Environmental Protection Agency news stories on Newser

EPA Honcho Resigns Over 'Crucify' Comments

Evann Gastaldo — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:32:42 CDT

The EPA's top administrator in the South and Southwest region has resigned over comments he made in 2010, in which he used the word "crucify" to describe his ideas about the EPA's enforcement policies, the AP reports. Republicans called for Al Armendariz to be fired after a video of his...

EPA Budget Cuts Could Imperil ... Beachgoers?

Kate Schwartz — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:59:20 CST

Swimmers, beware: You may want to stick with sand, not surf, this summer. The EPA is feeling the financial squeeze, and this week submitted a budget request that eliminates $10 million in grants that are used to test for polluted water and post warning signs. The EPA says the burden...

Hey, GOP: Bring Back Our 2nd Party

Mark Russell — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 13:17:52 CST

Just like you get to throw in your tiles when Scrabble gives you seven useless vowels, so too do Republican voters keep picking again—and coming up with the same useless tiles, says Thomas Friedman in the New York Times . That's because the GOP is an out-of-date "captive of conflicting...

Farmers: EPA Going Overboard on Dioxins

Kevin Spak — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 10:12:01 CST

The EPA is set to release guidelines this month warning the public not to ingest too much of a class of poisonous chemicals. Sound reasonable? Well, farmers and the food industry beg to differ, because the chemicals in question are dioxins—a ubiquitous byproduct of paper, metal, and cement production...

Environmental Strategy of GOP: 'Too Dirty to Fail'

Matt Cantor — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 13:44:01 CDT

House Republicans claim that to create jobs, we need to loosen environmental regulations. To that end, they’ve “averaged roughly a vote every day” in session to weaken the rules—and have already cut back the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and other laws, writes EPA chief Lisa Jackson...

EPA Set to Loosen New Pollution Rules

Matt Cantor — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 09:11:06 CDT

The EPA finalized a new rule to curb industrial pollution this summer; three months later, the agency has proposed to loosen the restrictions in 10 of 27 affected states. The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, meant to cut power-plant emissions that can blow across state lines, has faced sharp criticism from...

Barbara Boxer: Green Groups Should Sue Obama

Kevin Spak — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 10:08:03 CDT

Count Barbara Boxer among those steamed about President Obama’s decision to ditch the EPA’s proposal for stricter smog standards . The California senator talked to reporters yesterday, and while Politico notes that she was more measured than many environmentalists , she did call for a lawsuit against the president. “I’m not making...

Obama Turning His Back on Environment

Kevin Spak — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:58:05 CDT

President Obama has always claimed to care about the environment. “But what good is it to say the right thing unless you act on it?” asks actor Robert Redford in the Huffington Post . After some of his administration’s recent decisions—like backing off updated ozone standards and giving preliminary approval...

Obama Dumps New Smog Rules

Kevin Spak — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 11:28:05 CDT

Barack Obama handed the business community a surprise win today by asking the Environmental Protection Agency to scrap new smog standards that would force state and local government to improve air quality or risk losing federal funds, the Washington Post reports. "Work is already underway to update … the ozone...