Trump Shutters Agency That Investigates Industrial Chemical Explosions
"Hazardous chemical accidents happen in the U.S. about every other day. Who will investigate them now?"
Source: Verite/Grist, 06/18/2025
EJToday: Top Environmental Politics 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).
Trump EPA Is Telling Some Staff To Stop Policing The Oil And Gas Industry
"The Environmental Protection Agency has told staff overseeing the country’s industrialized Midwest — a region plagued by a legacy of pollution — to stop enforcing violations against fossil fuel companies, multiple sources told CNN."
Source: CNN, 06/17/2025"E.P.A. Plans to Reconsider a Ban on Cancer-Causing Asbestos"
"The Trump administration plans to reconsider a ban on the last type of asbestos still used in the United States, according to a court filing on Monday."
Source: NYTimes, 06/17/2025Fourth Power Plant Approved in Newark Despite Residents' Tearful Protests
"The Ironbound neighborhood in Newark, N.J., has two distinct sections: an immigrant-rich area of rowhouses, ethnic restaurants and shops, and a clogged industrial zone with three power plants, the state’s largest incinerator and biggest sewage facility, a slew of factories and a near-constant parade of diesel trucks."
Source: Inside Climate News, 06/17/2025Trump Fires Democratic Commissioner Of Independent NRC
"President Donald Trump has fired a Democratic commissioner for the federal agency that oversees nuclear safety as he continues to assert more control over independent regulatory agencies."
Source: AP, 06/17/2025"CDC Virus Expert Resigns After RFK Jr.’s Purge Of Vaccine Advisers"
"A senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who oversaw respiratory virus surveillance has resigned and raised concerns about the future of vaccine policy as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. upends the agency’s long-standing approach to immunization."
Source: Washington Post, 06/17/2025"National Parks Are Told to Delete Content That ‘Disparages Americans’"
"The Interior Department plans to remove or cover up all “inappropriate content” at national parks and sites by Sept. 17 and is asking the park visitors to report any “negative” information about past or living Americans, according to internal documents."
Source: NYTimes, 06/16/2025"Trump Topples $1 Billion Columbia River Settlement Deal"
"President Donald Trump declared Thursday that the federal government must pull out of a settlement agreement that had halted the long-running legal battle over 14 dams in the Pacific Northwest, reopening a fight over the future of fish populations in the Columbia River Basin."
Source: E&E News, 06/16/2025Head of FEMA Command Center Quits After Trump Says He’ll Phase Out Agency
"The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster command center, who coordinates the national response to earthquakes, floods and other disasters, has submitted his resignation, according to two people familiar with the matter." "His resignation came after other senior staff members have left and a day after President Trump said he would wind down the federal agency by November."
Source: NYTimes, 06/16/2025Chesapeake Bay Health Slips in 2025 Report Card Amid Persistent Challenges
"The Chesapeake Bay’s health has taken a downturn, according to a new report card, with the estuary relegated from a “C+” to a “C” as climate extremes and runaway pollution limit restoration efforts."
Source: Inside Climate News, 06/16/2025Trump Cuts EPA Grants to Address Health Risks on Hopi and Navajo Reservations
"Red Feather, which works to improve housing on the Navajo and Hopi reservations, is just one of hundreds of groups that have had grants meant to help disadvantaged communities terminated by the Trump administration."
Source: Inside Climate News, 06/16/2025UN Ocean Summit Ends With Boost For Marine Conservation, Not Climate
"The UN Ocean Conference in the southern French city of Nice concludes this Friday with countries taking steps towards marine protection and declaring a battle over deep sea-mining, but slammed for leaving fossil fuels off the agenda – the key driver of ocean warming. Nations hoping for new financial pledges to help with battling rising sea levels and overfishing were also left disappointed."
Source: AFP, 06/16/2025Popular NOAA Climate Website Will Be Hobbled, After Trump Cuts Entire Staff
"A widely used federal website that publishes information about changing weather patterns, drought conditions, agricultural best-practices, atmospheric changes and greenhouse gas emissions will no longer be updated, according to current and former employees familiar with the site. The website will stop publishing new content on July 1."
Source: NPR, 06/16/2025"Hundreds Of Laid-Off CDC Employees Are Being Reinstated"
"More than 460 laid-off employees at the nation’s top public health agency received notices Wednesday that they are being reinstated, according to a union representing the workers."
Source: AP, 06/16/2025Researcher Resigns Citing Tulane Censorship On Pollution Racial Disparity
"A Tulane University researcher resigned Wednesday, citing censorship from university leaders who had warned that her advocacy and research exposing the Louisiana petrochemical industry’s health impacts and racial disparities in hiring had triggered blowback from donors and elected officials."
Source: AP, 06/16/2025
