Did the Supreme Court Just Kill Dirty Coal Plants and Save the World?

Juan Cole / Truthdig Apr 30, 2014 The Supreme Court on Tuesday affirmed that the Environmental Protection Agency has the prerogative to regulate air pollution that spills across state lines. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

You Can No Longer Eat American Apples in Europe. Here’s Why

Natasha Hakimi Zapata / Truthdig Apr 24, 2014 Apparently an apple a day will not keep the doctor away in the U.S. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Rural N.Y. Communities Use Fracking Waste to De-Ice Roads

BLANK Dec 9, 2013 Maybe this is why there’s a New York city named Fishkill. Road crews in some rural areas around the state are using toxic fracking waste liquid to de-ice roads, despite a moratorium on fracking in the state and a federal EPA warning against using the juice. Exactly what’s in the liquid? Only the frackheads know, and they’re keeping it a secret. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

EPA’s Abandoned Fracking Study One Retreat of Many

By Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica Jul 7, 2013 In 2011, the agency issued a draft report saying that the controversial practice of fracking was to blame for the pollution of an aquifer deep below the town of Pavillion, Wyo., the first time such a claim had been based on a scientific analysis. Now the EPA will hand the study over to Wyoming, whose research will be funded by EnCana--the very drilling company whose wells may have caused the contamination. Dig deeper ( 10 Min. Read )

How Dick Cheney’s Son-in-Law Helped Deregulate Chemical Plants

Tracy Bloom / Truthdig Apr 27, 2013 MSNBC host Chris Hayes explained on his program Thursday how the Bush administration--and specifically the former vice president's son-in-law--played a critical role in defeating regulations that would have strengthened federal oversight of chemical plants like the one that exploded and killed 15 people in West, Texas, last week. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

More Than Half of U.S. Rivers in Trouble

Alexander Reed Kelly / Truthdig Mar 27, 2013 More than half of the country's rivers and streams are unable to support healthy populations of aquatic insects and other creatures, a survey of nearly 2,000 locations by the Environmental Protection Agency reported Tuesday. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

Jeb Bush Reverses Immigration Stance, Brian Williams ‘Disappointed’ With U.S., and More

Tracy Bloom / Truthdig Mar 5, 2013 A look at the day's political happenings, including the White House weighing in on whether cellphones should be locked and Democratic lawmakers plan to introduce legislation to raise the minimum wage. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

Bush Health Update, Starbucks Gets Bipartisan, and More

Tracy Bloom / Truthdig Dec 28, 2012 A look at the day's political happenings, including the newest member to be sworn in to the U.S. Senate and Barbara Walters' awkward interview with the Obamas. Dig deeper ( 2 Min. Read )

The Trillion-Gallon Loophole: Lax Rules for Drillers That Inject Pollutants Into the Earth

By Abrahm Lustgarten, ProPublica Sep 24, 2012 Injection wells have proliferated over the past 60 years, in large part because they are the cheapest, most expedient way to manage hundreds of billions of gallons of industrial waste generated in the U.S. each year. Yet the dangers of injection are well known: In accidents dating to the 1960s, toxic materials have bubbled up to the surface or escaped, contaminating aquifers that store supplies of drinking water. Dig deeper ( 18 Min. Read )

The Republicans’ War on the Environment

Staff / Truthdig Mar 12, 2011 As unsurprising as it is utterly stupid, a Republican-dominated House subcommittee has voted to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of the power to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, while a parallel bill has been introduced in the Senate. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )

Fouling the Clean Air Act

By Dan Becker and James Gerstenzang Mar 4, 2011 In a largely hidden component of its attack on the federal budget, the House of Representatives has approved a key Republican campaign promise to big business: protecting it from what the new majority calls the handcuffs of environmental safeguards. If the Republicans prevail in the Senate and overcome a White House veto, they would hobble the Clean Air Act. Dig deeper ( 3 Min. Read )

EPA Sharpens Its Regulatory Teeth

Staff / Truthdig Dec 25, 2010 Though it was politically vague and took no immediate action, the Environmental Protection Agency announced it will put some regulatory pressure on power plants and oil refineries to limit greenhouse gas emissions by the end of 2012. Dig deeper ( 1 Min. Read )