NewsRack: 'National' news in 'Policy and Governance-Independent' topic for user flenvcenter

Why diversity in sustainability matters, and what you can do	23.5.2018	Business Operations \| GreenBiz.com
Here's what some are — and aren't — doing to fight whitewashing in the green movement.
Also found in: [+]
Scott Pruitt Is Killing Us	26.4.2018	Truthout - All Articles
Pruitt Unveils Controversial "Transparency" Rule Limiting What Research EPA Can Use , Washington Post, 04/24/2018 That last one is a real doozy: "A chorus of scientists and public health groups warn that the rule would effectively block the EPA from relying on long-standing, landmark studies on the harmful effects of air pollution and pesticide exposure," reports the Post. In short, Pruitt is attacking basic science itself. Some of these reports used the personal medical data of patients, and so were not made public. This kind of data was previously used to link leaded gasoline to neurological disorders and air pollution deaths. This kind of data, in other words, saved many lives. This decision, like many others Pruitt has made, will eventually come with a body count. Anthropogenic climate change is fact, according to the US National Academy of Sciences and the UK's Royal Society's most recent report . It bluntly explains the evidence "that the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have ...
Also found in: [+]
How the federal fuel efficiency rollback diminishes security	24.4.2018	Resource Efficiency \| GreenBiz.com
Stricter standards would benefit consumers, U.S. automakers and American troops. That's why it's so shortsighted.
Also found in: [+]
Canary in the Coal Pond	23.4.2018	Truthout.com
New reports provide an unprecedented look at contaminants leaking from coal ash ponds and landfills. But the chasm between information and environmental protection may deepen thanks to a proposed Trump administration rollback that would lessen the consequences and weaken requirements for polluting power plants. Coal ash slurry pours into the first of two settling ponds adjacent to the Riverbend Steam Station on Mountain Island Lake in Gaston County, North Carolina, January 23, 2008. (Photo: Jeff Willhelm / Charlotte Observer / MCT via Getty Images) In tests conducted in late 2017, one in three coal-fired power plants nationwide detected "statistically significant" amounts of contaminants, including harmful chemicals like arsenic, in the groundwater around their facilities. This information, which utility companies had to post on their websites in March, became public for the first time under an Obama-era environmental rule regulating coal ash, the waste generated from burning coal. Mixed with water and ...
Also found in: [+]
EPA Recommends Transitioning Away From Animal Testing	21.4.2018	Truthout - All Articles
Good news from federal agencies can feel like a rarity these days, but this dispatch from the Environmental Protection Agency is an excellent reminder that staffers deep in the government are hard at work to build a better world. In draft guidance on skin allergy testing for pesticides and industrial chemicals, the EPA is encouraging researchers to move away from the use of animal models . Such testing is legally required to determine the level of hazard that various industrial products pose. Scientists aim to determine if chemicals cause skin irritation and, if so, the severity of their effects. This allows agencies to determine whether a product is safe enough to be sold to consumers, or if it needs to come with special warning labels. Historically, this process has involved exposing animals to the chemicals in question, relying primarily on guinea pigs and mice. As part of the research, the animals are killed and autopsied to examine the effects. The Humane Society of the United States maintains ...
Also found in: [+]
Lawmakers Want the EPA to Ignore Impacts of Pesticides on Endangered Species	19.4.2018	Truthout.com
According to the latest push by House Republicans, pesticides -- all of them -- are so safe there's no longer any need to bother asking experts to determine their harm to our most endangered species before approving them. It's not true, of course -- not even vaguely. It's such an outrageously anti-science statement it's laughable. But not surprisingly, that's what pesticide makers like Dow Chemical would have us believe. And now that's what Republicans in Congress would have us believe. This week some of the biggest agriculture and pesticide players in Washington, D.C. -- including Croplife and Dow Chemical -- succeeded in getting Republicans to include a rider in the 2018 Farm Bill that would exempt the Environmental Protection Agency's pesticide-registration program from the most important parts of the Endangered Species Act: The provisions requiring that a pesticide's harm to endangered species be assessed and addressed before it can be approved, and the provisions that prohibit a pesticide's ...
