Category Archives: Home

‘The Day Trump’s Big Oil Megadonors Paid for’: EPA Chief Zeldin Announces Rollback of 31 Landmark Environmental Regulations

Posted on by March 13, 2025

In what United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin called the “most consequential day of deregulation in American history,” on Wednesday the EPA chief announced 31 deregulation actions that will roll back Biden-era environmental rules, including those concerning climate change, electric vehicles (EVs) and pollution limits for coal-fired power plants, reported The Associated Press.

If approved, Zeldin said the actions will lower prices for common expenses like home heat, purchasing a car and operating a business by eliminating trillions in “regulatory costs and hidden ‘taxes’.”

“Today is the greatest day of deregulation our nation has seen. We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of the climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S. and more,” Zeldin said in a press release from the EPA. “Alongside President Trump, we are living up to our promises to unleash American energy, lower costs for Americans, revitalize the American auto industry, and work hand-in-hand with our state partners to advance our shared mission.”

Of the dozens of environmental regulations set to be rolled back is an EPA finding from 2009 that greenhouse gases are a danger to public health and welfare. The Clean Air Act determination is the basis for a large number of climate regulations for power plants, automobiles and other sources of pollution.

Climate scientists and environmentalists consider the Obama-era endangerment finding a cornerstone of U.S. law, saying any attempt to reverse it is not likely to succeed.

“In the face of overwhelming science, it’s impossible to think that the EPA could develop a contradictory finding that would stand up in court,” said David Doniger, senior attorney and strategist with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), in an NRDC Expert Blog post. “Indeed, the courts have repeatedly rejected attacks on the finding. Even Trump’s first-term EPA administrators understood that reversing it was ‘a fool’s errand,’ in the words of one conservative former agency official.”

Among the other regulations set to be “reconsidered” by the EPA are “regulations throttling the oil and gas industry”; mercury standards that the agency said “improperly targeted coal-fired power plants”; the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program; and regulations for wastewater from coal plants.

“From the campaign trail to Day 1 and beyond, President Trump has delivered on his promise to unleash energy dominance and lower the cost of living,” Zeldin said in a video. “We at E.P.A. will do our part to power the great American comeback.”

Zeldin spoke of the changes without mentioning the EPA’s guiding principles: to protect the environment and public health.

In an explanation of the EPA’s mission, the first Administrator of the EPA William D. Ruckelshaus said the agency has “no obligation to promote agriculture or commerce; only the critical obligation to protect and enhance the environment.”

Weeks following the creation of the EPA by former President Richard M. Nixon in 1970, Ruckelshaus said its focus would be on research, as well as five areas of standards and enforcements: air and water pollution, pesticides, waste disposal and radiation, The New York Times reported.

Zeldin said limits on smokestacks linked to respiratory issues and premature deaths would be overturned, along with the Clean Air Act’s “Good Neighbor” provision requiring states to be responsible for their own pollution when it is blown into neighboring states. The EPA would also do away with enforcement efforts prioritizing the safety of predominantly poor and minority communities.

When environmental policy is created by the agency, Zeldin said it will no longer take into consideration the societal costs of storms, wildfires, droughts and other disasters that could be worsened by pollution connected to the policy.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin attends a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC on March 13, 2025. Andrew Harnik / Getty Images

The EPA’s announcements are not legally binding, and in nearly every case the agency would need to undergo a lengthy public comment process, as well as formulate economic and environmental justifications for each revision.

Environmentalists and democrats accused Zeldin of deserting the responsibility of the EPA to safeguard the environment and human health.

“Today is the day Trump’s Big Oil megadonors paid for,” said Democratic Senator from Rhode Island Sheldon Whitehouse, as reported by The New York Times. “Administrator Zeldin clearly lied when he told us that he would respect the science and listen to the experts.”

Jackie Wong, NRDC’s senior vice president for climate change and energy, said weakening the rules would result in increases in health problems like heart attacks and asthma.

“At a time when millions of Americans are trying to rebuild after horrific wildfires and climate-fueled hurricanes, it’s nonsensical to try to deny that climate change harms our health and welfare,” Wong said.

