In the News

Joel Mintz, former EPA Enforcement and Supervisory Attorney, penned this op-ed about President Biden’s recent address on climate change before the UN General Assembly.

Bob Sussman, Counsel to the Asbestos Disease Awareness Organization, former Senior Policy Counsel to the EPA Administrator, and former EPA Deputy Administrator, was quoted in this article discussing a draft bill that would direct EPA to ban the use of asbestos within one year of the bill’s enactment.

Mike Shapiro, former Deputy Assistant Administrator, EPA Office of Water, was quoted and EPN was mentioned in this article discussing the importance of including ephemeral and intermittent streams in the definition of “waters of the US” and the need to clarify to farmers which waters are jurisdictional.

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 lack of diversity in witness panels at congressional committee hearings.

Linda Birnbaum, EPN member, former Director of NIEHS, and former EPA scientist, was quoted in this article about a recent study that proposes global changes to the way per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances are regulated and methods that can be used to understand the health impacts of this chemical class.

Mustafa Santiago Ali, EPN member, 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 Senate-confirmation process for Carlton Waterhouse, nominee for Assistant Administrator of the Office of Land and Emergency Management. He was quoted in a similar article published in The Hill.

Linda Birnbaum, EPN member, former Director of NIEHS, and former EPA scientist, was quoted in this article on the limited budget currently allocated to the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity, a newly-created office in the Department of Health and Human Services. A related article was published in Mic.

Linda Birnbaum, former Director of NIEHS and former EPA scientist, was quoted in this article discussing the steps 3M has taken over the years to stymie effective regulation of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

Betsy Southerland, EPN member and former Director, Office of Science and Technology, EPA Office of Water, was quoted and EPN was mentioned in this article discussing the need to include processors of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in EPA’s proposed TSCA reporting rule for PFAS.

Judith Enck, EPN member, founder of Beyond Plastics, visiting professor at Bennington College, and former Regional Administrator, EPA Region 2, was quoted in this article regarding what can be done to increase the amount of plastic recycling, including making plastic producers and sellers responsible for the life cycle of their products and eliminating single-use plastics.

Mustafa Santiago Ali, former EPA Senior Advisor for Environmental Justice and Community Revitalization and former EPA Assistant Associate Administrator for Environmental Justice, was quoted in this article discussing how industries should use the infrastructure bill to rebuild trust and improve the lives of the communities they have negatively impacted.

Rob Verchick, EPN member; Loyola University law professor; president of the Center for Progressive Reform; and former Deputy Assistant Administrator, EPA Office of Policy, penned this op-ed outlining steps that could be taken to modernize the nation’s electrical grid and make it more climate-resilient.

EPN members Mark Ryan, former EPA Regional Counsel, EPA Region 10, and former Special Assistant US Attorney, and Betsy Southerland, former Director, Office of Research and Development, EPA Office of Water, penned this op-ed discussing the recent repeal of the Navigable Waters Protection Rule and what EPA can do to ensure development of a lasting definition of waters of the United States that offers clean water protections for everyone.

Betsy Southerland, EPN member and former Director, Office of Research and Development, EPA Office of Water, was quoted in this article regarding the amount of political interference that was involved in the toxicity assessment of PFBS, a per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance, and the steps taken early on in the Biden administration to withdraw and replace the assessment.

Rob Verchick, EPN member; Loyola University law professor; president of the Center for Progressive Reform; and former Deputy Assistant Administrator, EPA Office of Policy, co-authored this op-ed discussing the ways industry has been using the infrastructure bill to attempt to strip the authority of the National Environmental Protection Act.

Betsy Southerland, EPN member and former Director, Office of Research and Development, EPA Office of Water, was quoted and EPN was mentioned in this article about EPA’s proposed TSCA reporting rule for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

Mark Ryan, former EPA Regional Counsel, EPA Region 10, and former Special Assistant US Attorney, was quoted in this article about the recent repeal of the Trump-era Navigable Waters Protection Rule, an action that will afford more protections to drinking-water sources and wetlands. Mark was also quoted in similar articles appearing in E&E News, The New York Times, and S&P Global.

Michael Shapiro, EPN member and former Assistant Administrator, EPA Office of Water, was quoted in this article about a provision in the infrastructure bill that would require all EPA-funded water projects to use manufactured parts made only in America.

Jeff Alson, EPN member and former Senior Engineer and Policy Advisor, EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality, was quoted and EPN was cited in this article discussing EPA’s proposed near-term vehicle greenhouse gas emissions standards with an emphasis on prioritizing more stringent long-term standards.

Betsy Southerland, EPN member and former Director, Office of Research and Development, EPA Office of Water, was quoted in this article regarding how certain protections offered in the Trump-era LCR could be allowed to move forward as the agency revises other parts of the rule, which may help EPA meet President Biden’s goal to remove lead pipelines.

Tracey Woodruff, EPN member; Director, Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment at the University of California; former EPA senior scientist; and former policy advisor, EPA Office of Policy, was quoted in this article discussing the shortfalls of EPA’s decision to ban the pesticide chlorpyrifos based on data showing the chemical reduced function of cholinesterase, an important enzyme in the brain, rather than on epidemiological studies that showed chlorpyrifos negatively impacted neurodevelopment.

Betsy Southerland, EPN member and former Director, Office of Research and Development, EPA Office of Water, was quoted and EPN was mentioned in this article discussing how the increased funding appropriated to the EPA Superfund program in the $1 trillion infrastructure bill could go towards accelerating clean up of orphan sites.

EPN members Linda Birnbaum, former Director, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and former EPA scientist, and Bob Sussman, former EPA Deputy Administrator and Senior Policy Counsel to the EPA Administrator, were quoted in this article about the Trump EPA suppressing data from its Integrated Risk Information System linking formaldehyde, a known carcinogen, to increased risk of leukemia.

EPN members Stan Meiburg, former EPA Acting Deputy Administrator and former Regional Administrator, EPA Regions 4 and 6, and Bob Perciasepe, Senior Advisor at Center for Climate and Energy Solutions and former EPA Deputy Administrator, were quoted in this article about the slow pace of Senate confirmations for EPA nominees and the benefits of streamlining the confirmation process.