By Austyn Gaffney | March 21, 2025

Amid the torrent of executive orders signed by President Trump were directives that affect the language on government web pages and the public’s access to government data touching on climate change, the environment, energy and public health.

In the past two months, hundreds of terabytes of digital resources analyzing data have been taken off government websites, and more are feared to be at risk of deletion. While in many cases the underlying data still exists, the tools that make it possible for the public and researchers to use that data have been removed.

But now, hundreds of volunteers are working to collect and download as much government data as possible and to recreate the digital tools that allow the public to access that information.

Read more here

Helen Briggs | BBC environment correspondent

A humpback whale has made one of the longest and most unusual migrations ever recorded, possibly driven by climate change, scientists say.

It was seen in the Pacific Ocean off Colombia in 2017, then popped up several years later near Zanzibar in the Indian Ocean - a distance of at least 13,000 km.

The experts think this epic journey might be down to climate change depleting food stocks or perhaps an odyssey to find a mate.

Ekaterina Kalashnikova of the Tanzania Cetaceans Program said the feat was "truly impressive and unusual even for this highly migratory species".

The photograph below shows the same whale photographed in 2022, off the Zanzibar coast.

Dr Kalashnikova said it was very likely the longest distance a humpback whale had ever been recorded travelling.

Humpback whales live in all oceans around the world. They travel long distances every year and have one of the longest migrations of any mammal, swimming from tropical breeding grounds to feeding grounds in cooler waters.

But this male's journey was even more spectacular, involving two distant breeding grounds.

One theory is that climate change is altering the abundance of the tiny shrimplike krill humpback whales feed on, forcing them to travel further in search of food.

• Too hot for humpbacks: The race to protect Pacific whales

• Following Antarctic whales for climate change clues

Alternatively, whales may be exploring new breeding grounds as populations rebound through global conservation efforts.

"While actual reasons are unknown, amongst the drivers there might be global changes in the climate, extreme environmental events (that are more frequent nowadays), and evolutionary mechanisms of the species," said Dr Kalashnikova.

Read more here

by Letters to the Editor
March 16, 2025

To the Editor:

Before his appointment as U.S. Energy Secretary, Chris Wright was the CEO of Liberty Energy, North America’s second largest fracking company. Wright recently asserted:

“I am a climate realist. The Trump administration will treat climate change for what it is, a global physical phenomenon that is a side effect of building the modern world…The only interest group that we are concerned with is the American people.”

However, stopping Earth’s warming is not consistent with the Trump Administration’s agenda of “Drill, baby, drill!” and “American energy dominance.” While it’s true that some forms of fossil fuel generation are cleaner than others, they are all increasing the concentration of heat-trapping carbon in the atmosphere.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, “Limiting global mean temperature increase at any level requires global CO2 emissions to become net zero at some point in the future.”

This means reducing carbon dioxide emissions enough that they are balanced by CO2 removal, such as being absorbed by forests and dissolved in the oceans. Otherwise the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will continue to grow.

Disturbingly, the earth has already warmed to the point that, instead of absorbing and storing carbon dioxide, the planet’s carbon sinks are becoming sources of CO2 emissions. Warmer oceans are less able to take up carbon dioxide. Moreover, permafrost is thawing, and forests are burning.

These climate feedbacks indicate that we are losing our allies in nature that are essential to the climate fight.

In the words of Johan Rockström, director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, “Nature has so far balanced our abuse. This is coming to an end.”

And in a interview about the catastrophic fires in California, climate scientist Peter Kalmus warned:

“It’s not a new normal. A lot of climate messaging centers around this idea that it’s a new normal. It’s a staircase to a hotter, more hellish Earth.”

A recent report by the United Nations states that, without a greater commitment to reduce emissions, the Earth will warm by 3.1° C above pre-industrial levels by 2100. And the increase in global heating is expected to continue beyond the end of the century.

A World Bank report titled Turn Down the Heat, warns: “(A) global mean temperature increase of 4°C approaches the difference between temperatures today and those of the last ice age, when much of central Europe and the northern United States were covered with kilometers of ice and global mean temperatures were about 4.5°C to 7°C lower. And this magnitude of climate change—human induced—is occurring over a century, not millennia.”

This hotter climate is likely to have devastating consequences, such as the flooding of coastal cities, substantial reductions in crop yield, greatly increased water scarcity, major damage to seaports and the destruction of fisheries and coral reefs. Institutions that would normally support adaptation could collapse.

Not only does climate change threaten the foundation needed for human thriving, it disproportionately affects the world’s poorest nations and their most vulnerable citizens. A report by the United Nations Children’s Fund states: “The climate crisis is the defining human and child’s rights challenge of this generation, and is already having a devastating impact on the well-being of children globally.”

One billion children are deemed to be at “extremely high risk” from climate hazards like heat waves, drought and water scarcity. The majority live in less developed nations in Africa and South Asia that have contributed very little to this global problem. The ten countries where children are most at risk are responsible for only .5% of the world’s emissions.

According to the report, The Age of Consequences: The Foreign Policy and National Security Implications of Global Climate Change:

“The overwhelming message is that early steps to limit or mitigate climate change are essential, because longer-term efforts to adapt or anticipate may not be possible.”

Notably, the United States is the world’s greatest cumulative emitter, with historical emissions that are 71% more than second place China. Imagine if the Roman Empire had possessed the power to irreparably harm much of the life on earth, yet limited its concern for sustainability to just a few generations.

Furthermore, about half of the CO2 humans emit stays in the atmosphere for centuries or more. Consequently, the U.S. Fourth National Climate Assessment concludes:

“Climate change resulting from anthropogenic CO2 emissions and any associated risks to the environment, human health and society, are…essentially irreversible on human time scales.”

In his book, “A Perfect Moral Storm: The Ethical Tragedy of Climate Change,” Stephen M. Gardiner writes that, although climate change is usually discussed in scientific and economic terms, “the deepest challenge is ethical.” According to Gardiner: “What matters most is what we do to protect those vulnerable to our actions and unable to hold us accountable, especially the global poor, future generations and nonhuman nature.”

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions and funding adaptation is one of humanity’s greatest moral obligations. Even small changes in the trajectory of Earth’s warming could mean better lives for decades for many millions of people.

As the world’s most significant emitter and most powerful nation, America has a responsibility to embrace a leadership role in addressing the climate crisis.

Terry Hansen
Milwaukee, Wis.

Last year’s increase was due to an unusual amount of ocean warming, combined with meltwater from land-based ice such as glaciers.

Global sea level rose faster than expected in 2024, mostly because of ocean water expanding as it warms, or thermal expansion. According to a NASA-led analysis, last year’s rate of rise was 0.23 inches (0.59 centimeters) per year, compared to the expected rate of 0.17 inches (0.43 centimeters) per year.

“The rise we saw in 2024 was higher than we expected,” said Josh Willis, a sea level researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “Every year is a little bit different, but what’s clear is that the ocean continues to rise, and the rate of rise is getting faster and faster.”

In recent years, about two-thirds of sea level rise was from the addition of water from land into the ocean by melting ice sheets and glaciers. About a third came from thermal expansion of seawater. But in 2024, those contributions flipped, with two-thirds of sea level rise coming from thermal expansion.

“With 2024 as the warmest year on record, Earth’s expanding oceans are following suit, reaching their highest levels in three decades,” said Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, head of physical oceanography programs and the Integrated Earth System Observatory at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

Since the satellite record of ocean height began in 1993, the rate of annual sea level rise has more than doubled. In total, global sea level has gone up by 4 inches (10 centimeters) since 1993.

This long-term record is made possible by an uninterrupted series of ocean-observing satellites starting with TOPEX/Poseidon in 1992. The current ocean-observing satellite in that series, Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich, launched in 2020 and is one of an identical pair of spacecraft that will carry this sea level dataset into its fourth decade. Its twin, the upcoming Sentinel-6B satellite, will continue to measure sea surface height down to a few centimeters for about 90% of the world’s oceans.

Read more here

Breakthrough Energy, an umbrella organization funded by Bill Gates that works on a sprawling range of climate issues, announced deep cuts to its operations in an internal memo on Tuesday.

Dozens of staff members were cut, including Breakthrough Energy’s unit in Europe, its team in the United States working on public policy issues and most of its employees working on partnerships with other climate organizations, according to three people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly.

The change shows how Mr. Gates is retooling his empire for the Trump era. With Republicans controlling both houses of Congress and the White House, Mr. Gates calculated that the Breakthrough policy team in the United States was not likely to have a significant effect in Washington, said the people familiar with his thinking. The U.S. policy team was also one of the largest and most expensive parts of the organization.

“Bill Gates remains as committed as ever to advancing the clean energy innovations needed to address climate change,” a spokeswoman for Mr. Gates said in a statement when asked about the cuts.”

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LONDON -- British officials were concerned about possible environmental damage Tuesday and looking for answers a day after a cargo ship carrying a toxic chemical hit a tanker transporting jet fuel for the U.S. military off eastern England, setting both vessels ablaze.

