, as part of a growing effort to limit harm to the environment and hazards to local communities. This week’s TipSheet explains the trend, highlights some examples and points the way to databases and other resources to find and report on dams in your area.
Millions of Americans are served by private rather than public water systems. And while that may be helpful in the case of the tens of thousands of smaller systems that lack key resources, it also raises controversial questions about privatization, as well as about what’s best to insure drinking water safety in a post-Flint era. The latest Backgrounder explains this complex issue, considers the most critical issues and offers resources to report the story in your area.
"Researchers study how microscopic organisms, key to carbon sequestration, evolve in the ocean, and implications for a warming planet."
"The Trump administration has completed its plan to roll back major offshore-drilling safety regulations that were put in place after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig disaster in 2010 that killed 11 people and caused the worst oil spill in American history."
"The future of electric cars is in Congress’s hands, with lawmakers divided over whether to extend a popular tax credit."
"For more than a decade, it’s been clear that there’s a gaping hole in American food safety: Growers aren’t required to test their irrigation water for pathogens such as E. coli. As a result, contaminated water can end up on fruits and vegetables."
"Texas, the United States’ leading emitter of greenhouse gases, has approved 43 petrochemical projects along the Gulf Coast since 2012 that will add millions tons of greenhouse gas pollution to the atmosphere, according to an environmental study released this week."
"EPA is poised to move ahead as early as next week with a formal proposal to reconsider its 2012 power plant mercury rule, according to agency air chief Bill Wehrum."
"If Senate Republicans plow ahead and confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, the longtime jurist could have near-term impact on a slew of environmental cases."