Also found in: [+]
Government Accountability Office: Scott Pruitt Illegally Built "Privacy Booth"	17.4.2018	Truthout - All Articles
Where do you turn for news and analysis you can rely on? If the answer is Truthout, then please support our mission by making a tax-deductible donation! The head of the Environmental Protection Agency violated the law when installing a soundproof booth in his office, according to the top federal auditor. Scott Pruitt ran afoul of a 2017 appropriations law and the Antideficiencies Act when creating the fixture, the Government Accountability Office said on Monday in a legal opinion. According to the analysis, agency officials must notify Congress before "obligating or expending an amount in excess of $5,000" on office improvements." Pruitt gave no such heads-up before spending more than $43,000 on the "soundproof privacy booth." "EPA was required to notify the appropriations committees of its proposed obligation," the legal opinion stated. Though Congressional notification was the only subject of the brief, GAO also remarked that EPA already has two Sensitive Compartmented Information Facilities ...
Also found in: [+]
Woman Who Hates Endangered Species Act Will Be in Charge of Wildlife Policy	11.4.2018	Truthout - All Articles
If you're a fan of real journalism, now's the time to strengthen Truthout's mission. Help us keep publishing stories that expose government and corporate wrongdoing: Make a donation right now! As if endangered species didn't have enough to worry about, they're about to have a vocal opponent of animals and conservation overseeing their protection in the White House. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke has named Susan Combs to serve as the acting assistant secretary of fish, wildlife and parks. To fully understand why Combs is such a terrible pick, take a look at her history as a comptroller in Texas . In that role, she routinely went up against the US Fish and Wildlife Service when they tried to enforce portions of the Endangered Species Act in her state. She also successfully fought to keep the golden-cheeked warbler and the dune sagebrush lizard from being included on the endangered list. Combs made it her business to protect the oil industry and other corporations from the supposed drag of having to make ...
Also found in: [+]
Auto Alliance Pushed Climate Denial to Get Trump Admin to Abandon Obama Fuel Efficiency Standards	8.4.2018	Truthout.com
(Photo: LanaElcova / Shutterstock) The Trump administration officially announced Monday that it will scrap fuel economy and emissions targets for cars and light-duty trucks sold in the United States and set new weaker standards, effectively undermining one of the federal government's most effective policies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. As the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times anticipated late last week, the two agencies responsible for auto standards -- the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) -- both claimed that their internal reviews have found the Obama-era standards to be too strict, and that the agencies would go back to the drawing board to revise standards for model years 2022-2025. The weaker standards, expected to be revealed in coming months and reported to be well below the current targets of 54.5 miles per gallon (or roughly 35 miles per gallon in real-world driving conditions), will be celebrated as a ...
Also found in: [+]
How Standing Rock Is Leading by Example on Renewable Energy	6.4.2018	Truthout - All Articles
The protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline may have failed to stop Big Oil for now, but the folks at Standing Rock have taken their fight to other fronts. Water Protectors are taking proactive steps to move the Standing Rock Sioux reservation toward renewable energy and plans are also being proposed to move both North and South Dakota to 50 percent renewable energy by 2030. Giant flood lights set up by a pipeline company and law enforcement illuminate a cloudy winter night at the Oceti Sakowin camp just outside of the Lakota Sioux reservation of Standing Rock, North Dakota, on December 1, 2016. (Photo: Andrew Lichtenstein / Getty Images) The Trump administration quickly overturned the December 2016 decision by the Army Corps of Engineers to halt the construction of the infamous Dakota Access Pipeline -- almost as quickly as Trump took office. Subsequent challenges in court failed to prevent the pipeline from being completed and going into operation. Rather than concede defeat, Water Protectors ...
Also found in: [+]
Human Role in Climate Change Removed From Science Report	6.4.2018	Truthout - All Articles
National Park Service officials have deleted every mention of the human impact on climate change in drafts of a long-awaited report on sea level rise and storm surge that is intended to protect parks and visitors from the effects of climate change. This directly contradicts Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke's vow to Congress that his department is not censoring science. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke speaks at the 2018 Conservative Political Action Conference on February 23, 2018, in National Harbor, Maryland. (Photo: Gage Skidmore ) This story was originally published by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit news organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Learn more at revealnews.org and subscribe to the Reveal podcast, produced with PRX, at revealnews.org/podcast . National Park Service officials have deleted every mention of humans' role in causing climate change in drafts of a long-awaited report on sea level rise and storm surge, contradicting Interior Secretary ...