Jet fuel from a ruptured tank poured into the North Sea after the Portugal-registered container ship Solong broadsided the U.S-flagged tanker MV Stena Immaculate on Monday. The collision sparked explosions and fires that burned for 24 hours. Footage filmed from a helicopter on Tuesday morning showed the fire appeared to be out on the tanker, which had a large gash on its port side.

British government minister Matthew Pennycook said it was a “fast-moving and dynamic situation.”

He said air quality readings were normal and the coast guards “are well-equipped to contain and disperse any oil spills,” with equipment including booms deployed from vessels to stop oil spreading, and aircraft that can spray dispersants on a spill.

The collision triggered a major rescue operation by lifeboats, coast guard aircraft and commercial vessels in the foggy North Sea.

All but one of the 37 crew members from the two vessels were brought ashore in the port of Grimsby, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) north of London, with one hospitalized. One crew member was missing, and the coast guards suspended the search late Monday.

U.K. Marine accident investigators have begun gathering evidence of what caused the Solong, bound from Grangemouth in Scotland to Rotterdam in the Netherlands, to hit the stationary tanker, which was anchored some 10 miles (16 kilometers) off the English coast.

The investigation will be led by the U.S. and Portugal, the countries where the vessels are flagged.

The 183 meter (596 foot) Stena Immaculate was operating as part of the U.S. government’s Tanker Security Program, a group of commercial vessels that can be contracted to carry fuel for the military when needed. Its operator, U.S.-based maritime management firm Crowley, said it was carrying 220,000 barrels of Jet-A1 fuel in 16 tanks, at least one of which was ruptured.

The company said it was unclear how much fuel had leaked into the sea.

The Solong’s cargo included sodium cyanide, which can produce harmful gas when combined with water, according to industry publication Lloyd’s List Intelligence. It was unclear if there had been a leak.

Greenpeace U.K. said it was too early to assess the extent of any environmental damage from the collision, which took place near busy fishing grounds and major seabird colonies.

Environmentalists said oil and chemicals posed a risk to sea life including whales and dolphins and to birds, including puffins, gannets and guillemots that live on coastal cliffs.

Tom Webb, senior lecturer in marine ecology and conservation at the University of Sheffield, said wildlife along that stretch of coast “is of immense biological, cultural and economic importance.”

“In addition to the wealth of marine life that is present all year round, this time of the year is crucial for many migratory species," he said.

Alex Lukyanov, who models oil spills at the University of Reading, said the environmental impact would depend on multiple factors, including “the size of the spill, weather conditions, sea currents, water waves, wind patterns and the type of oil involved.”

“This particular incident is troubling because it appears to involve persistent oil, which breaks up slowly in water,” he said. “The environmental toll could be severe.”

Read more here

Oliver Milman

Wed 12 Mar 2025 18.59 EDTFirst published on Wed 12 Mar 2025 16.21 EDT

Donald Trump’s administration is to reconsider the official finding that greenhouse gases are harmful to public health, a move that threatens to rip apart the foundation of the US’s climate laws, amid a stunning barrage of actions to weaken or repeal a host of pollution limits upon power plants, cars and waterways.

Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an extraordinary cavalcade of pollution rule rollbacks on Wednesday, led by the announcement it would potentially scrap a landmark 2009 finding by the US government that planet-heating gases, such carbon dioxide, pose a threat to human health.

The so-called endangerment finding, which followed a supreme court ruling that the EPA could regulate greenhouse gases, provides the underpinning for all rules aimed at cutting the pollution that scientists have unequivocally found is worsening the climate crisis.

Despite the enormous and growing body of evidence of devastation caused by rising emissions, including trillions of dollars in economic costs, Trump has called the climate crisis a “hoax” and dismissed those concerned by its worsening impacts as “climate lunatics”.

Lee Zeldin, the EPA administrator, said the agency would reconsider the endangerment finding due to concerns that it had spawned “an agenda that throttles our industries, our mobility, and our consumer choice while benefiting adversaries overseas”.

Zeldin wrote that Wednesday was the “most consequential day of deregulation in American history” and that “we are driving a dagger through the heart of climate-change religion and ushering in America’s Golden Age.”

Zeldin boasted about the changes and said his agency’s mission was to “lower the cost of buying a car, heating a home and running a business”.

Environmentalists reacted with horror to the announcement and vowed to defend the overwhelming findings of science and the US’s ability to address the climate crisis through the courts, which regularly struck down Trump’s rollbacks in his first term. “The Trump administration’s ignorance is trumped only by its malice toward the planet,” said Jason Rylander, legal director at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute.

“Come hell or high water, raging fires and deadly heatwaves, Trump and his cronies are bent on putting polluter profits ahead of people’s lives. This move won’t stand up in court. We’re going to fight it every step of the way.”

In all, the EPA issued 31 announcements within just a few hours that take aim at almost every major environmental rule designed to protect Americans’ clean air and water, as well as a livable climate.

The barrage included a move to overturn a Biden-era plan to slash pollution spewing from coal-fired power plants, which itself was a reduced version of an Obama administration initiative that was struck down by the supreme court.

The EPA will also revisit pollution standards for cars and trucks, which Zeldin said had imposed a “crushing regulatory regime” upon auto companies that are now shifting towards electric vehicles; considering weakening rules limiting sooty air pollution that is linked to an array of health problems; potentially axeing requirements that power plants not befoul waterways or dump their toxic waste; and considering further narrowing how it implements the Clean Water Act in general.

The stunning broadside of actions against pollution rules could, if upheld by the courts, reshape Americans’ environment in ways not seen since major legislation was passed in the 1970s to end an era of smoggy skies and burning rivers that became the norm following American industrialization.

Pollutants from power plants, highways and industry cause a range of heart, lung and other health problems, with greenhouse gases among this pollution driving up the global temperature and fueling catastrophic heatwaves, floods, storms and other impacts.

“Zeldin’s EPA is dragging America back to the days before the Clean Air Act, when people were dying from pollution,” said Dominique Browning, director of the Moms Clean Air Force. “This is unacceptable. And shameful. We will oppose with all our hearts to protect our children from this cruel, monstrous action.”

The EPA’s moves come shortly after its decision to shutter all its offices that deal with addressing the disproportionate burden of pollution faced by poor people and minorities in the US, amid a mass firing of agency staff. Zeldin has also instructed that $20bn in grants to help address the climate crisis be halted, citing potential fraud. Democrats have questioned whether these moves are legal.

Former EPA staff have reacted with shock to the upending of the agency.

“Today marks the most disastrous day in EPA history,” said Gina McCarthy, who was EPA administrator under Obama. “Rolling these rules back is not just a disgrace, it’s a threat to all of us. The agency has fully abdicated its mission to protect Americans’ health and wellbeing.”

The Trump administration has promised additional environmental rollbacks in the coming weeks. The Energy Dominance Council that the president established last month is looking to eliminate a vast array of regulations in an effort to boost the fossil fuel industry, the interior secretary, Doug Burgum, told the oil and gas conference CeraWeek in Houston on Wednesday. “We will come up with the ways that we can cut red tape,” he said. “We can easily get rid of 20-30% of our regulations.”

Read more here

GENEVA, Mar 11 – The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is calling for nominations of experts to act as Coordinating Lead Authors, Lead Authors, or Review Editors for the three key Working Group contributions to IPCC´s Seventh Assessment Report (AR7). This follows the Panel’s agreement on the outlines of the three Working Group contributions during its 62nd Session held in Hangzhou, China.

Hundreds of experts around the world in different scientific domains volunteer their time and expertise to produce the reports of the IPCC. Author teams reflect a range of scientific, technical and socio-economic expertise. Coordinating Lead Authors and Lead Authors are responsible for drafting the different chapters of the Working Group contributions to the AR7 and, with the help of the Review Editors, revising those based on comments submitted during the two rounds of reviews by experts and governments.

“Our priority for the Seventh Assessment Report is to attract the most talented individuals across the whole spectrum of scientific, technical and socio-economic research. We would like to see balanced author teams involving both established experts and younger scientists new to the IPCC. It is essential that we reflect fully the breadth and depth of knowledge on climate change and climate action” said IPCC Chair Jim Skea.

IPCC author teams include a mix of experts from different regions to ensure geographic balance. The IPCC also seeks a balance in gender, as well as between those experienced with working on IPCC reports and those new to the process, including younger scientists.

During the 60th Session of the IPCC in January 2024, the Panel agreed to continue to prepare a comprehensive assessment report and to maintain the current Working Group structure where Working Group I assesses the scientific aspects of the climate system and climate change; Working Group II looks at impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability to climate change, and Working Group III assesses the mitigation of climate change.

The outlines of the three Working Group contributions to the AR7 were developed after a comprehensive scientific scoping meeting in December 2024 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia before the Panel considered them and agreed upon them at the end of February.

Those interested in being nominated as a Coordinating Lead Author, a Lead Author or a Review Editor should contact their relevant Focal Point. A list of Focal Points for IPCC member governments and observer organizations is available here.

Nominations are submitted through a dedicated online nomination tool by Focal Points in governments and accredited observer organizations, as well as IPCC Bureau Members.

Governments, Observer Organisations, and IPCC Bureau Members have been requested to submit their nominations by Thursday 17 April 2025 (midnight CEST).