Gina McCarthy, EPA administrator during the Obama administration, called it “the most disastrous day in EPA history. 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 well being.”

The post ‘The Day Trump’s Big Oil Megadonors Paid for’: EPA Chief Zeldin Announces Rollback of 31 Landmark Environmental Regulations appeared first on EcoWatch.

‘American Oasis’ Author Kyle Paoletta on the History and Future of the American Southwest

Posted on by March 13, 2025

In the not-too-distant past, the American Southwest was a place that fed the imagination of non-residents. The sun, the desert, expansive canyons and gorgeous vistas have drawn visitors and retirees for decades. The Southwest is generally defined as Arizona, New Mexico and parts of Nevada, California and Texas, and the attraction is predictable – warm weather, adobe architecture, cacti and grand canyons. 

But for author and essayist Kyle Paoletta, the history and ecology of the Southwest runs much deeper than these stereotypical selling points. 

“It was seeing how limited the view of the Southwest was for people in the Northeast, and how limited the touchpoints were,” he says about the impetus behind writing his first book, American Oasis. 

Paoletta knows the Southwest well. Having grown up in Albuquerque, New Mexico, he eventually moved to the Northeast, where he now lives. But over the last few years, Paoletta took a deep dive back into his roots in the Southwest, visiting the five major cities of the region – Las Vegas, El Paso, Tucson, Phoenix and Albuquerque. The result of his observations and interviews is American Oasis, a book that is many things – a memoir, a deep historical narrative, and a look at the ecology and climate crises of the region. 

“They’re the five cities whose ecology is purely shaped by being in the Chihuahuan Desert, the Mojave Desert and the Sonoran Desert. They share the need to contend with this really extreme environment,” Paoletta says. 

Kyle Paoletta’s author photo. Credit: Amy Reichenbach / Penguin Random House

The book touches on settlement history, stretching far back in time to some of the earliest Indigenous populations that settled in the area. By looking into the past while also digging into what’s happening today, American Oasis provides insight into how these cities might survive in the years ahead, as the world gets hotter and as water resources become scarcer. 

“We’ve kind of overshot the ecological limits,” Paoletta says, “and we’re being forced into the same position that Indigenous people in the Southwest have been in for millennia, which is: How do we live within our limits? I think the difference now is that we have the technology for many more people to live within limits than even a century ago.”

The Five Cities

Paoletta observes that the five cities face similar threats. In Phoenix and Las Vegas, it’s the heat, and in those two cities, the extremes of heat can vary drastically depending on the part of the city. El Paso’s main threat is the scarcity of water, which Paoletta notes is true across much of Texas. And Tucson and Albuquerque, also desert cities, suffer more from what he calls the built environment. 

He notes that Phoenix would not have experienced its explosive growth — five million people spread over 1,200 square miles of sprawl — without the advent of air conditioning. 

“Air conditioning allowed for the kind of importation of a lifestyle from the Midwest, from the Northeast, right into this extremely hot place,” he says. “What we’re living with now is the consequences of that, of using that technology to overcome the heat. Most of the electricity in Arizona comes from burning natural gas. There are people who spend $500 a month on their electricity bill in the summer.”

It could seem that there’s no limit to the growth of air conditioning units, as a 2018 report from the International Energy Agency predicts that greenhouse gas emissions from A/C units will nearly double over the next 25 years. Does Paoletta see any alternatives to the refreshing – and sometimes life-saving – use of air conditioning?

“If you think about the classic building in the Southwest, it’s an adobe structure made of mud, which is an incredible climate adaptation tool because it stays quite cool during the day and quite warm at night,” he says. “As much as we can just be changing the built environment using these more sustainable methods, we can be lowering how much electricity we use for air conditioning.”

“We need a wholesale reorientation of how we think about living in the desert,” he adds.

On the topic of water, Paoletta describes Las Vegas, one of the hottest and most populous of the desert cities. He writes: 

The transformation of this arid anyplace into a global destination has always felt like a nifty trick. As if the whole city were a pop-up ad the country didn’t mean to click on. 

