Maps Highlight Michigan Cities, Groups That Will Bear Brunt Of Climate Change Effects

November 6, 2019 / by

Nardy Bickel /

Michigan News

Trish Koman, EPN member and former Senior Environmental Scientist, Program Manager, and Supervisor in EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, was quoted in this article about a tool developed at the University of Michigan to map communities that will bear the largest costs of rising temperatures.

Markets Can’t Reward Hypocrisy In Battle Over Vehicle Emissions Standards

November 6, 2019 / by

Margo Oge /

The Hill

EPN member Margo Oge, former Director, EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality, wrote this op-ed about fuel efficiency standards and several major auto companies that recently decided to side with the Trump Administration in its conflict with California over tailpipe emission regulations.

Despite Court Losses, EPA Seeks To Ease Coal Plant Rules, Irking Critics

November 5, 2019 / by

David LaRoss /

Inside EPA

EPN members Betsy Southerland, former Director, Office of Science and Technology, EPA Office of Water, and Mustafa Santiago Ali, former EPA Senior Advisor for Environmental Justice and Community Revitalization, and Assistant Associate Administrator for Environmental Justice, were quoted in this article about updates to the coal ash effluent guidelines, which loosens requirements for the treatment of chemical waste from coal plants.

How Trump Is Using the Environment to Attack California. It’s Not Just About Auto Standards.

November 5, 2019 / by

Marianne Lavelle /

InsideClimateNews

Janet McCabe, EPN member and former Acting Assistant Administrator, EPA Office of Air and Radiation, was quoted in this article about EPA’s retaliatory moves against California over environmental regulations, from threatening to withhold highway infrastructure funds to an ongoing legal battle over fuel economy standards.

EPA Rolls Back Rule On Waste From Coal-Fired Power Plants

November 4, 2019 / by

Rebecca Beitsch /

The Hill

EPN members Mustafa Santiago Ali, former EPA Senior Advisor for Environmental Justice and Community Revitalization, and Assistant Associate Administrator for Environmental Justice, and Betsy Southerland, former Director, Office of Science and Technology, EPA Office of Water, were quoted in this article about EPA’s decision to relax coal ash regulations and the dangerous effects it will have on communities that will continue to live near coal ash waste ponds.

Trump Files Paperwork To Formally Exit Paris Climate Accord

November 4, 2019 / by

Jennifer Dlouhy /

Bloomberg

EPN member Joe Goffman, former Associate Assistant Administrator for Climate and Senior Counsel, EPA Office of Air and Radiation, was quoted in this article about the Trump Administration beginning the process of withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement, which will remove commitments made to reduce carbon emissions by 26% by 2025. This article also ran in Fortune.

E.P.A. Weakens Rules Governing Toxic Water Pollution From Coal Plants

November 4, 2019 / by

Lisa Friedman /

The New York Times

EPN member Mustafa Santiago Ali, former EPA Senior Advisor for Environmental Justice and Community Revitalization, and Assistant Associate Administrator for Environmental Justice, was quoted in this article about EPA’s decision to relax regulations on coal ash disposal and the impact this will have on low-income and minority populations that disproportionately live near coal ash impounds.

U.S. Starts Process to Exit Paris Climate Agreement

November 4, 2019 / by

Jessica Donati /

Wall Street Journal

Bob Perciasepe, EPN member and former EPA Deputy Administrator, was quoted in this article about the US officially submitting its notification to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement, citing an unfair economic burden on workers and businesses.

Trump Carbon Rule Defense: A Double-Edged Sword?

November 4, 2019 / by

Niina H. Farah /

Energywire

EPN member Joe Goffman, former Associate Assistant Administrator for Climate and Senior Counsel, EPA Office of Air and Radiation, was quoted in this article about how the Trump Administration’s strategy for repealing the Clean Power Plan by limiting the legal authority to create emissions regulations in the first place may even undermine its own replacement.

EPA To Scale Back Federal Rules Restricting Waste From Coal-Fired Power Plants

November 3, 2019 / by

Juliet Eilperin and Brady Dennis /

Washington Post

EPN member Betsy Southerland, former Director, Office of Science and Technology, EPA Office of Water, was quoted in this article about EPA’s recent decision to relax rules governing how power plants store and dispose of coal ash. Similar articles ran in Associated Press, Wall Street Journal, Greenwire, and Bloomberg Environment.

EPA Air Monitoring Around Denka Plant Could End After This Year; Agency ‘Evaluating Future’

November 2, 2019 / by

Nick Reimann /

The Times-Picayune

Stan Meiburg, EPN board member and former EPA Deputy Regional Administrator in Region 4 and Region 6 and Acting Deputy Administrator, was quoted in this article about six air monitoring stations in Denka, Louisiana and chloroprene emissions from a nearby chemical plant; however, EPA has yet to commit funding to continue operating these stations next year.

Trump Makes U-Turn On Fuel Economy Standards

November 1, 2019 / by

Maxine Joselow /

Greenwire

Margo Oge, EPN member and former Director, EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality, was quoted in this article about the Trump Administration’s decision to back down from freezing fuel economy standards at 2020 levels and its proposal for a 1.5% annual increase in fuel efficiency.