More information on the nomination process is here and how the IPCC selects its authors is available here.

For more information, contact:
IPCC Press Office, Email: ipcc-media@wmo.int;
Andrej Mahecic, +41 22 730 8516; Werani Zabula, +41 22 730 8120.

Lydia Amazouz
Published on March 11, 2025

The growing release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere could pose a serious threat to the future of space operations, especially in low Earth orbit (LEO). A recent study published in Nature explores the potential consequences of increased emissions on the capacity of LEO to support satellite operations. The study highlights the risks posed by space junk, climate change, and orbital debris accumulation, which, together, could disrupt one of humanity’s most valuable technological frontiers.

The research reveals that emissions have a direct effect on the thermosphere, a layer of Earth’s atmosphere located between altitudes of 85 to 600 kilometers. This region plays a critical role in satellite drag, which can either slow satellites down and cause them to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere or keep them in orbit. As emissions increase, the thermosphere shrinks, leading to reduced drag on satellites and increasing the longevity of space debris. This, in turn, exacerbates the issue of overcrowding in low Earth orbit, making it harder for new satellites to operate safely.

How Greenhouse Emissions Affect Satellite Operations

The new study shows that the effects of greenhouse gas emissions could drastically reduce the space available for satellite operations in low Earth orbit by the end of the century. The researchers modeled the situation under different emissions scenarios, and the results were alarming: By 2100, under moderate to high emissions scenarios, the capacity for satellites in altitudes ranging from 400 to 1,000 kilometers could be reduced by up to 82%. This scenario could limit the number of satellites that can operate in LEO, especially during solar minimum periods.

Greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide, influence the thermosphere’s density, which plays a key role in atmospheric drag. As the thermosphere becomes less dense due to the effects of greenhouse emissions, drag on satellites decreases, allowing them to remain in orbit much longer than they otherwise would. While this may seem beneficial for operational satellites, it poses significant problems for defunct ones.

Satellites are designed to gradually lose altitude due to drag, eventually re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, where they burn up. However, as drag decreases, this natural process takes longer, leaving defunct satellites lingering in orbit and contributing to the growing debris problem. This makes the environment in low Earth orbit more hazardous, complicating the operation of new satellites and increasing the risk of collisions. As the study’s lead author, William Parker from MIT, emphasizes:

“Climate change and orbital debris accumulation are two pressing issues of inextricable global concern requiring unified action.”

The Unpredictable Future of Low Earth Orbit

The study highlights the fragility of low Earth orbit and the risks posed by increased emissions. As more satellites are launched into orbit, the problem of overcrowding becomes more serious. Currently, about 11,901 satellites are operational in orbit, with an additional 20,000 pieces of space debris. While we are far from reaching the critical point where Kessler syndrome occurs, scientists warn that continued emissions could push us dangerously close to that threshold.

The expansion of satellite constellations, such as those deployed by companies like SpaceX, adds to the challenge of managing space debris and maintaining a safe environment in low Earth orbit. Even as technological advances improve our ability to track and monitor debris, the sheer volume of objects in orbit makes collision events increasingly likely. These collisions could result in more debris, creating an uncontrollable cycle of space junk accumulation that would threaten future space operations.

As Parker and his colleagues argue in the study:

“Understanding and respecting the influence that the natural environment has on our collective ability to operate in low Earth orbit is critical to preventing the exploitation of this regime and protecting it for future generations.”

Read more here

Press Trust of India New Delhi, UPDATED: Mar 11, 2025 15:05 IST

Climate impacts are unfolding faster than expected and scientists have been surprised by the speed of temperature rise, the chief of the United Nations' climate science panel has said.

In an interview with PTI on the sidelines of TERI's World Sustainable Development Summit, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Chair Jim Skea said the world is in a worse situation than three years ago due to inaction on climate change.

"If you look back over the last, say, five years or so, I think scientists have been surprised by the speed at which temperatures have risen globally and by the very obvious nature of climate impacts we have already seen... wildfires in some parts of the world, floods and more extreme events.

"So things do appear to be happening, perhaps more quickly than people expected," he told PTI.

The year 2024 was the hottest year on record and the first with a global average temperature of 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. According to the World Meteorological Organisation, the past decade (2015-2024) was the 10 warmest years on record.

Skea said scientists are now focusing on attribution science to determine how much human activity has influenced specific climate events, with growing evidence that many would not have occurred without greenhouse gas emissions.

He said the IPCC's target of a 43 per cent emission reduction by 2030 from 2019 levels is now outdated due to inaction, meaning the actual reduction needed is even higher.

"The 43 per cent figure is now about three years old and because we have not acted in the interim, it may have changed. If you were to recalculate it using new information but the same methods, the number would likely be different. So, we really are in a worse situation than we were three years ago when that number was produced," Skea said.

The IPCC's Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) Working Group III, published in 2022, said global greenhouse gas emissions must be reduced by 43 per cent by 2030 (compared to 2019 levels) to limit the average global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius since the start of the Industrial Revolution.

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By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart / Reuters
March 10, 2025

WASHINGTON >> The U.S. military is canceling more than 90 studies, including some that U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dismissed as climate change “crap.”

Military and intelligence officials have over the past decade identified potential security threats from climate change that include natural disasters in densely populated coastal areas and damage to American military bases worldwide.

“The (Department of Defense) does not do climate change crap,” Hegseth posted on X on Sunday. Hegseth took office in President Donald Trump’s new administration on January 25.

An official Pentagon account then reposted a screenshot of a story quoting Hegseth using the word and added: “Fact check true.”

The Pentagon said in a separate statement that it would be scrapping 91 social science-related studies on topics ranging from global migration patterns and climate change impact to social trends and would save $30 million in a year.

It listed as canceled studies including “Social and Institutional Determinants of Vulnerability and Resilience to Climate Hazards in the African Sahel” and “Food Fights: War Narratives and Identity Reproduction in Evolving Conflicts.”

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The Problem—Increasing Air Pollution in Cities in the mid-1900's

After World War II, economic growth, population growth, rapid suburbanization, and the closing of some public transit systems led to more reliance on personal vehicles for transportation. The number of cars and trucks in the United States increased dramatically, as did the number of highways. One result of the rapid increase of motor vehicles was air pollution, especially in cities, that had serious impacts on public health and the environment.

Historic Success of the Clean Air Act

Congress passed the landmark Clean Air Act in 1970 and gave the newly-formed EPA the legal authority to regulate pollution from cars and other forms of transportation. EPA and the State of California have led the national effort to reduce vehicle pollution by adopting increasingly stringent standards.

The U.S. vehicle pollution control under the Clean Air Act is a major success story by many measures:

• New passenger vehicles are 98-99% cleaner for most tailpipe pollutants compared to the 1960s.

• Fuels are much cleaner—lead has been eliminated, and sulfur levels are more than 90% lower than they were prior to regulation.

• U.S. cities have much improved air quality, despite ever increasing population and increasing vehicle miles traveled.

• Standards have sparked technology innovation from industry.

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By Yereth Rosen
June 9, 20208:15 PM PDT Updated 5 years ago

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) - The Trump administration on Tuesday overturned an Obama-era rule that barred hunters in Alaska national preserves from baiting bear traps or killing denning bear cubs and wolf pups or other practices that have been condemned by environmental and wildlife protection groups.

Under the new National Park Service rule, effective July 9, hunting on natural preserves in Alaska will be controlled by the state, which allows baiting of brown and black bears; hunting of denning black bears with artificial light, killing of denning wolves and coyotes, hunting of swimming caribou and hunting of caribou from motorboats.

The Obama administration had banned all those practices in National Parks.

The change stems from 2017 orders issued by then-Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to provide greater recreational access for hunting and fishing in Alaksa, National Park Service spokesman Peter Christian said, acknowledging that the rule-change was unpopular.

“I would say the vast majority of people did believe this was a controversial move and were almost entirely opposed to us lifting the ban,” he said.

"The Trump administration has shockingly reached a new low in its treatment of wildlife. Allowing the killing of bear cubs and wolf pups in their dens is barbaric and inhumane. The proposed regulations cast aside a primary purpose of national preserves to conserve wildlife and wild places," Jamie Rappaport Clark, president of Defenders of Wildlife, said in a written statement.

State officials said the Obama-era rule was wrongheaded.

“From our perspective, the Park Service was infringing on our territory,” said Eddie Grasser, director of wildlife management for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, adding that some of the hunting practices now allowed in national preserves are part of indigenous culture.

Those practices are used by only a small number of people in a few places, Grasser said.

Another pending Trump administration rule, expected to be released on Wednesday, would overturn similar restrictions in Kenai National Wildlife Refuge.

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March 2, 2025 at 4:40 pm Updated March 2, 2025 at 5:40 pm
By LISA FRIEDMAN The New York Times

President Donald Trump has promised to “drill, baby, drill.” Now, he also wants to log.

On Saturday, Trump directed federal agencies to examine ways to bypass endangered species protections and other environmental regulations to ramp up timber production across 280 million acres of national forests and other public lands.

The move appears aimed at increasing domestic supply as the president considers tariffs on timber imports from Canada, Germany, Brazil and elsewhere. Environmental groups say increased logging would decimate U.S. forests, pollute air and water and devastate wildlife habitats.

