EPA
Businesses face ‘chaos’ as EPA aims to repeal its authority over climate pollution
A lot of companies want the EPA in charge of setting national climate regulations because it helps shield them from lawsuits and creates a predictable environment in which to make investments.
EPA plans to end a program that makes solar power available to low-income Americans
The Trump administration plans to end a $7 billion Biden-era program that helps low-income households get solar power.
Trump’s EPA wants to eliminate regulation for greenhouse gases
The Trump administration proposes eliminating a 2009 finding that greenhouse gases endanger people. That would undermine the EPA's climate change regulations for power plants and cars.
The EPA proposes gutting its greenhouse gas rules. Here’s what it means for cars and pollution
The Trump administration has effectively eliminated two rules designed to promote cleaner cars. Now, as the EPA suggests not considering carbon dioxide to be pollution, the last is poised to fall.
Trump’s EPA now says greenhouse gases don’t endanger people
The Trump administration wants to reverse a 2009 EPA finding that greenhouse gases endanger people. The finding is the basis for much of the United States' climate change regulations.
Trump administration actions contradict MAHA rhetoric on toxic chemicals
Trump says he backs the MAHA agenda which includes eliminating toxins linked to human health problems. But his administration continues to cuts funds, grants and regulations that support that goal.
The Environmental Protection Agency delays limits on PFAS in drinking water
Federal rules to reduce the levels of "forever chemicals" in drinking water are getting delayed.
Energy Star, efficiency program that has steered consumer choice, targeted in cuts
An Environmental Protection Agency plan to eliminate its Energy Star offices would end a decades-old program that gave consumers a choice to buy environmentally friendly electronics and save money on bills, consumer and environmental groups said.
The Trump administration says it will cut EPA staffing to Reagan-era levels
EPA announced plans to reorganize the agency, moving science-focused staff into different roles and reducing the overall number of employees.
Editor’s Note: EPA says it will roll back climate rules. That could prove complicated
Announcing big changes to environmental rules doesn't undo facts on the ground overnight. Instead, EPA's announcement is the first step in what is likely to be a lengthy process to remake the rules and policies it targeted.
In fight to remove divisive New Orleans highway, activists turn to new strategy — an EPA study
The Claiborne Avenue Alliance hopes a study on the health impacts caused by the expressway will support efforts to remediate and potentially remove the highway.
EPA wants to reject Alabama’s coal ash program; says it is not protective enough
The EPA’s proposed denial claims Alabama’s proposed standards are too lax and don’t meet federal guidelines under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
Advocates criticize state environmental commission about response to Moody landfill fire
Speakers at the meeting argued the Alabama Department of Environmental Management took too long to act on the fire and that steps must be taken to regulate these types of landfills.
Who would put out a landfill fire near Moody? That question consumed officials for weeks
A private landfill near Moody smoldered for almost two months, inundating residents miles around with noxious smoke, before the EPA stepped in.
Residents worry about unknown health impacts of toxic landfill fumes
Officials have advised people to stay inside, seek medical care if they feel sick and relocate if necessary, a response that frustrates many residents.
A Mississippi community is ‘grateful’ for more air testing, but skeptical of what comes next
A $500,000 EPA grant will make more air testing in Pascagoula’s Cherokee Forest community possible. Residents worry their voices will — again — not be heard.
Officials see hurdles to putting out landfill fire near Moody as neighbors suffer
Residents near landfill fire say the smoke is affecting their health, but officials are still trying to figure out how to put out the blaze — and who will pay for it.
Jackson’s water crisis put new attention on its longstanding lead contamination issue
Jackson’s water issues echo infrastructure struggles across the Gulf South, resulting in nearly 1,800 lawsuits over the past year and attention from the EPA.
EPA Rejects Move To Strengthen Air Pollution Limits
The Trump EPA announced this week that it will not lower the current limit on particulate air pollution, an action that disappointed but didn’t surprise public health scientists and clean-air advocates.
Gasp, SELC Challenge ABC Coke Consent Decree
A fight over ABC Coke’s air pollution in Birmingham and Tarrant entered federal court Tuesday as groups charged that a consent decree agreement approved last spring is too weak to guarantee that unlawful discharges of the cancer-causing chemical benzene will stop.
Environmental Groups Protest New Waters of the US Rule
Environmental groups in Alabama and elsewhere say they will fight to delay or stop a new federal rule that would remove the 1972 Clean Water Act’s oversight of half the nation’s wetlands and many small streams.
Alabama Representatives Flip Votes on Two Measures Involving Cleanup of PFAS Pollution
Alabama’s representatives in the U.S. House flipped votes on two issues last week concerning regulation of PFAS chemicals, which have been linked to cancer. These chemicals have been found in drinking water and land in northern Alabama.
Frustration With Health Department Intensifies as Environmental Groups Seek to Overturn ABC Coke’s Air Permit Renewal
Environmental groups say ABC Coke’s air permit renewal issued in April is flawed and are appealing to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to agree that it does not comply with requirements of the federal Clean Air Act.
Neighborhoods Want Trust Fund Set Up From Proposed ABC Coke’s Benzene Pollution Case
The North Birmingham community made clear this week that it wants money from an ABC Coke pollution penalty to be used to create a trust fund to benefit residents in the surrounding area.
PowerSouth CEO Blames ‘Extremist Environmental Ideology’ for Shuttering a Coal-Fired Plant in South Alabama
One of Alabama’s oldest coal-fired power plants will close next year. PowerSouth Energy Cooperative’s chief executive blamed the closure on “extremist environmental ideologies” and “environmental activists” in announcing that the Charles R. Lowman electrical generation plant on the Tombigbee River would be shuttered.
Proposed Change to the Clean Water Act Open for Public Comment
The public has 60 days to comment on an EPA proposal that would limit which waterways are protected under the Clean Water Act. In Alabama, environmental groups say the change would have a significant impact.
Drummond to Pay $775,000 Penalty to EPA, Jefferson County Health Department
Drummond Company has agreed to pay a $775,000 civil penalty as part of a settlement contained in a consent decree relating to alleged violations of environmental laws at its ABC Coke Plant in Tarrant.
North Birmingham Neighborhoods ‘Have Taken a Beating,’ Work to Unite Over Pollution Concerns
The EPA Superfund cleanup and ABC Coke’s proposed air emissions permit have dominated health concerns of residents in northern Birmingham neighborhoods for months. Now officials and residents of several neighborhoods there are attempting to form a coalition to broaden the concerns to other sources of possible pollution.
LeFleur Still Feeling the Sting From Advocacy Groups’ Condemnation, Responds to Their Criticism
Months after testifying in the North Birmingham bribery trial, the state’s top environmental regulator is firing back at watchdog groups calling for his dismissal or resignation.
Trump’s EPA Seeks to Remove Much of Nation’s Headwaters and Wetlands From Protection
The action principally would remove oversight for small tributary headwaters that do not flow year-round and for wetlands not clearly connected to flowing streams.
Trey Glenn Resigns as EPA Regional Administrator After Indictment
Trey Glenn resigned Sunday as EPA Region 4 administrator for Alabama and seven other southeastern states following his indictment on multiple felony ethics charges last week in Jefferson County.
EPA Southeast Administrator, Former ADEM Commissioner Indicted on State Ethics Charges
A former director of the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, who’s now the regional administrator for the EPA, has been indicted on state ethics charges related to the case in which an executive of Drummond Corporation and a partner in the Balch and Bingham law firm were convicted earlier this year.