However, Las Vegas also has one of the nation’s best-managed water systems. 

“They have some most efficient water recycling system in the country,” Paoletta says. “They’ve managed to double the population without using any more water than they did in the 1990s.” 

Paoletta tells the story of Patricia Mulroy, who was the head of the Las Vegas water utility responsible for overseeing the water system’s realignment. With shrewd political maneuvering, she began the process of recycling the water that the county took out of Lake Mead as the population exploded. This led to the creation of the River Mountains Water Treatment Facility, which can treat upwards of 300 million gallons of water per day and is partially run on solar power. She also led the construction of a “third straw” pipe near the bottom of Lake Mead to pump out water that, in times of scarcity, could otherwise not be reached. 

But some people still believe that nature’s bounty is endless. A few years ago, Paoletta spoke to a real estate broker in Phoenix after the governor had instituted a moratorium on new residential construction that relies on groundwater.

“I remember calling her, and I think three times she told me, ‘I know the governor did that, but we’re not going to run out of water,'” Paoletta says. “And I had to say, there’s hydrologists who have looked at this and there is a limited amount and she said, ‘We’re not going to run out.’ And it was just like she was affirming that to herself. It was instructive to me of how deeply ingrained the belief is that we can just keep doing whatever and it’ll work out.”

American Oasis is a deeply researched look at the American Southwest from numerous enlightening angles. It seems appropriate to leave the final words to Paoletta, from his afterword: 

As the climate crisis has drained away the Southwest’s stockpile of Colorado River water, the so-called bathtub ring around Lake Mead has become a Paleozoic metaphor for scarcity… what remains to be seen is what we do now that recycling and conservation technologies are making it possible to return to a system of living that respects the limitations of the landscape.

The post ‘American Oasis’ Author Kyle Paoletta on the History and Future of the American Southwest appeared first on EcoWatch.

Medical Infusion Bags Can Release Microplastics Into the Bloodstream, Research Finds

Posted on by March 13, 2025

Microplastics are entering the human body through the ingesting of seafood, drinking water and even by inhaling particles in the air. These plastic particles have been detected in the human gut, blood, lungs and brain.

Now, a team of researchers has found another potential pathway for microplastics to enter the bloodstream: medical bags used for infusions. According to a new study published in Environment & Health, a single 8.4 ounce (250 milliliter) medical infusion bag could release 7,500 microplastic particles — sized 1 to 62 micrometers long — into a person’s blood.

Medical infusion bags can be used to provide intravenous (IV) fluids such as water, nutrients, electrolytes or medicine, as the American Chemical Society reported. Previous research from the 1970s found that these infusion bags may contain solid particles, which prompted researchers of the newly published study to investigate whether these particles could be microplastics. 

Medical infusion bags are typically made from polypropylene (PP), polyethylene (PE), polyvinyl chloride (PVC), thermoplastic elastomers(TPE) or ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA). PP is one of the most common materials, because it seals well, holds up to impacts, is resistant to chemical corrosion and is transparent.

To determine whether medical infusion bags may release microplastics, researchers tested two different brands of commercial infusion bags, both made from PP, containing IV saline solutions. They allowed each bag to drip from an infusion tube into separate glass beakers, which were covered with aluminum foil to prevent outside particles from interfering.

After collecting the liquid, the team filtered and condensed the samples in order to count and analyze the plastic particles detected under a microscope. They used this total to then estimate the amount of microplastics for each entire medical infusion bag.

The samples collected from both brands included PP microplastics, and based on the analysis, the team determined that one bag could release around 7,500 microplastic particles into the bloodstream during an infusion. When more fluids are needed to treat ailments such as dehydration or during procedures such as abdominal surgery, this total could increase substantially.

Heat illness, nausea, diarrhea and similar instances that require IV fluids could lead to a release of around 24,375 to 30,000 microplastics. With severe dehydration requiring about 4.2 to 5.6 liters of water infusion for a person weighing an average 60 to 80 kilograms (132 to 176 pounds), medical infusion bags could release 31,500 to 42,000 microplastic particles into the blood, the study determined. These findings become more concerning as the world continues to break heat records and risk of heat-related illnesses and deaths rises.