And because trees absorb and store carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, cutting them down releases it back into the atmosphere, adding to global warming.

“Trump’s order will unleash the chain saws and bulldozers on our federal forests,” said Randi Spivak, the public lands policy director for the Center for Biological Diversity, an environmental group. “Clearcutting these beautiful places will increase fire risk, drive species to extinction, pollute our rivers and streams, and destroy world-class recreation sites,” she said.

As part of his executive order, Trump directed the Commerce Department to investigate whether other countries were dumping lumber into U.S. markets. The inquiry could result in tariffs on Canada, the top supplier of lumber into the United States. In 2021, the United States imported 46% of its forest products from Canada and 13% from China, according to the U.S. International Trade Commission. But the country is also a timber exporter, sending nearly $10 billion worth of forest products to Canada.

A companion directive signed by Trump said that “onerous” federal policies have prevented the United States from developing a sufficient timber supply, increasing housing and construction costs and threatening national security.

Trump called for the convening of a committee of high-level officials nicknamed the God Squad because it can override the landmark Endangered Species Act so that development or other projects can proceed even if they might result in an extinction.

The committee has rarely been convened since it was created, in 1978, through an amendment to the endangered species law to allow for action during emergencies such as hurricanes and wildfires.

Trump also directed the agriculture and interior secretaries, as well as other officials, to look for ways to streamline regulations and reduce costs for timber production and forest management.

The Endangered Species Act requires thorough assessments to ensure that activities like logging do not harm protected wildlife and their habitats. Bypassing that process has historically been reserved for small projects like trail maintenance.

But developers and the construction industry have long complained that the system is burdensome and adds to their costs, a position supported by the Trump administration.

“Our disastrous timber and lumber policies — a legacy of the previous administration — trigger wildfires and degrade our fish and wildlife habitat,” Peter Navarro, the White House senior counselor for trade and manufacturing, told reporters Friday.

“They drive up construction and housing costs and impoverish America through large trade deficits that results from exporters like Canada, Germany and Brazil dumping lumber into our markets at the expense of both our economic prosperity and national security.”

Trump’s plan follows recommendations found in Project 2025, a conservative policy blueprint published by the Heritage Foundation.

It called for increasing timber production as a way to reduce wildfire risk.

Trump has repeatedly blamed forest maintenance for wildfires in California, including the recent blazes that destroyed large parts of the Los Angeles area.

But scientists say hotter temperatures driven by climate change, combined with drought, have played a role in making wildfires bigger and more destructive. They also say that thinning can reduce the cooling shade of the forest canopy and change a forest’s microclimate in ways that can increase wildfire intensity.

Last week, Trump nominated Tom Schultz, a former lumber industry executive, to lead the Forest Service. The agency oversees about 193 million acres of national forests and public lands.

Heidi Brock, the CEO of the American Forest and Paper Association, which represents the paper and packaging industries, said the organization is reviewing Trump’s orders. “We look forward to working with the administration to provide our industry’s perspective and data on behalf of the more than 925,000 American manufacturing jobs represented by the forest products value chain,” she said in a statement.

Read more here

As the Los Angeles fires quickly spread starting January 7, with wind gusts approaching 100 mph, scientists observed a 110-fold rise in airborne lead levels. This spike had receded by January 11.

he fires enabled the first real-time data on airborne lead, thanks to a pioneering air quality measurement network known as Atmospheric Science and Chemistry (ASCENT), a nationwide initiative funded by the National Science Foundation, operating in 12 sites across the US.

ASCENT measured tiny particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5)—small enough to enter the lungs and bloodstream.

Unlike typical wildfires that burn natural materials such as grass and trees, the Eaton Canyon and Palisades fires burned through infrastructures like homes, including painted surfaces, pipes, vehicles, plastics, and electronic equipment.

This raised concerns about the toxicity of these particles in the air, especially since many of the buildings were constructed before 1978, when lead paint was still commonly used.

Lead is a toxic air contaminant that poses significant health risks, particularly for children, who are more vulnerable to its neurodevelopmental effects.

While chronic lead exposure is well-documented, the effects of short-term spikes, like those recorded during these fires, are less understood.

“Our work through ASCENT has provided us with new insights into the air we breathe, with unprecedented levels of detail and time resolution,” says Sally Ng, a Georgia Tech professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and earth and atmospheric sciences and the network’s principal investigator.

“Beyond the mass concentration of PM2.5 that is typically measured, we are now able to detect a wide range of chemical components in the aerosols in real time, to better understand and evaluate to what extent one is exposed to harmful pollutants.”

Investigators used several instruments to obtain hourly measurements at the ASCENT monitoring site in Pico Rivera, approximately 14 miles south of the Eaton Canyon fire, to assess atmospheric lead during the wildfires.

“Our findings showcased the importance of having real-time measurements of the chemical species that comprise particulate matter,” says California Institute of Technology PhD candidate in atmospheric chemistry and ASPIRE researcher Haroula Baliaka.

“During the LA fires, we provided the public with timely information about what they were breathing and how air quality evolved in the days that followed.”

This research appears in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Source: Georgia Tech

By Maryn McKenna

Farmers in Georgia’s northeastern corner woke up on Jan. 15 to discover that birds in their flock of 45,000 chickens were ill and dying. Within 24 hours, the state’s veterinary laboratory confirmed the problem was bird flu.

Within two days, the Georgia Department of Agriculture sent an emergency team to kill all infected and exposed birds, disinfect the barns, set up a 10-kilometer quarantine zone around the farm and impose mandatory testing on every poultry operation inside it. The agency also told other chicken producers to confine all their birds indoors, and ordered an immediate stop to bringing birds out in public: no exhibitions, no flea market sales.

Georgia didn’t invent this fast response. There was a checklist to follow: the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s 224-page Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Response Plan, known as the Red Book. For 15 years, the Red Book has laid out how to detect bird flu, cull affected birds and prevent further spread. Crucially, the Red Book mandates that poultry farmers get compensation for birds that are killed by the authorities, but not for ones that have died, which encourages farmers to report outbreaks as fast as possible.

Unfortunately, bird flu is no longer confined to birds. For several years, the virus has been jumping from wild birds into wild mammals, and last March it was identified in cows for the first time. Scientists are sounding the alarm: Bird flu’s jump into an animal with which humans have such close contact is a serious warning sign. If this outbreak isn’t controlled, the virus could mutate and plunge humans into a new public health emergency.

And by all accounts, not enough is being done to control the outbreak. Unlike their peers in the poultry business, dairy farmers have no Red Book for dealing with bird flu. They have been pressured to take instruction from public health authorities, but without the support they need to make those steps bearable for their livelihood. As a result, these farmers have been hesitant to act, despite being maligned for moving too slowly. Unless something changes, the specter of bird flu’s devastation will hang over the United States indefinitely — as will the threat of other emerging diseases.

Scientists have long considered bird flu, or H5N1, a leading candidate for causing a human pandemic. Since 2003 the virus has infected at least 954 people around the world and killed at least 464 — an almost 50 percent mortality rate — mostly in people in proximity to infected birds. These have been largely one-off infections, including the first U.S. death from bird flu in January (a person over 65 with underlying health conditions). But scientists fear that bird flu could adapt to pass from one person to another, resulting in a fast-moving lethal epidemic that would resemble the world-spanning 1918 flu.

That’s to say nothing of the devastation to animals. In the wild world, avian flu has infected and killed members of at least 48 mammal species including sea lions and foxes, and has devastated wild bird populations. The current outbreak in poultry, which began in the United States in 2022, has affected more than 162 million commercial, backyard and wild birds — including roughly 10 percent of all laying chickens in the last three months. This has sent egg prices soaring. (Just ask Waffle House customers.)

Bird flu is far less dangerous to cattle, which may explain the initial muted response. According to Jamie Jonker, the chief scientific officer of the National Milk Producers Federation, bird flu infections seem to sicken 10 percent to 15 percent of cows on a farm, but kill only about 1 percent to 2 percent. Symptoms mostly resemble bad colds, though sick cows may stop producing milk. Most cows recover in four to six weeks after the infection is cleared, though some never return to productivity.

But while bird flu may be relatively mild in cows, it poses a potentially greater risk to humans. That’s because unlike birds, mammals like cows have respiratory systems more similar to humans, which could encourage mutations that make spread easier.

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That makes the arrival of bird flu on a dairy farm a slow-motion disaster. The incentives for farmers to cooperate remain dismal. Research by experts at Cornell University suggests bird flu can cost farmers up to $1,000 per cow; according to the American Association of Bovine Practitioners, this could cost a farmer operating a 5,000-cow dairy farm as much as $1 million over just a few weeks. The U.S.D.A. created a program last year to compensate farmers for losses from diminished milk production caused by bird flu. But unlike for poultry, the program doesn’t pay for dead or unproductive cattle.

“It’s a huge economic impact,” said Fred Gingrich, the association’s executive director. “The funding that’s available for this disease outbreak to dairy farmers probably covers anywhere from 10 to 20 percent of their actual losses.”

