The Trump administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) has agreed to drop an environmental justice case against the Denka petrochemical plant in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley.”

The Biden-era lawsuit sought to curb chloroprene emissions that are harming surrounding majority-Black communities like Reserve, Louisiana.

Filed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the lawsuit stated that Denka’s chloroprene emissions posed “an imminent and substantial endangerment” to public health, reported The Hill.

“The endangerment is imminent because Denka emits chloroprene at levels that are producing unacceptably high risks of cancer to the people, including children, that are regularly exposed to the Facility’s emissions,” the lawsuit said. “Hundreds of children attend school near the Facility and currently breathe the air there.”

The administration of former President Joe Biden filed the litigation in February of 2023, The Guardian reported. The lawsuit targeted Japanese company Denka Performance Elastomer — whose rubber is used to make products such as wetsuits and laptop sleeves — as well as the firm’s previous owner, American chemical giant DuPont.

The action was a central part of the Biden EPA’s efforts to tackle environmental justice issues impacting disadvantaged communities. After long delays, a trial had been set to begin next month.

Trump’s efforts to cut EPA and DOJ staff sent waves of doubt through the Reserve community, who had been hoping the lawsuit would help reduce residents’ exposure to toxic pollution coming from the plant.

“It’s obvious that the Trump administration doesn’t care anything for the poor Black folk in Cancer Alley,” said 84-year-old Robert Taylor, a Reserve resident who has lost multiple family members to cancer, as reported by The Guardian. “[Trump’s] administration has taken away what protections we had, what little hope we had.”

According to filings made available Friday, the DOJ met with lawyers for both defendants, with all agreeing to dismissal of the case.

The DOJ said the dismissal complied with an executive order targeting “wasteful government” and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs with the purpose of eliminating “ideological overreach” and restoring “impartial enforcement of federal laws.”

The department claimed overreach by the Biden EPA for using the emergency powers authority of the Clean Air Act without alleging Denka had violated “any regulatory air quality standard.”

“The Trump Administration’s plan to dismiss this case should raise alarm bells for communities across the country and is a clear signal that the administration is not serious about enforcing the laws on the books that ensure we have access to clean and safe air and water,” Jen Duggan, Environmental Integrity Project’s executive director, said in a written statement, as The Hill reported.

The chloroprene long-term exposure limit set by the EPA is 0.2 micrograms per cubic meter, but air quality monitoring surrounding the Denka plant has shown readings that are frequently dozens of times higher than that threshold.

The lawsuit emphasized the risk posed to children who live near the plant, as well as those attending a nearby elementary school. It said average air monitor readings near the school from April of 2018 to January of 2023 showed that children under the age of 16 could surpass EPA’s excess risk rate for cancer within two years of exposure.

“We are going to fight them and prepare ourselves to keep going. We were preparing for the worst, and I don’t know how it could get any worse now that the government has totally abandoned us, it seems,” Taylor said.

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When children are exposed to multiple pesticides, it significantly increases their risk of childhood cancers in comparison to being exposed to just one, according to new research.

The results of the study bring up new concerns that kids are at greater risk from the harmful effects of the toxic substances than once thought, reported The Guardian.

“We observed a statistically significant positive association between the 32 agrichemicals and overall pediatric cancer and subtypes,” the authors of the study wrote. “Dicamba, glyphosate, paraquat, quizalofop, triasulfuron, and tefluthrin largely contributed to the joint association… We observed positive associations between agrichemical mixtures and overall cancer, brain and CNS cancers, and leukemia among children.”

In the first-of-its kind study, researchers examined the association between exposures to multiple commonly used pesticides and the most prevalent childhood cancers. The bulk of earlier research had focused on the toxicity of individual pesticides.

“As individuals, we aren’t just exposed to one chemical, but a mixture, so if you are just studying one chemical alone, then you are not able to capture the exposures – it gives you limited information,” lead author of the study Jabeen Taiba, a postdoctoral research associate with University of Nebraska Medical Center, told The Guardian.

People can become exposed to multiple pesticides through foods such as fish, meat, produce and processed foods, as well as through drinking water. Children living in agricultural communities can also be exposed to contaminated dust, air and water, as well as to pesticide residue inside their homes.

The researchers found that being exposed to a 10 percent mixture of pesticides increased the rate of brain cancer by 36 percent, overall pediatric cancer by 30 percent and leukemia by 23 percent. The cancers are some of the most common in Nebraska, where the study was conducted.

“Among the pesticides considered in the mixture, herbicides contributed the most toward these joint associations,” the authors wrote in the study.

The findings, “Exploring the Joint Association Between Agrichemical Mixtures and Pediatric Cancer,” were published in the journal GeoHealth.