In some cases, such as an abdominal surgery, higher IV fluid requirements mean that as much as 52,500 microplastics could be released into a patient’s bloodstream.

The study authors noted that additional analyses will need to investigate any differences in microplastic presence among a wider range of brands, different batches, batches made in different facilities, bags made from different materials or even differing qualities of PP, storage conditions and other factors. Additionally, more research is needed to further evaluate the health risks of microplastics.

To limit the amount of microplastic breakdown, the authors wrote that temperature and UV light exposure should be highly considered when storing the medical bags, as higher temperatures and more light exposure can degrade the PP material.

“Potentially effective measures include the use of highly efficient micrometer- or submicrometer-level filtration systems during intravenous infusion and enhanced monitoring across the medical device and pharmaceutical supply chain to meet stringent safety standards,” the authors concluded. “Additionally, innovative infusion system designs using materials resistant to MP shedding and optimized closed systems may significantly minimize external contamination.”

The post Medical Infusion Bags Can Release Microplastics Into the Bloodstream, Research Finds appeared first on EcoWatch.

Mice Exhibit ‘First Responder-Like Behavior’ to Revive Unconscious Friends

Posted on by March 12, 2025

Like humans, mice come to the physical aid of their friends when they are hurt, according to new research by scientists at University of Southern California (USC)’s Keck School of Medicine.

The reasons why social mammals seem to help other members of their species when they are injured is something scientists have been exploring.

“[T]his study is the first time we’re seeing a first responder-like behavior in mice,” said Li Zhang, the study’s lead researcher, who is a physiology and neuroscience professor at Keck School of Medicine, in a press release from USC.

The researchers found that mice have a tendency to assist other mice that they know are unconscious. Responses ranged from gentle grooming and sniffing to more forceful actions like biting their peer’s mouth or tongue. As a last resort, the “helper mice” pulled on the tongue of their unconscious friend to dislodge it from their throat and free up their airway.

“The behavior was especially unique due to its similarity to how humans behave in emergency responses,” said Wenjian Sun, lead author of the findings and a research associate at the Zilkha Neurogenetic Institute at Keck School of Medicine. “I had never seen this behavior from mice before.”

During the study, the neuroscientists put one of the mice under anesthesia to observe how the other mouse would respond. They found that the conscious mouse would spend most of their time at the side of their unconscious cage mate, trying to revive them with what looked like mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, reported USC Annenberg Media.

“Actually, we found this phenomena accidentally,” Sun said. “[The] anesthetized animals’ tongue was protruding out so we started to want to know what’s the meaning of this behavior.”

In over half the cases, the reviver mouse would use the tongue-pulling method, which had an 80 percent success rate.

“We know that humans can do CPR, trying to maintain airways during surgery or any kind of stuff,” Zhang said. “So we interpret the observation as they’re trying to help or trying to revive their group members.”

Co-author of the study Huizhong Tao, a physiology and neuroscience professor at Keck, said the tongue-pulling gestures could not be seen as aggressive, since they were much more pronounced among mice who were familiar with each other and were rarely observed when one of the mice was sleeping or active. Once the mouse who had been unconscious was revived, they also had full use of their tongue.

The researchers found that friendship was important in how the mice handled the situation. Active mice came to the aid of unconscious mice who they had been companions with more often than they did strangers.

According to neuroscientist James Burkett, who was not part of the research team, the resuscitation behaviors stem from neurons that release oxytocin into the brain and show mice’s “altruistic impulse.”

“In this study, we found the oxytocin system plays a great, important role in this behavior,” Sun said. “How the whole oxytocin signaling pathway works in this behavior I think that will be the next step.”

Zhang said the study was the first to show that oxytocin could be a primary factor in social bonding in mice.

“The study’s findings not only enhance our understanding of animal behavior but also highlight the critical role of the oxytocin system, which may also inform social behaviors across vertebrate species,” the press release said.

Tao believes the discovery opens the door to new ways of studying prosocial behaviors’ biological functions, including empathy. The research team has plans for longer experiments to find out if the behaviors of mice toward their unconscious peers are even more complex.