There’s a sense among dairy farmers that the country’s bird flu plans were built on poultry industry structures that don’t bear much resemblance to their own operations. Broiler chickens are deposited in a barn in the first days after they hatch, and stay in that building until they are collected for slaughter, as a batch, six to seven weeks later. Poultry losses from bird flu are covered either by the U.S.D.A. indemnity or by the corporations that supply birds to farmers to grow them under contract.

Dairy cattle, by contrast, don’t arrive and leave in herd-size batches; they move on and off farms as calves that need raising, newly pregnant heifers or cows nearing the end of their fertility. The annual turnover rate in a single herd may be 30 percent at most.

The dairy industry also includes more than 24,000 sole proprietors. For the vast majority, there are no overarching companies to cushion individual farms’ losses. The costs are being largely borne by the actual farmer, said Keith Poulsen, a professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine. He added that farmers fear finding the virus in their herds will make them unable to market their milk. (Experts caution they haven’t seen this bear out. It’s confirmed pasteurization kills any flu virus in milk.)

Fear that their herds would face the same 100 percent cull as infected poultry flocks — but without equivalent compensation — may have slowed cooperation with public health plans. Restrictions on interstate cattle movement were rolled out in April 2024, and testing of milk supplies began in December. But not all states have yet joined the U.S.D.A. testing plan.

Pressure to pick up the pace is growing. Cases are spilling over into humans: 41 of the 69 bird flu cases tallied in the country so far were linked to dairy farms. But there’s also a fear that the simmering cattle outbreak could set off a more catastrophic poultry epidemic. Michelle Kromm, a veterinary consultant who is a chair of the American Association of Avian Pathologists’ H5 influenza task force, said the poultry industry has learned how to guard against wild bird incursions. But cattle outbreaks pose new risks to nearby poultry operations: Perhaps the virus spreads through routes such as shared farm workers or equipment, or on the wind. Thus it is possible that, if not controlled, such transfers could cripple egg and chicken supplies, hurt milk production and drive dangerous mutations.

What’s becoming increasingly clear is that human health and animal health need a reconciliation. Public health responders need to adopt a more granular understanding of the vulnerabilities of all types of farmers. Agriculture needs to recognize that its cherished flocks and herds can serve as the source of devastating diseases.

The goal should be to develop response plans that can be modified for a range of pathogens, rather than responding to one disease in one species at a time. This means building better surveillance programs for emerging diseases, making big investments in rapid diagnostics and funding the research that could forecast where disease threats might surface next.

Unfortunately, such policies seem unlikely, given that the Trump administration has signaled its intent to soften its focus on infectious disease. The recent announcement by the U.S.D.A. that a second form of bird flu has surfaced in cattle underscores how diseases are already behaving in ways we can scarcely anticipate — and why repairing the relationship between public health and agriculture is so critical.

The lack of proactive measures and research thus far has left farmers in a terribly vulnerable state, Dr. Poulsen said. To effectively combat bird flu, he said, “they have to be made comfortable to raise their hands and be part of the solution.”

Read more here.

Feb 20, 2025

As the Los Angeles fires quickly spread starting Jan. 7, with wind gusts approaching 100 mph, scientists observed a 110-fold rise in airborne lead levels. This spike had receded by Jan. 11.  

The fires enabled the first real-time data on airborne lead, thanks to a pioneering air quality measurement network known as Atmospheric Science and Chemistry (ASCENT), a nationwide initiative funded by the National Science Foundation, operating in 12 sites across the U.S.  

ASCENT measured tiny particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5) — small enough to enter the lungs and bloodstream. Unlike typical wildfires that burn natural materials such as grass and trees, the Eaton Canyon and Palisades fires burned through infrastructures like homes, including painted surfaces, pipes, vehicles, plastics, and electronic equipment. This raised concerns about the toxicity of these particles in the air, especially since many of the buildings were constructed before 1978, when lead paint was still commonly used.  

Lead is a toxic air contaminant that poses significant health risks, particularly for children, who are more vulnerable to its neurodevelopmental effects. While chronic lead exposure is well-documented, the effects of short-term spikes, like those recorded during these fires, are less understood. 

“Our work through ASCENT,” said Sally Ng, Georgia Tech’s Love Family Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and the network’s principal investigator, “has provided us with new insights into the air we breathe, with unprecedented levels of detail and time resolution. Beyond the mass concentration of PM2.5 that is typically measured, we are now able to detect a wide range of chemical components in the aerosols in real time, to better understand and evaluate to what extent one is exposed to harmful pollutants.” 

Investigators used several instruments to obtain hourly measurements at the ASCENT monitoring site in Pico Rivera, approximately 14 miles south of the Eaton Canyon fire, to assess atmospheric lead during the wildfires.  

“Our findings showcased the importance of having real-time measurements of the chemical species that comprise particulate matter,” said California Institute of Technology Ph.D. candidate in atmospheric chemistry and ASPIRE researcher Haroula Baliaka. “During the LA fires, we provided the public with timely information about what they were breathing and how air quality evolved in the days that followed.”   

Read more here.

In New England, road salting is a necessity to keep people safe during snow or cold weather as they drive to work or take their kids to school. The amount of salt used for deicing roads and highways has increased over the years along with the year-round transportation of goods and services. The many benefits that road salting provides, however are matched by some opportunities for improvement. Road salt can contaminate drinking water, kill or endanger wildlife, increase soil erosion, and damage private and public property. Alternative methods are needed to mitigate these drawbacks.

The most common substance used for deicing roads and highways is Sodium Chloride (NaCl) or table salt known as rock salt when spread on the road because of its much larger granules. Nearly half a million tons is used annually in Massachusetts alone for winter road maintenance. Rock salt is very effective at melting snow and ice and is considered to be pretty cheap. But rock salt's low cost does not include the potential damage to property, infrastructure, or the environment. Though seemingly harmless to us, rock salt can have corrosive effects in large quantities that affects cars, trucks, bridges, and roads resulting in approximately $5 billion dollars in annual repairs in the U.S. alone. In addition, road salt can also infiltrate nearby surface and ground waters and can contaminate drinking water reservoirs and wells. High sodium levels in drinking water affect people with high blood pressure, and high chloride levels in surface waters are toxic to some fish, bugs, and amphibians. Furthermore, excess road salt accumulates on roadside areas killing roadside plants and harming wildlife that eat the salt crystals. Salty roads also attract animals like deer and moose (who love licking up the salt), increasing the probability of accidents and roadkill.

The environmental toll and long-term costs of rock salt have inspired some states to search for alternative management practices. Magnesium chloride (MgCl2)is considered to be safer than NaCl but requires twice the amount to cover the same area, making it more expensive. Calcium chloride (CaCl2) is safer for the environment but is three times more expensive than NaCL and so is typically reserved for use in vulnerable areas. Innovative solutions that limit the amount of rock salt needed are also being explored.

New technologies, such as porous pavement, are being engineered to reduce runoff from roads and have been found reduce snow and ice cover. Porous or permeable pavement allows standing water to seep through, removing water from roads that would normally go through freeze-thaw periods, thus preventing ice formation on the roads. A recent study showed that the annual median snow/ice cover on porous pavement was three times lower than that of regular pavement, and that the low amounts of ice/snow accumulating on porous pavement led to a 77% reduction in annual salt used for maintenance. Another technology gaining traction is solar roads, made up of engineered solar panels that can be walked and driven upon. This technology has the potential of converting every single road into a source of renewable energy. In addition to the added energy source, this technology could also eliminate the need for road salt by melting ice or snow through heating water in pipes embedded in the road.

Rhode Island has adopted several measures to reduce the amount of salt needed. Since 2012, the State has been applying a brine solution (23.3% salt-water solution) to the roads before a forecasted snow event. Known as anti-icing, this practice prevents the formation of frost on pavement, and its implementation has been increasing across New England. Another alternative is the use a 50/50 salt and sand mixture. The sand doesn't help to melt the snow or ice but increases traction, reducing the amount of road salt required. After the snow or ice melts, however, the remaining sand mixture gets washed away, filling catch basins or adjacent waterbodies with sediment, which then requires additional work hours and money to maintain and keep the basins clear. Currently, only a small fraction (5%) of the sand dispersed in Rhode Island is removed; the rest gets washed away into adjacent water bodies: clouding the water and making it difficult for aquatic plants to photosynthesize. Other alternatives include adding biodegradable substances like beet juice, pickle juice, and molasses to the salt solution to enhance performance. These salt additives lower the freezing point of water, slowing down the formation of ice; they also aid in traction, and make the solution stickier so less salt gets splashed off the roads and wasted.

The disadvantages of many current treatments have led to interest in new management approaches. New Hampshire has been successful in reducing road salt use through improved management practices and policy. In 2013 the State launched, the "New Hampshire Road Salt Reduction Initiative" to address the high number of waters impaired by chloride (19 water bodies in 2008, and 43 in 2012). In addition to the testing and use of many of the alternatives described in this article, the initiative recommends using other management practices and policies to reduce the use of road salt. These include upgrading equipment so that salt is spread using only "closed loop systems" which allow operators to accurately release and monitor the exact amount of salt applied, lowering speed limits during snow/ice events, and having mandatory use of snow tires during winter. Thanks to these initiatives the State has reduced the use of road salt by 20 percent and is on track to stop the rise of impaired waters due to high chloride levels.