The research team looked at 22 years of cancer data in Nebraska from 2,500 pediatric cases. Located in the country’s agricultural heartland, the state has the second-highest rates of childhood cancer in the U.S., partially because of widespread pesticide use.

Pesticides are particularly harmful to children due to their smaller size and because they are still growing, which means the health risks can be higher at a lower level of exposure.

Taiba said farm workers and those in agricultural communities face the greatest risks, though exposure through food is an underestimated danger to children.

Taiba recommended that people take measures to protect themselves, like investing in effective water filtration systems and buying organic foods when they can, until regulators begin taking the toxicity of multiple substances into account.

Taiba also advised adults working with pesticides to leave their shoes and work clothes outside. Earlier research has found that pesticides brought or tracked into the home represent a major source of exposure for kids.

“These results can help policymakers make better decisions to protect children from pesticide exposure and reduce the pediatric cancer burden,” the study’s authors wrote.

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Over the last decade, people living in the United States have become more aware that the climate crisis is harming their health, according to a new survey conducted by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication and the George Mason University (GMU) Center for Climate Change Communication.

The findings are detailed in a report: Climate Change in the American Mind: Public Perceptions of the Health Harms of Global Warming, Fall 2024.

The nationally representative survey was conducted in December of last year and paints a picture of Americans’ perceptions of the health risks posed by various sources of energy and climate change.

Global heating is the source of many health problems in the U.S., including injuries and deaths caused by extreme weather, wildfires, heat waves, floods, increased air pollution and a wider geographic range for infectious diseases, the Executive Summary of the report said.

The harm that the climate crisis brings disproportionately impacts people of color, those with low incomes and those with health conditions, among others.

“The survey results reported here assess Americans’ awareness and understanding of the health harms of global warming; their beliefs about who should take action to protect people from these harms; and their trust in various sources of information about these harms. We compare many of the results with prior surveys conducted in 2014, 2018, and 2020,” the Executive Summary said.

Among the report’s key findings was that 39 percent of Americans believe global warming is harming the country’s health “a great deal” or “a moderate amount,” which is an increase of eight percent since 2014. In contrast, just 16 percent believe their personal health is being impacted negatively by global heating to the same extent.

Meanwhile, 47 percent of Americans know that some groups are more likely to experience health harms from global warming, which is a 13 point increase from 2014.

The survey’s principal investigator Edward Maibach said the results were fundamentally irreconcilable with actions taken by the Trump administration, reported Inside Climate News.

“If they were engaged in good governing, they would look at what [voters] care about and then try to build a consensus about what they’re doing, and that doesn’t seem to be the way they’re governing,” said Maibach, who is director of the Center for Climate Change Communication at GMU.

According to the results of the survey, 65 percent of Americans believe coal is harmful to people’s health, while 38 percent think the same about natural gas — nine points higher than in 2018.

More than half of Americans — 53 percent — think nuclear energy is harmful to health, the same as in 2018.

Nearly 40 percent of those who participated in the survey believe federal agencies like the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Federal Emergency Management Agency should take more steps to safeguard people from the health impacts of global warming.

Nearly a quarter of Americans believe health professionals like nurses and doctors should do more.

Maibach said the findings demonstrated that Americans have increased trust in researchers and scientists, which came as a surprise, Inside Climate News reported. He said the results overall showed an increasing awareness that could help strengthen efforts to combat global heating.

“The fact that we’re seeing such a strong uptick in public understanding that climate change is harming the health of Americans, we fundamentally are optimistic that that will build the public will for climate action,” Maibach said.

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A new executive order signed by President Donald Trump over the weekend could have a disastrous effect on endangered species, climate change and local economies, warned conservation groups.

The order encouraging the “Immediate Expansion of American Timber Production” seeks to erode Endangered Species Act (ESA) protection rules in favor of the expansion of tree felling across 280 million acres of United States national forests, as well as other public lands, for timber, reported The Guardian.

“This Trump executive order is the most blatant attempt in American history by a president to hand over federal public lands to the logging industry,” said wildfire scientist Chad Hanson with the John Muir Project. “What’s worse, the executive order is built on a lie, as Trump falsely claims that more logging will curb wildfires and protect communities, while the overwhelming weight of evidence shows exactly the opposite.”

The order goes as far as setting an annual target for the amount of timber offered for sale, along with other measures, which could lead to widespread clear-cutting, a press release from Earthjustice said.

The announcement follows last week’s appointment of Tom Schultz as the new chief of the U.S. Forest Service. Schultz is a former executive of timber company Idaho Forest Group.