“This research suggests many social animals, including humans, might have evolved to help each other in critical situations, improving survival chances and strengthening social bonds,” the press release said.

The study, “Reviving-like prosocial behavior in response to unconscious or dead conspecifics in rodents,” was published in the journal Science.

The post Mice Exhibit ‘First Responder-Like Behavior’ to Revive Unconscious Friends appeared first on EcoWatch.

Trump’s EPA Cancels $20 Billion in Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Grants

Posted on by March 12, 2025

United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin has cut $20 billion in grants awarded by the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) through a “green bank.”

Zeldin notified recipients of the National Clean Investment Fund and Clean Communities Investment Accelerator that their grants awarded under the former Biden administration’s “gold bar” program were being terminated, a press release from the EPA said.

The EPA said the termination was based on “substantial concerns” regarding the integrity of the GGRF program, including “the award process, programmatic fraud, waste, and abuse, and misalignment with agency’s priorities, which collectively undermine the fundamental goals and statutory objectives of the award.”

Over the last month, Zeldin has criticized the program’s spending and made unsubstantiated claims that the program was riddled with fraud, reported Politico. The latest action came the day before a hearing in federal court over a lawsuit by one of the grant’s recipients who is seeking to access funds frozen by the Trump administration.

“The days of ‘throwing gold bars off the Titanic’ are over. The well documented incidents of misconduct, conflicts of interest, and potential fraud raise significant concerns and pose unacceptable risk. I have taken action to terminate these grants riddled with self-dealing and wasteful spending. EPA will be an exceptional steward of taxpayer dollars dedicated to our core mission of protecting human health and the environment, not a frivolous spender in the name of ‘climate equity,’” Zeldin said in the press release.

Established under the Inflation Reduction Act, the GGRF was created to fast-track clean energy technology deployment and lower greenhouse gas emissions, especially in disadvantaged and low-income communities, Inside Climate News reported.

The three main components of the GGRF are the National Clean Investment Fund, which makes available $14 billion in grants for climate projects; the Clean Communities Investment Accelerator with $6 billion in funds for community lenders to make sure clean energy funding reaches underserved and low-income areas; and the Solar for All program that offers $7 billion to expand solar access, lower energy costs and make renewable power more affordable.

Zeldin on February 12 said he would take action to immediately claw back GGRF funds and ordered the EPA to cancel its Citibank agreement for disbursement of the funding.

Zeldin said the grants had been rushed with “no real accountability,” citing “hidden-camera video” from Project Veritas, a right-wing group, that allegedly demonstrated mismanagement.

However, former high-level EPA officials say those claims are false.

Zealan Hoover, EPA’s former implementation director, said the U.S. Treasury Department has long used private banks as its financial agents. Hoover told Inside Climate News in an interview that Citibank had been chosen for the GGRF because it was seen as the best institution for handling the financial structure of the program.

EPA said in correspondence to the Climate United Fund that termination of the funds was based on concerns about the GGRF program’s structure, reported Politico. The agency said GGRF did not have “adequate” fund oversight and that it was concerned about “improper or speculative allocation of funds.”

“EPA has determined that these deficiencies pose an unacceptable risk to the efficient and lawful execution of this grant that cannot be remedied by imposing specific conditions, necessitating immediate termination to safeguard taxpayer funds and ensure compliance with federal financial assistance regulations,” the EPA wrote to Climate United, with similar letters sent to other recipients of the grant, according to the agency.

EPA has the authority to cancel contracts under legally defined and specific examples of fraud, waste and abuse by the grant’s recipients. However, one grantee said the agency had not identified any such instances.

“Their claims (of abuse) simply aren’t true,” the person said, wishing to remain anonymous. “[T]here is nothing that they can use from our terms and conditions — so our grant agreement — that can terminate the contract based on the claims that they are making.”

Democratic Senator from Massachusetts Ed Markey accused the Trump administration of using political ploys to do away with a program created by Congress.