Also found in: [+]
Court Rules EPA Unlawfully Delayed Environmental Racism Investigations for Decades	6.4.2018	Truthout - All Articles
Father Phil Schmitter and other advocates from a predominately Black neighborhood in Flint, Michigan filed a civil rights complaint with the EPA more than 20 years before the city became a symbol of environmental racism. The EPA finally completed its investigation into the complaint last year, and only after environmental justice groups took the agency to federal court. Darlene McClendon, 62, at her home in Flint, Michigan, on October 11, 2016. (Photo: Brittany Greeson / For The Washington Post via Getty Images) Exposing the wrongdoing of those in power has never been more important. Support Truthout's independent, investigative journalism by making a donation! A federal court ruled this week that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) violated the Civil Rights Act by delaying investigations into environmental discrimination complaints for years, even decades. For plaintiff Phil Schmitter, a priest and social justice activist from Flint, Michigan, the ruling is a bittersweet victory that was a long ...
Also found in: [+]
Inside automakers' Jekyll-and-Hyde approach to emissions rules	3.4.2018	Small Business \| GreenBiz.com
The auto industry is embracing electrification like never before. Why is it also looking to relax crucial fuel efficiency standards?
Also found in: [+]
U.S. Superfund sites offer lessons for the future	30.3.2018	GreenBiz.com
Superfund sites are being repurposed as recreational areas, renewable energy facilities and more.
Also found in: [+]
How the natural products industry is building a climate movement	23.3.2018	GreenBiz.com
Guayaki, Organic Valley and Straus Family Farms are among the leaders advancing carbon-positive and renewable solutions.
Also found in: [+]
Buried, Altered, Silenced: Four Ways Government Climate Information Has Changed Since Trump Took Office	22.3.2018	Truthout - All Articles
Truthout delivers trustworthy reporting and thought-provoking news analysis. If you share our passion for the truth, help strengthen independent media with a donation today! After Donald Trump won the presidential election, hundreds of volunteers around the US came together to "rescue" federal data on climate change, thought to be at risk under the new administration. " Guerilla archivists ," including ourselves , gathered to archive federal websites and preserve scientific data. But what has happened since? Did the data vanish? As of one year later, there has been no great purge. Federal data sets related to environmental and climate science are still accessible in the same ways they were before Trump took office. However, in many other instances, federal agencies have tampered with information about climate change. Across agency websites, documents have disappeared, web pages have vanished and language has shifted in ways that appear to reflect the policies of the new administration. Two groups have ...
Also found in: [+]
Beware of losing your building's Energy Star standing as updates loom ahead	16.3.2018	GreenBiz.com
Early adopters of the ratings system, in particular, could suffer lower scores. But it's not too late to act.
Also found in: [+]
Episode 116: Former EPA chief Gina McCarthy is optimistic, drones meet clean energy	16.3.2018	GreenBiz.com
On this week's episode, a hopeful perspective on the potential for meaningful, grassroots climate action and why automated, flying robots could reduce the cost of wind and solar power.
Also found in: [+]
Countless Archaeological Sites at Risk in Trump Oil and Gas Auction	14.3.2018	Truthout - All Articles
On March 20, the federal government is scheduled to auction off almost 41,000 acres in southeast Utah to oil and gas companies under expedited lease sales ordered last year by Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke. The push to lease these public lands would mean that archaeologists and Native Americans will not have a chance to fully document what's at stake. Carvings line a rock formation in the Nine Mile Canyon area of Utah. Such archaeological are currently threatened by the Trump administration's push to lease public lands. (Photo: Bureau of Land Management ) This story was originally published by Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting, a nonprofit news organization based in the San Francisco Bay Area. Learn more at revealnews.org and subscribe to the Reveal podcast, produced with PRX, at revealnews.org/podcast . San Juan County, Utah—A steep rock ledge, known locally as Ruin Point, stands sentinel over public lands rich with Native American antiquities preserved from the sands of time. More than ...
Also found in: [+]
Here's how to use your company's most powerful tool to change the world	14.3.2018	Energy & Climate \| Greenbiz.com
5 lessons from Everlane, Nike and others on aligning sustainability with marketing.
Also found in: [+]

1 to 20 of 16,202