While no perfect solution exists to keep our roads clear in winter, the number of tools available to public works departments continues to increase, allowing for a tailored approach to clear roads in an environmentally conscious manner without risking driver safety.

For more information, please reference the EPA web page on Salt in the Environment.

Read the full article by Hiroko Tabuchi (The New York Times)

"Johnson County is seeking federal assistance, saying its farmland has become dangerously contaminated with “forever chemicals” from the use of fertilizer made from sewage sludge.

A Texas county is taking steps to declare a state of emergency and seek federal assistance over farmland contaminated with harmful “forever chemicals,” as concerns grow over the safety of fertilizer made from sewage.

Johnson County, south of Fort Worth, has been roiled since county investigators found high levels of chemicals called PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, at two cattle ranches in the county in 2023."

By NADJA POPOVICH, LIVIA ALBECK-RIPKA and KENDRA PIERRE-LOUIS UPDATED Jan. 20, 2021

Over four years, the Trump administration dismantled major climate policies and rolled back many more rules governing clean air, water, wildlife and toxic chemicals.

In all, a New York Times analysis, based on research from Harvard Law School, Columbia Law School and other sources, counts nearly 100 environmental rules officially reversed, revoked or otherwise rolled back under Mr. Trump. More than a dozen other potential rollbacks remained in progress by the end but were not finalized by the end of the administration’s term.

“This is a very aggressive attempt to rewrite our laws and reinterpret the meaning of environmental protections,” said Hana V. Vizcarra, a staff attorney at Harvard’s Environmental and Energy Law Program who has tracked the policy changes since 2018. “This administration is leaving a truly unprecedented legacy.”

Read more here.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has put more than 160 workers who tackle pollution in overburdened communities on leave.

The employees were part of the agency’s Office of Environmental Justice, which sought to help people in areas with significant levels of pollution — including minority neighborhoods. 

EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou confirmed 168 staff members in the office were placed on leave since “their function did not relate to the agency’s statutory duties or grant work.”

Vaseliou also cited President Trump’s executive order that directs all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff to be put on leave and said the EPA is “in the process of evaluating new structure and organization to ensure we are meeting our mission of protecting human health and the environment for all Americans.”

In addition to the suspensions, a tool known as EJScreen, which showed how pollution data intersected with demographic and income data, was offline as of Friday.

Studies, including those conducted by the EPA in the past, have found that Black Americans in particular face high levels of pollution, and the disparities they face are even more pronounced than disparities faced by the poor. 

Read more here

Feb. 8, 2025, 3:00 AM PST / Updated Feb. 8, 2025, 5:01 PM PST

By Evan Bush

In the brief week and a half Lee Zeldin has helmed the Environmental Protection Agency, a flurry of personnel moves have dramatically shaken up the agency — like many others — and rattled some staff members.

On the day of Zeldin’s confirmation last week, the EPA notified about 1,100 “probationary” employees who had been at the agency for less than a year that they could be terminated at any time.

Then on Thursday, the agency put 168 staffers on administrative leave; those affected worked on environmental justice issues across the EPA’s 10 regional offices and at its headquarters.

The agency this week also took down an online mapping tool called EJScreen, which had been used by federal, state and local governments to help policymakers make decisions in support of environmental justice. The term refers to the idea that people should have equitable access to clean and healthy environments and that some underserved communities have historically faced disproportionate environmental harms. A state highway agency, for example, could use EJScreen to review demographic information as it planned a roadway construction project.

Zeldin assumed his post a day after federal workers received “Fork in the Road” emails offering them buyouts to resign. Their deadline to accept the offer was Thursday night, but a federal judge put initiative on hold that day, following a legal challenge from labor unions. The program is blocked until at least Monday.

In an address to staffers viewed by more than 10,000 of them on Tuesday, Zeldin said he had a mandate to streamline the EPA and reduce waste within it.

“We have a charge from Congress to be as efficient as we possibly can with the tax dollars that are sent to us,” Zeldin said, adding that Americans were feeling “a lot of economic pain.”

His initial actions, and the shock they have given staffers, suggest that Zeldin and the Trump administration are wasting no time in dramatically remaking the EPA and redefining its purpose, abandoning an approach in which environmental harms are seen through a lens of race or socioeconomic disadvantage.

Molly Vaseliou, an Environmental Protection Agency spokesperson, said the EPA is focused on complying with President Donald Trump’s executive orders, including the order titled “Ending Radical And Wasteful Government DEI Programs.”

“The EPA is diligently implementing President Trump’s executive orders as well as subsequent associated implementation memos. President Trump was elected with a mandate from the American people to do just this,” Vaseliou said.

Several EPA staffers said a sense of fear and foreboding has quickly pervaded the agency.

“The past two weeks have been pretty horrendous,” said Marie Owens Powell, president of the American Federation of Government Employees Council 238, a union that represents about 8,500 EPA staffers. “Every day, it’s been something. It has been exhausting.”

Powell, who has worked as a storage tank inspector at the EPA, added that there had been other recent surprises, like when staffers’ preferred pronouns were removed from their email signatures without notice.

Another EPA worker, who asked that their name not be published out of fear of retribution, described the feeling as being “in limbo” or “purgatory.” 

“We’re afraid to do work that could be viewed as being out of compliance with executive orders or at all in opposition to Trump’s agenda. We want to speak up and push back, but the fear in that is palpable,” the staffer said. “We are all just waiting to see who is next.”

Vaseliou said Zeldin spent his first weeks meeting career EPA staff and visiting several disaster sites, including East Palestine, Ohio, where a train carrying chemicals derailed in February 2023 and released toxic smoke. He also went to Los Angeles, where wildfires that broke out last month torched thousands of homes, and to western North Carolina, where Hurricane Helene killed dozens.

In a news release on Tuesday, Zeldin laid out five priorities for the EPA under his leadership, including efforts to “pursue energy independence,” develop “the cleanest energy on the planet” and ensure clean air and water. Some parts of his agenda, however, diverge from the EPA’s core mission — at least as it has operated under past administrations. Those include advancing artificial intelligence, reforming permitting and bringing back automotive jobs.

Jeremy Symons, senior adviser at the Environmental Protection Network, a group of former EPA staffers, said he was concerned about the direction the agency may head, based on Zeldin’s statements.

“It’s hard to see yourself in that agenda if you’re worried about toxic pollution in your community,” said Symons, who worked at the EPA from 1994 to 2001. “It’s an alarming retreat from EPA’s mission of protecting public health and the environment, in service of a political agenda.”

Democrats in Congress appear to be gearing up for fights over the EPA’s future. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., attempted to enter the agency headquarters on Thursday, asking for a meeting with representatives of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, who he said he believed were working at the agency.

“We just went in and asked for a meeting with the DOGE representatives, and we were denied and we were turned away,” Markey said at a news conference outside the building, where he railed against the new administration.

Vaseliou said Markey had not taken the proper steps needed to enter the headquarters and described the event as a “publicity stunt.”

A spokeswoman for Markey said Thursday that the senator had not received confirmation about whether DOGE representatives were at the EPA. However, the name of a worker whom NBC News has identified as a member of DOGE, Cole Killian, was listed in the EPA’s directory, according to multiple sources.

An email to Killian’s EPA email requesting an interview was not immediately returned. Vaseliou did not answer questions about Killian or whether he was connected to DOGE.

When asked about Markey’s concerns on Thursday, Harrison Fields, a White House deputy press secretary, said Democrats were “gaslighting” about DOGE’s mission.

“Slashing waste, fraud, and abuse, and becoming better stewards of the American taxpayer’s hard-earned dollars might be a crime to Democrats, but it’s not a crime in a court of law,” Fields said.

CLARIFICATION (Feb. 8, 2025, 8 p.m. ET): The headline on this article has been updated to clarify that the staffers have been placed on administrative leave, not laid off. Read more here

Several lawsuits against the Trump administration are coming down the pipeline.

By Julia Jacobo

February 8, 2025, 6:48 AM

Environmental nonprofits are gearing up to challenge some of the actions President Donald Trump has issued since taking office.

There is litigation coming for the majority of the executive orders Trump has signed so far that affect the environment, conservation and decarbonizing the economy, several nonprofits told ABC News.

Environmental lawyers are also on standby for any directives issued in the future that could violate existing environmental laws, according to several sources familiar with the lawsuits already being prepared against the Trump administration.

The White House did not immediately respond to ABC News' request for comment.

How environmental groups are responding to Trump's executive orders

Trump began his second term as president by signing a slew of executive actions, including an order that attempts to revoke action taken by President Joe Biden in the last weeks of his term to ban all future offshore oil and natural gas drilling on America's East and West coasts, the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and Alaska's North Bering Sea.

While Trump immediately vowed to reverse the ban when it was signed on Jan. 6, that could prove difficult. The law Biden invoked, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, was written so a presidential action under its authority is permanent -- providing legal precedent to ensure it stands, several environmental lawyers told ABC News, describing Trump's move as illegal.

