Environmental Protection Agency
After Clean Water Act ruling, states that want to protect affected wetlands need millions
Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court stripped federal oversight from millions of acres of wetlands long protected under the Clean Water Act. Now, erecting safeguards to ensure those waters are not polluted, drained or filled in by developers falls to the states. They’re finding that it’s not easy. “States and tribes already didn’t have enough funding to support […]
EPA moves on petition from West Coast tribes to investigate tire toxin linked to fish deaths
This article was first published by the Oregon Capital Chronicle. For several decades, many coho salmon returning to waterways around Seattle to spawn have died mysteriously following heavy rains. In some urban streams, nearly all of the coho returning from the ocean died. It wasn’t until 2021 that scientists figured out what was behind what […]
Washington among states suing feds to force update of wood stove standards
The federal government is failing to meet its obligations in setting pollution standards for residential wood-burning stoves, hurting air quality in parts of the U.S., according to a lawsuit Washington and nine other states have filed against the Environmental Protection Agency. With the lawsuit, the states are trying to prod EPA into reviewing and revising […]
New federal water pollution rule draws mixed reaction
A federal rule limiting agencies’ power to regulate water pollution will severely restrict protections for waters and wetlands throughout the country, but could also be subject to challenges from conservative groups that maintain the new rule exerts more federal jurisdiction than the U.S. Supreme Court intended in a May decision. With the rule published Tuesday […]
Western companies settle with EPA for sale of equipment used to disable car pollution controls
A northeast Oregon company that manufactured parts used to disable pollution controls in cars will pay a six-figure fine to the federal Environmental Protection Agency. EPA accused Diamond Eye Manufacturing, a custom exhaust and car parts fabricator in Athena, and six companies in California, Washington and New Jersey, of violating the Clean Air Act by […]
Tribes call for feds to ban chemical in car tires that is linked to salmon deaths
Two tribes in Washington are asking federal regulators to ban a chemical widely used in car tires that scientists have identified as highly toxic to salmon and other fish. The Port Gamble S’Klallam and Puyallup tribes, along with the Yurok, which is the largest native nation in California, petitioned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on […]
U.S. Supreme Court rejects Biden wetlands regulation, ruling for Idaho couple
The U.S. Supreme Court in a major environmental decision on Thursday overturned the Environmental Protection Agency’s definition of wetlands that fall under the agency’s jurisdiction, siding with an Idaho couple who’d said they should not be required to obtain federal permits to build on their property that lacked any navigable water. All nine justices agreed […]