Environmental Health

"The Trump administration is tightening its grip over EPA’s scientific enterprise as it prepares to relocate employees from its once esteemed research arm."

"The Institute of Nuclear Power Operations is struggling to bring a new wave of nuclear startups into their system." "Several nuclear power startups are balking at joining the industry’s voluntary regulatory body in what could become a major shakeup to plant safety oversight."

"Colorado State University’s hurricane forecasting team is expecting El Niño to bring a slightly below-average season with 13 named storms, six hurricanes, and two major hurricanes."

The job of the E.P.A. chief is to protect human health by safeguarding “the air we breathe, the water we drink and land that grows our food,” as the agency’s founding charter puts it, and most administrators have talked about their work in those terms. Mr. Zeldin, though, speaks more about supporting industry and exporting fossil fuels than about protecting the environment."

"The acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has delayed publication of a CDC report showing the covid-19 vaccine cut the likelihood of emergency department visits and hospitalizations for healthy adults last winter by about half, according to two scientists familiar with the decision. The scientists spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation."

"A proposal to build a mega-manure digester in a small Washington state community is sparking uproar among citizens who say the project to convert waste from dairy cows into fuel will add to the region’s already significant pollution problems."

"March’s persistent unseasonable heat was so intense that the continental United States registered its most abnormally hot month in 132 years of records, according to federal weather data. And the next year or so looks to turn the dial up on global warmth even more, as some forecasts predict a brewing El Niño will reach superstrength."

"The Trump administration on Thursday proposed weakening rules for the disposal of ash produced by burning coal that can contain hazardous heavy metals and contaminate groundwater. Those regulations were strengthened under the Biden administration as part of a wider crackdown on pollution from coal-fired power plants."

"Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin delivered the keynote speech at a Wednesday meeting of the Heartland Institute, a group that challenges the overwhelming scientific consensus on climate change’s harmful impacts and the need to curb greenhouse gas emissions that cause it."