“Zeldin and Trump are spreading lies in a last-ditch effort to terminate the climate bank because the truth is it will help households save money and deploy clean energy — exactly what Big Oil is afraid of,” Markey wrote in a post on X.

The post Trump’s EPA Cancels $20 Billion in Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Grants appeared first on EcoWatch.

New Scorecard by NRDC Ranks States by Transportation Policies

Posted on by March 12, 2025

The second edition of the “Getting Transportation Right” scorecard from the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has ranked all 50 states (and Washington, DC) in the U.S. based on their transportation policies. States with policies that emphasize greener, more equitable transportation ranked higher in the list, while those with policies that favor highway expansions or that lack sustainable transportation policies ranked lower.

States were ranked on 21 metrics total, with opportunities to accumulate points based on factors such as equitable public transportation access; targets to reduce transportation emissions by 2035; EV charging infrastructure; rebates or grants for low-income residents to purchase EVs; spending toward bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure over highway expansions; maintenance spending; and bid preferences or targets to hire minority- and women-owned small businesses for state-funded transportation projects.

“Progress will fundamentally depend on whether states choose to spend their transportation dollars on new road and highway expansion projects that will increase carbon emissions and air pollution while leaving drivers trapped in interminable traffic — or on clean and equitable solutions for all,” Samantha Henningson, senior transportation advocate at NRDC and project manager of the scorecard, said in a statement. “This report shows which states are leading the way.”   

According to the latest edition of the scorecard, the top 10 states with policies that emphasize sustainable transportation include Vermont in the No. 1 spot followed by California, Oregon, Washington, Maryland, Colorado, Massachusetts, Washington, DC, Rhode Island and New York.

NRDC

Several states have much more room for improvement, as they have instead focused on more polluting policies such as highway expansions over cleaner transportation options. Texas ranked last on the list, preceded by Kansas, Arkansas, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Mississippi, Nebraska, Idaho, Louisiana and Kentucky.

“Even without the current actions of the Trump administration, too many states are using the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law to fund projects that will not reduce emissions or improve access to affordable clean modes of transportation,” Henningson said.

As the report authors pointed out, these rankings were based on 2024 data during the former administration that had a higher priority for funding clean and equitable transportation projects. With the Trump administration prioritizing fossil fuels, reversing climate policies and freezing funding to states that was provided by the Inflation Reduction Act, states will need to continue to fight and lead the way for more sustainable transportation.

The authors also noted that their findings could help positively influence policies and programs amid negotiations for the next transportation infrastructure bill.

“States have always led on transportation policy, but their role is more important now with the Trump administration moving federal transportation policies back to the bad old days of gridlock and pollution,” Henningson said. “Given the harmful direction from Washington, it’s more important now than ever before that state transportation policies deliver for their residents.” 

The post New Scorecard by NRDC Ranks States by Transportation Policies appeared first on EcoWatch.

NASA Firings Under Trump Suggest ‘We Won’t Recognize It in a Year,’ Experts Warn

Posted on by March 12, 2025

NASA has laid off 23 employees, including its chief scientist Katherine Calvin, a climate expert appointed by former President Joe Biden.

The United States space agency abruptly closed Calvin’s office, as well as two others on March 10, reported Nature. This means NASA no longer has the ability to provide its top leaders with independent science advice.

“This is shortsighted and hugely alarming,” said Democrat Zoe Lofgren, U.S. representative from California and the House Committee’s ranking member on Science, Space and Technology, in a statement, as The New York Times reported. “Trump’s assault on science continues. If you wanted a playbook on how to lose to China in every technological race, this is it.”

In an agency-wide email, acting NASA Administrator Janet Petro said, “We’re viewing this as an opportunity to reshape our workforce,” reported Nature.

The layoffs are part of extensive cuts to the federal government by President Donald Trump, his Senior Advisor Elon Musk and the recently formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The firings are the administration’s first at NASA and make the agency the only one thus far to preemptively terminate career employees, rather than those still working under a probationary period.

NASA offices that were shuttered by DOGE include the Office of the Chief Scientists; the Office of Technology, Policy and Strategy; and the Office of Diversity and Equal Opportunity’s branch of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility.