“Naming a corporate lobbyist to run the agency tasked with overseeing the last old growth left in the U.S. makes it clear that the Trump administration’s goal isn’t to preserve our national forests, but to sell them off to billionaires and corporate polluters,” said Anna Medema, Sierra Club’s associate director of legislative and administrative advocacy for forests and public lands, as The Guardian reported.

The action is similar to a recent move by Trump that used an obscure committee to advance fossil fuel projects that put threatened species at risk. According to experts, this disregard for ESA rules is likely illegal.

The order says it is “vital” to reverse what it calls “heavy-handed federal policies” and “increase domestic timber production to protect our national and economic security.”

“This executive order sets in motion a chainsaw free-for-all on our federal forests. Americans treasure our forests for all the benefits they provide, such as recreation, clean air, and clean drinking water. But this order ignores these values and opens the door for wild lands to be plundered, for nothing more than corporate gain. In the long run, this will worsen the effects of climate change, while also destroying critical wildlife habitat,” said Blaine Miller-McFeeley, senior legislative representative of the Earthjustice policy and legislation team, in the press release.

Trump’s latest executive order specifies that logging projects can be expedited if they are purportedly intended to reduce wildfire risk by “thinning” vegetation, reported The Guardian. However, the razing of forests, especially those with established, fire-resistant trees, has been said by scientists to actually increase the risk of fast-moving wildfires.

Hanson explained that logging creates drier and hotter conditions that alter a forest’s microclimate, helping wildfires to spread faster.

“People deserve smart, science-driven solutions that truly protect their forests and communities, but don’t let it fool you – President Trump’s forest executive order isn’t the solution. It’s a short-sighted giveaway for extractive industries,” said Josh Hicks, director of conservation campaigns for The Wilderness Society.

The ESA laws that Trump is attempting to circumvent protect roughly 400 species that live in national forests, including threatened and near-threatened species such as grizzly bears, wild salmon and spotted owls.

Environmental groups warned that increased logging could also pollute millions of people’s water supply.

“Trump’s order will unleash the chainsaws and bulldozers on our federal forests. Clearcutting these beautiful places will increase fire risk, drive species to extinction, pollute our rivers and streams, and destroy world-class recreation sites,” said Randi Spivak, the Center for Biological Diversity’s public lands policy director. “This is a particularly horrific move by Trump to loot our public lands by handing the keys to big business.”

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Our planet’s plants and soils reached the peak of their ability to absorb carbon dioxide in 2008, and their sequestration rate has been falling ever since, according to a new analysis by a father-and-son team in the United Kingdom.

At first, the added carbon led to warmer temperatures, vegetation growth and a longer growing season. Once a tipping point was reached, however, the combination of heat stress, wildfires, drought, flooding, storms and the spread of new diseases and pests led to a reduction in the amount of carbon plants can soak up.

“The rate of natural sequestration of CO2 from the atmosphere by the terrestrial biosphere peaked in 2008. Atmospheric concentrations will rise more rapidly than previously, in proportion to annual CO2 emissions, as natural sequestration is now declining by 0.25% per year,” the authors of the study wrote. “This effect will accelerate climate change and emphasises the close connection between the climate and nature emergencies. Effort is urgently required to rebuild global biodiversity and to recover its ecosystem services, including natural sequestration.”

Once the tipping point was reached, the chances of unchecked climate breakdown became more likely, reported The Guardian.

Former Chief Executive of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency James Curran, with help from his son Sam, took a detailed look at the world’s changing carbon concentration levels. Their analysis revealed that, since 2008, plants have been absorbing an average of 0.25 percent less carbon dioxide each year.

“The findings are very stark. Emissions now need to fall by 0.3% per year, just to stand still. That’s a tall order since they typically increase by 1.2% per year,” James Curran said, as The Guardian reported.

The findings suggest that a one-fifth reduction in potential carbon sequestration can lead to a 25 to 37 percent annual increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide.

“This analysis confirms that the rate of natural sequestration of CO2 from the atmosphere by the terrestrial biosphere is now declining, having reached a peak in 2008. Previous to that date, sequestration had been increasing by as much as 0.8% per year in the 1960s and, if the trend had continued, would have reduced current annual increments in CO2 concentration in the atmosphere by over 30%,” Curran and Curran wrote in the study. “However, this ameliorating effect has been lost and sequestration is now declining by 0.25% per year. Atmospheric CO2 concentration will now rise more rapidly than previously in proportion to annual global CO2 emissions.”

The study, “Natural sequestration of carbon dioxide is in decline: climate change will accelerate,” was published in the journal Weather.

“This growing and very damaging effect will further accelerate climate change and serves, yet again, to emphasise the close connection between the climate and nature emergencies,” Curran and Curran wrote.

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