By Julia Conley Bottled water companies have relied on predatory marketing practices and exorbitant lobbying efforts to sell Americans on the inaccurate belief that pre-packaged water is cleaner and safer than tap water—a notion that is costing U.S. households about $16 billion per year. In a new report entitled “Take Back the Tap,” Food & […]
By Rhea Suh It may sound like green eyeshades stuff, but the massive budget proposal the White House sends up to Congress each February is a kind of road map to our future. It’s the president’s plan for spending taxpayer dollars to advance his priorities and goals. President Trump’s proposal landed with a thud Monday […]
Multiple states and conservation groups are legally challenging the Trump administration’s decision to delay the Obama-era Clean Water Rule. Last week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) put a two-year suspension on the rule, also known as Waters of the United States (WOTUS), which protects large water bodies like lakes and rivers but also listed […]
By Shiney Varghese As the sixth round of the negotiations on North American Free Trade Agreement begin next week in Montreal, Canada, the controversy over exactly what a new agreement might involve—if there is one at all—continues to generate debate. As the NAFTA renegotiations were about to start, the Canadian government publicly stated its core […]
By Simon Davis-Cohen In early January, a federal judge ordered the nonprofit law firm Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) to pay $52,000 to an oil and gas exploration company for defending a rural Pennsylvania township’s ban on underground injections of fracking waste. This sanction comes at the request of Pennsylvania General Energy Company (PGE) […]
By Brett Walton State of the State speeches are where governors sketch their legislative priorities and report on the overall health of their dominions. The state of the state is almost always “strong” and water issues are occasionally mentioned. Below are summaries of the governors’ references to water, climate and the environment. This post will […]
Drinking water for more than 170 million Americans in all 50 states contains radioactive elements that may increase the risk of cancer, according to an Environmental Working Group (EWG) investigation released Thursday. Radiation in tap water is a serious health threat, especially during pregnancy, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s legal limits for the most […]
By Jennifer Weeks Much news about the environment in 2017 focused on controversies over Trump administration actions, such as proposals to promote more use of coal and budget cuts at relevant federal agencies. At the same time, however, many scholars across the U.S. are pursuing innovations that could help create a more sustainable world. Here […]
By Clara Chaisson From his flagrant dismissal of the scientific consensus on manmade climate change to his eagerness to see treasured landscapes degraded by extractive industries, Trump‘s disregard for clean air, drinkable water and natural heritage has been relentless during the first year of his presidency. Not only are his anti-environmental actions wrong, but many […]