The last was closed in compliance with Trump’s January 20 executive order to cut diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives throughout the federal government.

“To optimize our [workforce], and in compliance with an executive order, NASA is beginning its phased approach to a reduction in force, known as a RIF,” NASA spokesperson Cheryl Warner said in an email, as The New York Times reported. “A small number of individuals received notification Monday they are a part of NASA’s RIF.”

The other two offices that were closed offered ways to connect strategy across the agency’s departments and divisions, while giving advice on matters of science and technology to NASA’s chief administrator.

By closing these offices, “you will lose strategic thinking,” said a NASA staff member familiar with the offices’ structure who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation, as reported by Nature.

Grant Tremblay, external relations lead at the Harvard and Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, criticized the moves in a post on X, “NASA is small, but it is arguably the most legendary and globally beloved agency in American history. Its gutting has begun, & the cuts to come are so massive that we won’t recognize it in a year.”

The post NASA Firings Under Trump Suggest ‘We Won’t Recognize It in a Year,’ Experts Warn appeared first on EcoWatch.

Trump’s Energy Secretary Chris Wright Tells Fossil Fuel Execs He Wants to ‘Play a Role in Reversing’ Biden Climate Policies

Posted on by March 11, 2025

United States Energy Secretary Chris Wright on Monday delivered a blunt critique of the energy and climate policies of the Biden administration to a group of oil and gas executives, promising a “180 degree pivot.”

The former fracking executive is fully behind President Donald Trump’s plan to expand fossil fuel production in the U.S. while doing away with federal policies to mitigate global heating.

“I wanted to play a role in reversing what I believe has been a very poor direction in energy policy,” Wright said during the kickoff to the CERAWeek by S&P Global energy conference in Houston, as The New York Times reported. “The previous administration’s policy was focused myopically on climate change, with people as simply collateral damage.”

Wright has been dismissive of renewable energy, saying it makes up a small portion of the global energy mix. He pointed out that a quarter of the world’s energy is supplied by natural gas, with solar and wind producing roughly three percent.

“Beyond the obvious scale and cost problems, there is simply no physical way wind, solar and batteries could replace the myriad uses of natural gas,” Wright said.

Wright argued that fossil fuels are important for the alleviation of poverty worldwide, saying reducing emissions too quickly could drive up global energy prices.

He called countries’ efforts to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by midcentury a “sinister goal.”

Wright’s comments did not address the adverse effects of fossil fuels and global heating on the planet.

“One of the transformations caused by American fossil fuels was destroying our previously well-balanced climate and plunging some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in Africa into a life dealing with extreme weather and lost homes and livelihoods,” said Mohamed Adow, founding director of NGO Power Shift Africa, a think tank based in Nairobi, as reported by The Guardian.

Oil and gas executives at the conference expressed agreement with Wright’s comments, saying fossil fuels are the best way to help people in the world’s developing nations.

“There are billions of people on this planet that still live sad, short, difficult lives because they live in energy poverty, and that’s a shame,” said Michael Wirth, Chevron’s chief executive, as The New York Times reported.

Many countries have been investing in renewable energy in recent years. In 2024, approximately $1.2 trillion was invested by nations in solar, wind, electric grids and batteries — more than the $1.1 trillion spent on gas, oil and coal infrastructure, the International Energy Agency said.

Calling himself a “climate realist,” Wright said that, while he didn’t deny global warming, rising greenhouse gas emissions caused by the burning of fossil fuels were a “side effect of the modern world.”

“We have indeed raised global atmospheric CO2 concentration by 50 percent in the process of more than doubling human life expectancy, lifting almost all of the world’s citizens out of grinding poverty, launching modern medicine,” Wright said, as reported by The New York Times. “Everything in life involves trade-offs.”

Wright said he supports advanced geothermal and nuclear power, but that the Trump administration’s “all-of-the-above” energy approach was not likely to include wind farms, saying they were opposed by some communities.

“Wind has been singled out because it’s had a singularly poor record of driving up prices and getting increasing citizen outrage, whether you’re a farm or you’re in a coastal community,” Wright said.