"We'll see them in court at some point," said Brett Hartl, government affairs director at the Center for Biological Diversity. "I think we will prevail on this."

Trump's vow to revoke the ban is an attempt to fulfill his campaign promise to increase fossil fuel production, Sam Sankar, senior vice president at Earthjustice, the nation's largest public interest environmental law firm, told ABC News.

In doing so, he is ignoring a large swath of U.S. coastline communities who would prefer for drilling to decrease, said Joanne Spalding, director of the environmental law program at the Sierra Club.

"People in Florida don't want drilling. People in California don't want drilling," Spalding told ABC News. "There's lots of places where people are not interested in having that activity on their coastlines."

Existing environmental laws could also serve as roadblocks as Trump aims to increase the amount of federal land that will be subject to drilling, the experts said.

Separately, groups criticized Trump's planned 10-to-1 deregulatory freeze, which would require the federal government to repeal 10 existing rules, regulations or guidance documents in order to adopt a new one, as "completely arbitrary," Spalding said.

That order is "almost verbatim" to a two-for-one deregulatory freeze issued in 2017 that "never amounted to anything," Hartl said.

"A lot of what we've seen, even in the first two weeks, have been almost just copy-and-paste activities from executive orders that we saw in the first Trump administration," he said.

What worries conservation nonprofits the most

The potential dismantling of several federal agencies that conduct important work for conservation is a concern for environmental groups.

The Office of Management and Budget Office's move to suspend federal financial aid programs could be a warning sign for federal agencies that conduct environmental work that does not align with Trump's agenda, Hartl said.

"Right now, the biggest threat to the environment is Trump's across-the-board attempt to simply dismantle the federal government," he said.

In addition, the presence of the newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and DOGE head Elon Musk's buyout offer to millions of federal employees could severely disrupt the conservation work of several agencies, he added.

"If you don't have people working at the EPA, it's pretty hard to keep the air clean, the water clean," Hartl said. "If you don't have folks working at the National Park Service, how are you going to run your national parks? How are you going to protect endangered wildlife?"

In addition, the potential defunding of the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Act -- both by enacted by Biden -- poses serious setbacks for decarbonizing the country's economy and moving toward a net-zero economy by 2050, environmental advocates said. Both are "the most important pieces of legislation ever in addressing global climate change," Spalding said.

As part of his executive actions, Trump temporarily suspended the disbursement of funds from the IRA. Sankar said that has worried NGOs because the money is intended to advance the development of a clean energy economy as well as improve public health and support communities that bore the brunt of the impact of the fossil fuel economy.

"We are looking at and developing lawsuits aimed at ensuring that the money flows to the intended recipients," he said.

Several lawsuits challenging the authority of DOGE are also being prepared, according to the groups.

By Kevin Bogardus | 02/07/2025 01:55 PM EST

EPA’s national office to aid long forgotten neighborhoods saddled with pollution, created with much fanfare during the previous administration, is in trouble.

The bulk of its staff have been placed on administrative leave. Its foundational executive order has been rescinded. And front-facing media for the program, including its online tool spotlighting environmental dangers in disadvantaged communities, have been ripped off the Internet.

Supporters of EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights now expect it to fade away under the Trump administration to a shell of its former self, at best.

Read more here.

By Lisandra Paraguassu and Valerie Volcovici

February 7, 2025 9:30 AM PST

BRASILIA/WASHINGTON, Feb 6 (Reuters) - Countries are staying committed to their national climate plans and looking to lead the clean energy transition, as the United States plans to exit the Paris climate agreement, the UN's top climate official said in his first speech of the year on Thursday.

Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, laid out priorities ahead of annual climate talks in November, and encouraged countries to prepare stronger national climate plans this year, even after U.S. President Donald Trump said he will remove the world's second-biggest greenhouse gas emitter from the Paris agreement.

"A country may step back, but others are already stepping into their place to seize the opportunity, and to reap the massive rewards: stronger economic growth, more jobs, less pollution and far lower health costs, more secure and affordable energy," Stiell said in a speech in Brazil's capital Brasilia, alongside COP30 President Ambassador André Corrêa do Lago.

Asked about which countries are stepping up, Stiell says they will know at the end of the year, as the countries deliver a new round of NDCs.

"The call is for greater ambition, for these plans to be economy wide. These will be the most comprehensive climate plans ever developed, the third generation of NDCs. We'll be able to give better commentary as we synthesize that toward the end of the year", said the UN climate chief.

"But in terms of actions being taken, just looking at what is happening within the markets, region by region, country by country, it's very clear, as I said, those that are pushing forward, regardless of whatever rhetoric there is about those who wish to step back", he argued, citing, for example, what China, Brazil and India are doing on reducing emissions.

Stiell said in the 10 years since the Paris Agreement was adopted, the world has become more divided but the climate negotiation process has "managed to buck the trend."

Some governments have faced political backlash to climate policies. Green candidates in Europe are losing support and the U.S. elected Trump, who campaigned against the Biden administration's climate-centered agenda.

Even so, Stiell said the world has mobilized around $2 trillion in climate finance, money to support poorer countries' efforts to reduce emissions and adapt to climate impacts, from "nearly nothing" over the last decade. He called on countries to increase the amount of climate finance they agreed to target at last year's climate summit of $300 billion annually by 2035.

Stiell said the Paris Agreement provides all the mechanisms to drive countries to reduce emissions, but recognizes it "lacks enforceability".

"And at the end of the day, it is for countries to nationally enforce and manage. And what we're seeing there is that gap between what needs to be done and what is being done", he said.

Stiell said also that he expects the vast majority of countries to submit new national climate plans under the Paris agreement this year. The UNFCCC has a February 10 deadline for submissions of those plans but many countries said they would submit them later in the year.

Feb. 6, 2025, 8:12 AM PST; Updated: Feb. 6, 2025, 2:38 PM PST

Stephen Lee

The EPA on Thursday put 168 employees within its environmental justice office on administrative leave as the Trump administration executes presidential actions to roll back diversity initiatives.

The affected staffers’ functions “did not relate to the agency’s statutory duties or grant work,” an Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman said.

The agency “is in the process of evaluating new structure and organization to ensure we are meeting our mission of protecting human health and the environment for all Americans,” the spokeswoman said.

The move to dismantle the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights is consistent with an executive order President Donald Trump signed on his first day, directing the government to terminate diversity and environmental justice offices and positions.

Under former President Joe Biden, the OEJECR was a bustling department that housed a conflict prevention and resolution center, an office of resource management, a community support branch, an office of policy and program development, and a section dedicated to external civil rights compliance.

Biden’s environmental justice effort sought to prioritize considerations of disadvantaged communities that long suffered from pollution.

That level of activity reflected Biden’s emphasis throughout the federal government. He signed an executive order early in his presidency that steered record levels of funding toward disadvantaged communities and set a goal for 40% of the benefits of federal investments to go toward environmental justice neighborhoods.

The Biden White House also created several government-wide working groups staffed with veteran environmental justice experts from across the country who vigorously enforced environmental laws in communities.

Similarly, the Department of Justice is rolling back Biden-era environmental justice enforcement policies, according to a Wednesday memo reviewed by Bloomberg Law.

The memo gives US Attorneys’ offices until Friday to rescind any memoranda, guidance, and other directives connected to a 2022 letter on environmental justice by then-Attorney General Merrick Garland. The Garland memo laid the groundwork for a comprehensive environmental justice strategy and established DOJ’s first-ever environmental justice section.

“Going forward, the Department will evenhandedly enforce all federal civil and criminal laws, including environmental laws,” said the memo from Attorney General Pam Bondi.

With the EPA’s EJ office now essentially closed, advocates will likely pivot to efforts at the local and state levels. Many states, like New York, California, and Washington, still have programs that focus on those communities, make grants, and convene working groups.

Advocacy groups and individual activists are also highly organized, having spent decades painstakingly building alliances because the federal government was offering little or no help.

“Protecting our air and water and holding deadly polluters accountable helps American families,” Sierra Club Executive Director Ben Jealous said in a statement Thursday. “By shuttering these offices, Donald Trump has decided that we do not deserve clean air or water, and our right to a livable and safe planet comes second to further enriching his fossil fuel friends and donors. Trump has been on the job for less than a month, but every single day he is making our communities less safe.”

“The Trump administration’s chaotic attack on EPA and the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights will expose Americans across the country to more deadly pollution,” Jen Duggan, Executive Director of the Environmental Integrity Project, said in a statement Thursday.

The Sierra Club has received funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the charitable organization founded by Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg Law is operated by entities controlled by Michael Bloomberg.

February 6, 2025 11:32 PM ET

By  Alejandra Borunda, Nate Perez

Nearly 170 employees at the Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights (OEJECR) were placed on paid administrative leave on Thursday, according to agency officials speaking on the condition of anonymity because they fear retribution.

Many of the employees put on leave worked part-time or primarily on environmental justice efforts designed to reduce environmental harms to poor and minority communities that have, historically and at present, faced disproportionate harm from environmental and climate pollution.

President Trump has expressed interest in getting rid of the office altogether, along with other programs and offices across the federal government that deal with environmental justice. He signed executive orders on his first day in office to set that process in motion.