Impatient With EPA, US Congress Takes Regulation Of Toxic PFAS Into Its Own Hands

October 31, 2019 / by

Alex Graf /

The Globe Post

EPN member Betsy Southerland, former Director, Office of Science and Technology, EPA Office of Water, was quoted in this article about toxic PFAS contamination and EPA’s understaffed offices while Congress considers attaching regulations on PFAS to a must-pass defense spending bill. A similar article ran in DC Report.

Big Automakers Take Risks In Siding With Trump Administration Against California

October 31, 2019 / by

Juliet Eilperin, Brady Dennis, and Josh Dawsey /

Washington Post

EPN member Margo Oge, former Director, EPA Office of Transportation and Air Quality, was quoted in this article about the decision by several large automakers to back the Trump Administration in a legal fight with California over fuel efficiency standards.

Economic Analysis Could Undermine Trump Rule Repeal

October 30, 2019 / by

Ariel Wittenberg /

Greenwire

EPN member Betsy Southerland, former Director, Office of Science and Technology, EPA Office of Water, was quoted in this article about EPA’s new cost-benefit analysis supporting the repeal of the Clean Water Rule, which critics in court are arguing was crafted to fit a pre-existing decision to roll the rule back.

Soot Standard Vote Adds To Controversy Over Advisory Panel

October 28, 2019 / by

Sean Reilly /

E&E

John Bachmann, EPN member and former Associate Director for Science/Policy and New Programs, EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, was quoted in this article about the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee’s unprecedented split vote on particulate matter standards, demonstrating the effects of eliminating key scientific expertise from the panel.

Daily On Energy: Oil Considerations Swaying Trump’s Syria Policy

October 25, 2019 / by

Josh Siegel and Abby Smith /

Washington Examiner

EPN member John Bachmann, former Associate Director for Science/Policy and New Programs, EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, was quoted in this article about the gathering of former members of the Particulate Matter Review Panel to provide scientific expertise for setting particulate matter standards, despite the panel being disbanded last year.

Trump Expands Attack On Calif. Climate Programs

October 24, 2019 / by

Jean Chemnick and Benjamin Storrow /

Climatewire

EPN member Stan Meiburg, former EPA Deputy Regional Administrator in Region 4 and Region 6 and Acting Deputy Administrator, was also quoted in this article about the Trump Administration’s attacks on California over environmental regulation, as the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit claiming California’s partnership with Quebec over carbon dioxide emissions violated constitutional limits on individual states making international agreements.

Study: Increased Soot Linked To Nearly 10K Early Deaths

October 23, 2019 / by

Sean Reilly /

Greenwire

EPN member Bernard Goldstein, former chair, EPA Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee, was mentioned in this article about a recent study showing an increase in particulate matter in the last several years, which can be linked to almost 10,000 premature deaths, and the Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee’s process for setting new soot standards.

Congress Explores Why the Oil Industry’s Climate Denial Is a Civil Rights Issue

October 23, 2019 / by

Yessenia Funes /

Gizmodo

Mustafa Santiago Ali, EPN member, former EPA Senior Advisor for Environmental Justice and Community Revitalization, and Assistant Associate Administrator for Environmental Justice, was quoted in this article about the intersections between fossil fuels and civil rights, focusing on a recent Congressional civil rights hearing on the oil industry’s role in pollution that disproportionately affects minority populations.

Oversight at Risk under EPA’s Latest Proposed Changes to Coal Ash Storage and Reuse Rule

October 22, 2019 / by

Lisa Caruso /

The Southern Maryland Chronicle

EPN member Lisa Feldt, former EPA Acting Deputy Administrator, former Associate Deputy Administrator, and former Deputy Assistant Administrator, Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response, was quoted in this article about EPA’s proposed changes to national coal ash regulations, as the Chesapeake Bay Foundation sent a letter arguing that coal ash threatens the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

EPA Chief Espouses Benefits Of Agency’s Environmental Deregulation

October 22, 2019 / by

Rebecca Beitsch /

The Hill

EPN members Betsy Southerland, former Director, Office of Science and Technology, EPA Office of Water, and Bob Perciasepe, former EPA Deputy Administrator, were quoted in this article about EPA Administrator Wheeler’s speech defending the agency’s deregulatory agenda, which critics argue makes polluting easier by removing the incentives to invest in new technologies.

Air Pollution Experts Say Current Standards Must Be Strengthened to Protect Public Health

October 22, 2019 / by

UCS /

Union of Concerned Scientists

John Bachmann, EPN member and former Associate Director for Science/Policy and New Programs, EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, was quoted in this article about the conclusions of the Independent Particulate Matter Review Panel, which stressed that limits set by the government are too permissive and could harm public health.

Air Pollution Is Increasing for the First Time in a Decade Under Trump

October 22, 2019 / by

Yessenia Funes /

Gizmodo

EPN member Joe Goffman, former Associate Assistant Administrator for Climate and Senior Counsel, EPA Office of Air and Radiation, was quoted in this article about recent research that suggests that after a decade of improvements in air quality, progress on clean air is backsliding and quality is declining once more.