Wright’s CERAWeek speech was not made available via livestream to the public, angering climate activists.

“As energy secretary, Chris Wright is supposed to serve the American people, not the fossil fuel industry,” said Allie Rosenbluth, campaign manager with nonprofit Oil Change International, as The Guardian reported. “It’s unacceptable, though not surprising, that this former fracking CEO is depriving the public of the chance to see what he’s saying to fossil fuel executives.”

The post Trump’s Energy Secretary Chris Wright Tells Fossil Fuel Execs He Wants to ‘Play a Role in Reversing’ Biden Climate Policies appeared first on EcoWatch.

Only Seven Countries Meet WHO Air Quality Guidelines on PM2.5: Report

Posted on by March 11, 2025

Most countries around the world have air quality that is worse than the guidelines set by the World Health Organization (WHO), according to the latest World Air Quality Report by IQAir.

The seventh-annual World Air Quality Report collected data from 40,000 air quality monitoring stations across 138 countries, territories and regions. The results revealed that only seven countries meet the annual average guideline for fine particulate matter, or PM2.5, of 5 micrograms per cubic meter (5 µg/m3) as set by WHO. The countries that meet this target include Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Estonia, Grenada, Iceland and New Zealand.

Further, the report found that just 17% of all cities globally meet WHO’s air pollution guidelines with Mayaguez, Puerto Rico topping the list of cities with the cleanest air. The city had an annual average of 1.1 µg/m3 of PM2.5 levels for 2024. 

In terms of regions, IQAir found that Oceania had the world’s cleanest air, with 57% of cities in this region having 5 µg/m3 or less annual average PM2.5 levels.

The report also detailed countries and cities with the poorest air quality levels. The five countries with the worst air quality included Chad with 91.8 µg/m3, Bangladesh with 78 µg/m3, Pakistan with 73.7 µg/m3, Democratic Republic of the Congo with 58.2 µg/m3 and India with 50.6 µg/m3. 

Further, IQAir noted that of the 138 countries, territories and regions surveyed, 126 (or over 91%) surpassed the WHO guideline for fine particulates.

The city with the most polluted air in 2024 was Byrnihat, India, which reached an annual average PM2.5 concentration of 128.2 µg/m3. In the U.S., Los Angeles was the most-polluted major city, while Ontario, California was the most-polluted city of any size overall in the country.

Based on the findings, IQAir highlighted the importance of expanding air quality monitoring sites to collect more data that can inform policies to curb pollution.

“Air pollution remains a critical threat to both human health and environmental stability, yet vast populations remain unaware of their exposure levels,” Frank Hammes, Global CEO of IQAir, said in a statement. “Air quality data saves lives. It creates much needed awareness, informs policy decisions, guiding public health interventions, and empowers communities to take action to reduce air pollution and protect future generations.”

As The Guardian reported, there is no determined safe level of PM2.5. Fine particulate matter can come from fire smoke, smoke from wood-burning stoves or fireplaces, vehicle exhaust, industry processes and more, according to Environment Protection Authority Victoria. Because of the small size of the particles, PM2.5 can enter the lungs and bloodstream. Over time, exposure to high levels of PM2.5 can lead to negative health impacts — including impaired cognitive functioning and reduced lung functioning in children and increased risk of worsening heart disease, increased risk of lung cancer, and impaired cognitive functioning in adults — and has been linked to premature death, as reported by the American Lung Association.

“Air pollution doesn’t kill us immediately — it takes maybe two to three decades before we see the impacts on health, unless it’s very extreme,” Hammes told The Guardian. “[Avoiding it] is one of those preventative things people don’t think about till too late in their lives.”

The post Only Seven Countries Meet WHO Air Quality Guidelines on PM2.5: Report appeared first on EcoWatch.

Trump’s DOJ Drops Environmental Justice Lawsuit Against Chemical Plant in ‘Cancer Alley’

Posted on by March 11, 2025

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.

The post Trump’s DOJ Drops Environmental Justice Lawsuit Against Chemical Plant in ‘Cancer Alley’ appeared first on EcoWatch.