Affected employees were informed of the decision during a meeting Thursday afternoon, after which they received an email alerting them they were on administrative leave, effective immediately. Dozens of staff based at EPA headquarters were affected, along with those from EPA's 10 regional offices around the country. NPR viewed the email and confirmed the reports with several sources within the office.

The number of staff put on leave is significant, relevant to the office's size, and "leaves the environmental justice program at EPA on life support," says Matthew Tejada, formerly deputy assistant administrator for OEJECR during the Biden administration. He is currently a senior environmental health specialist at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

EPA spokesperson Molly Vaseliou said in an emailed statement that those put on leave had jobs whose "function did not relate to the agency's statutory duties or grant work."

"[the] EPA is in the process of evaluating new structure and organization to ensure we are meeting our mission of protecting human health and the environment for all Americans," Vaseliou said.

Sacoby Wilson, an environmental justice expert at the University of Maryland, says despite the furlough, the Trump administration can't erase the impact of the office of environmental justice.

" What's at stake here is public health," Wilson says. "What's at stake here is the future of our children to live in healthy environments. What's at stake here is our democracy, the rule of law, the American dream."

Environmental justice's growing EPA footprint–slashed

For many years, environmental justice work at EPA had been housed in the small Office of Environmental Justice, staffed by a few dozen people. That office, under a different name, was established in 1992 by Republican president George H. W. Bush.

Environmental justice efforts gained federal support in subsequent years. President Bill Clinton issued a 1994 executive order requiring federal agencies to consider environmental justice in decision-making; efforts continued during the Obama administration. Then, the Biden administration made environmental justice an even more explicit focus. It initiated the Justice40 initiative, intended to direct 40% of federal climate and environmental benefits toward communities that had historically been subjected to the worst pollution.

In 2022, EPA merged the Office of Environmental Justice with two others to create OEJECR. By 2024, it had increased staff both at EPA headquarters and in EPA's 10 regional offices across the country to more than 200.

" It was small but super mighty," says Sacoby Wilson, an environmental justice expert at the University of Maryland. "People were super committed, and they were committed because they were part of a movement. It was something bigger than themselves."

The office now oversees and administers over $3 billion in grants and loans related to climate and environmental justice, largely funded through the country's first major climate policy, the Inflation Reduction Act. Funded projects addressed a wide range of environmental and climate risks.

"Communities were asking for money to take their churches, their schools, their libraries, and turn them into centers where communities could shelter and receive medical care and have access to communications and have access to battery-stored electricity" during disasters, Tejada says. "Tribes were asking for solar arrays to both power their rural communities and give them some resilience and some relief from energy prices."

The office approved and signed contracts for hundreds of community-led projects like those, adding up to over 80% of the funds directed toward the office's programs, according to Zealan Hoover, former senior advisor to the EPA administrator. The future of those projects is unclear, though, after the Trump administration froze federal grant funding and other programs in late January.

"The obligation to provide grantees with good standing to access to their funds is crystal clear," Hoover says.

NPR has reached out to both EPA and the Trump administration for comment. Neither responded by the time of publication.

By Tracy J. Wholf

February 5, 2025 / 10:41 PM EST / CBS News

More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.

Employees of the EPA's DEI office were placed on administrative leave on Jan. 22, once the executive order went into effect. Staffers with the Office of Environmental Justice were informed their department is expecting a similar written notice as early as Thursday, but it was unclear if all employees will also go on administrative leave or be immediately terminated.

CBS News has reached out to the EPA for comment.

The Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights supports the EPA's efforts to address vulnerable communities that the agency has determined have been disproportionately affected by environmental pollution and ensure they have equitable access to a healthy environment, as well as enforce federal civil rights laws. 

"There were a lot of rumors all day," said Matthew Tejada, who was the deputy assistant administrator at the Office of Environmental Justice for over a decade before departing the EPA in Dec. 2023. "The staff is freaked out and anxious."

A current EPA staff member in the environmental justice office, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said senior leadership held a two-and-a-half hour call on Wednesday to discuss the logistics of the order, but said managers would not have many details to share until the official notice is issued.

Many on the call were confused and concerned. EPA staffers already received the Office of Personnel Management's "Fork in the Road" email, which offered deferred resignations to anyone who agreed to leave their position by Feb. 6. But this individual received an email warning that they could be immediately terminated because of their probationary status as an employee with less than a year in their current role — which was created under an Inflation Reduction Act temporary program with a two-year probationary period. It's unclear if they will be eligible for administrative leave, or be immediately dismissed.

Roughly 250 people work for the Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights Office at the agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C., and 10 regional offices across the country. The news was especially distressing for Tejada, who worked with many of the staff during his time leading the office, "I hired all of them," he said.

Tejada, now the senior vice president of environmental health at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said, "Shuttering the environmental justice office will mean more toxic contaminants, dangerous air and unsafe water in communities across the nation that have been most harmed by pollution in the past." 

What lead-tainted Lunchables reveal about the persistent threat of lead exposure.

January 2025 was the hottest on record – a whole 1.7°C above pre-industrial levels. If many climate-watchers expected the world to cool slightly this year thanks to the natural “La Niña” phenomena, the climate itself didn’t seem to get the memo. In fact, January 2025’s record heat highlights how human-driven ocean warming is increasingly overwhelming these natural climate patterns.

La Niña is a part of the El Niño southern oscillation, a climate fluctuation that slowly sloshes vast bodies of water and heat between different ocean basins and disrupts weather patterns around the world. El Niño was first identified and christened by Peruvian fishermen who noticed a dismal drop in their catch of sardines that coincided with much warmer than usual coastal waters.

El Niño is now well known to be part of a grander climate reorganisation that also has a reverse cool phase, La Niña. As vast swathes of the eastern Pacific cool down during La Niña, this has knock on effects for atmospheric weather patterns, shifting the most vigorous storms from the central Pacific to the west and disrupting the prevailing winds across the globe.

This atmospheric reaction also helps to amplify the sea surface temperature changes. Typically, La Niña will lower the global temperature by a couple of tenths of a degree Celsius.

In 2024 the Pacific swung from moderate El Niño conditions to a weak La Niña. However, this time around, it’s apparently not enough to stop the world warming – even temporarily. So what’s different this time?

Each La Niña cycle is unique

Scientists aren’t entirely surprised. Each El Niño and La Niña cycle is unique. Following a surprisingly lengthy “triple dip” La Niña starting in 2020, the El Niño that developed in 2023 was also unusual, struggling to stand out against globally warm seas. The switch to a weak La Niña has only slightly cooled a narrow band along the equatorial Pacific, while surrounding waters have remained unusually hot.

Recent research shows human caused warming of the ocean is accelerating – so a year on year rise in temperature is itself getting bigger – and this is dominating to an ever greater extent over El Niño and other natural oscillations in the climate. This means that even during La Niña – when equatorial eastern Pacific waters are cooler than normal – the rest of the world’s oceans have remained remarkably warm.

More carbon, less reflection

There is also a sense of inevitability as greenhouse gas levels continue to grow, even despite the demise of El Niño. During El Niño years, the land tends to absorb less carbon from the atmosphere as large continental areas, such as parts of South America, temporarily dry out causing less plant growth and more carbon-emitting plant decay.

La Niña tends to have the opposite effect. In the strong La Niña of 2011, so much extra rain fell on the normally dry lands of Australia and parts of South America and southeast Asia that sea levels dropped as the land held on to this excess moisture borrowed temporarily from the ocean. This meant more carbon was taken from the atmosphere to feed extra plant growth. But despite the switch to La Niña, the rate of rise in atmospheric carbon in 2024 and January 2025 remains above the already high levels of previous years.

To this we can also add the diminishing effects of particle pollution from industry, big ships and other sources of “aerosols”, which in some regions had added a reflective haze in the atmosphere meaning the world absorbed less sunlight. Clean air policies introduced over time have made the world less smoggy, but they also seem to have caused clouds to reflect less sunlight back to space, adding to global heating.

As industrial activity continues to spew greenhouse gases into the air, while air cleansed of particle pollution causes more sunlight to reach the ground, this growing heating effect is beginning to drown out natural fluctuations, tipping the balance toward record warmth and worsening hot, dry and wet extremes.

The long-term trend is clear

But, just as one swallow doesn’t make a summer, a single month is not reflective of the overall trajectory of climate change. Changing weather patterns from week to week can rapidly shift temperatures especially over big landmasses, which warm up and cool down more quickly than the oceans (it takes a long time to boil up water for your vegetables but not long to super heat an empty pan).

Large areas of Europe, Canada and Siberia experienced much less cold weather than is normal for January (by up to about 7°C). Parts of South America, Africa, Australia and Antarctica also experienced above average temperatures. Along with the balmy oceans, this all contributed to an unexpectedly warm start to 2025.

While this particular warm January isn’t necessarily cause for immediate alarm, it suggests natural cooling phases may become less effective at temporarily offsetting the impact of rising greenhouse gas levels on global temperatures. And to limit the scale of the inevitable, ensuing climate change, there is a clear, urgent need to rapidly and massively cut greenhouse gas emissions and to properly account for the true cost of our lifestyles on societies and the ecosystems that underpin them.