In the News

Margo Oge, former Director, EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality, was quoted in this article about the recently-finalized standards to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions from heavy-duty vehicles and EPA’s plans to transition all diesel trucks to zero-emission vehicles. Margo was quoted in a related article in the Washington Post.

Bob Sussman, counsel to Safer Chemicals Healthy Families and former EPA Deputy Administrator, was quoted in this article discussing EPA’s intention to consider TSCA-specific cumulative risks for chemical exposures in general and for several high-priority phthalates.

Mustafa Santiago Ali, Vice President for Environmental Justice, National Wildlife Federation, former EPA Senior Advisor for Environmental Justice and Community Revitalization, and former EPA Assistant Associate Administrator for Environmental Justice, was quoted in this article about why it is important to have people of color as leaders in environmental organizations.

Betsy Southerland, former Director, Office of Science and Technology, EPA Office of Water, was quoted in this article discussing how drinking water treatment upgrades from the proposed regulation of PFOA and PFOS would capture other contaminants as well, resulting in massive improvements to drinking water quality.

Betsy Southerland, former Director, Office of Science and Technology, EPA Office of Water, was quoted and EPN was mentioned in this article discussing challenges faced with EPA’s proposal to designate the PFAS chemicals PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under the Superfund law.

Art Smith, former Senior Attorney, EPA Region 5, wrote this blog post discussing how delays in moving forward with the nomination of David Glick as Federal Energy Regulatory Commission chair will only hinder the commission’s ability to facilitate the transition to a clean energy system.

Dave Coursen, former Attorney, EPA Office of General Counsel, and Betsy Southerland, former Director, Office of Science and Technology, EPA Office of Water, wrote this article discussing the need for additional EPA funding for the agency to effectively implement the 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act.

Dan Costa, former National Program Director, Air, Climate, and Energy Research Program, EPA Office of Research and Development, was quoted in this article about EPA-funded air monitoring that will begin in Pascagoula, Mississippi, a city with elevated cancer risks due to industrial air pollution.

Mustafa Santiago Ali, Senior Vice President for Environmental Justice, National Wildlife Federation, former EPA Senior Advisor for Environmental Justice and Community Revitalization, and former EPA Assistant Associate Administrator for Environmental Justice, was quoted in this article about the commitments made at COP27 and the failure to make progress on emissions reductions.

Linda Birnbaum, former Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, was quoted in this article regarding how widespread PFAS chemicals are, the many sources they may come from, and how they accumulate in the body.

Gwendolyn Keyes Fleming (former EPA Chief of Staff), Stan Meiburg (former EPA Acting Deputy Administrator), and Bob Perciasepe (former EPA Deputy Administrator) were quoted in this article discussing whether the nominees picked to lead EPA’s air, enforcement, and solid waste offices will have confirmation votes before the end of the current Congress.

Dave Coursen, former Attorney, EPA Office of General Counsel, wrote this op-ed regarding the lack of funds EPA has for enforcement and the need to increase those funds, especially with the Inflation Reduction Act needing new resources to implement new climate and environmental justice provisions.

This article referenced EPN’s review of the World Health Organization’s proposal to use technology-focused drinking water guidelines for PFOA and PFOS.

Linda Birnbaum, former Director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the National Toxicology Program, and Betsy Southerland, former Director, Office of Science and Technology, EPA Office of Water, were quoted and EPN was mentioned in this article discussing the severe inadequacies of the World Health Organization’s draft guidelines for PFAS in drinking water. Linda was also quoted in a related article in Phys.org, and EPN’s comments on the draft guidelines were cited in an Inside EPA article.

Judith Enck, President of Beyond Plastics and former Regional Administrator, EPA Region 2, was interviewed on this podcast about how single-use plastics production is increasing and the challenges that make plastics recycling so inefficient.

This article referenced EPN’s comments to EPA in support of the designation of PFOA and PFOS as hazardous substances under CERCLA.

EPN was mentioned in this article about the possibility of asbestos-ban legislation appearing in the current lame-duck session of Congress.

Dan Costa, former National Program Director, Air, Climate, and Energy Research Program, EPA Office of Research and Development, was quoted in this article regarding the negative impacts a second Trump presidential term would have on US climate policy.

Bob Perciasepe, former EPA Deputy Administrator, was quoted in this article discussing the Biden administration’s plan to reduce greenhouse gas and hazardous air pollutant emissions from coal-fired power plants.

Judith Enck, founder of Beyond Plastics and former Regional Administrator, EPA Region 2, was quoted in this article discussing why the plastics recycling industry will likely shift to burning plastics as waste or for fuel.

Mark Ryan, former Assistant Regional Council, EPA Region 10, was quoted and Betsy Southerland, former Director, Office of Science and Technology, EPA Office of Water, and EPN were mentioned in this article about EPA’s proposed revised definition of waters of the U.S., currently in the final rulemaking stage at the Office of Management and Budget.

Margo Oge, former Director, EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality, was quoted in this article discussing how the pushback from truck companies and their lobbyists against stricter air emission standards is at odds with the companies’ public assurances to transition to zero-emissions vehicles.

Stan Meiburg, former EPA Acting Deputy Administrator and former Regional Administrator, EPA Regions 4 and 6, and Eric Schaeffer, Executive Director of the Environmental Integrity Project and former Director, EPA Office of Civil Enforcement, were quoted in this article describing the remaining shortcomings of the Clean Water Act, now in its 50th year.

Donn Viviani, President of Climate Protection and Restoration Initiative (CPRI) and former Director, Climate Policy Division, EPA Office of Policy, Economics and Innovation, was interviewed about EPA’s denial of CPRI’s petition to phase out greenhouse gas emissions using TSCA Section 6.