Newly empowered Democrats need to save the EPA – again
The new Democratic-led House can restore teeth to the agency that safeguards our health – they did it once before.
Category: Op-ed
EPA staff say the Trump administration is changing their mission from protecting human health and the environment to protecting industry
The Environmental Protection Agency made news recently for excluding reporters from a “summit” meeting on chemical contamination in drinking water. Episodes like this are symptoms of a larger problem: an ongoing, broad-scale takeover of the agency by industries it regulates.
Would firing Scott Pruitt save the EPA?
Pruitt relied on tactics deployed by two previous Republican administrations — Ronald Reagan, who staged a frontal assault on the EPA early in his presidency, and George W. Bush, who worked to undermine the science underpinning the EPA’s actions.
Cancer warnings for coffee may be overkill, but Proposition 65 is not
by Jennifer Liss Ohayon, EDGI Member, and Claudia Polsky, Op-Ed reblogged from Los Angeles Times. A posted Proposition 65 warning sign at a Starbucks coffee shop in Burbank, on March 30. (Damian Dovarganes / Associated Press) It’s official: Coffee sold in California must carry cancer warnings, a Los Angeles judge ruled this week. The […]
Censoring Climate Change
by Toly Rinberg and Andrew Bergman, EDGI Members, Op-Ed from the New York Times. Scott Pruitt during an interview in his office at the Environmental Protection Agency in October. (Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg) By altering and removing climate websites built over years and paid for by tax dollars, the Trump administration is actively working to muddy the overwhelming […]
The federal agency that few Americans have heard of and which we all need to know
by Leif Fredrickson, EDGI Member, Op-Ed reblogged from Washington Post. The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs is key to President Trump achieving his deregulatory vision. (Saul Loeb/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images) The Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) is foreign to most Americans. It had no cameos in “The West Wing” or “House of Cards,” […]
The Environmental Protection Agency is not the nation’s janitor
by Leif Fredrickson, EDGI Member, Op-Ed reblogged from The Guardian. ‘The EPA began in 1970 as an agency charged with curbing pollution.’ Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images The Environmental Protection Agency’s new administrator, Scott Pruitt, has called for a “back-to-basics” or “originalist” approach to the agency. It is unclear what he means, but in a 22 May […]
Scott Pruitt is wrong about the origins of the EPA
by Leif Fredrickson, EDGI Member, Op-Ed reblogged from Washington Post. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt doesn’t understand his own agency’s history. (Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP) Scott Pruitt, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, has set a “back-to-basics” agenda for the agency. In media interviews, he refers to himself as an “EPA originalist.” What on earth […]
Cleaning up toxic sites shouldn’t clear out the neighbors
by Lindsey Dillon, EDGI Member, Op-Ed reblogged from The Conversation. Abandoned industrial buildings at San Francisco’s Pier 70, with a smokestack in the background. Lindsey Dillon, CC BY-NC-ND San Francisco has embarked on a project to transform its industrial southeast waterfront into a bike-friendly destination called the Blue Greenway. When completed, the Blue Greenway will be a 13-mile network of […]
Trump and Pruitt are the biggest threat to the EPA in its 47 years of existence
by Christopher Sellers, EDGI Member, Op-Ed reblogged from Vox Media. Pruitt has been packing the EPA with climate skeptics and following through on Trump’s campaign promises to give “relief” to fossil fuel interests. (Andrew Harnik/AP) The Trump administration is on track to damage the agency even more than the Reagan administration. It’s been quite […]