Red and white molecules

The Devil You Know… is not TFA (yet)

Through the modern industrial age, there’s always been a push-and-pull between the utility of our innovations and the risks they often inadvertently create. In the 70’s, we discovered the synthetic pesticide that was so effectively combating typhus and malaria, DDT, was causing breast cancer and impairing neurological development in babies. In the 80’s and 90’s, the CFCs that we used as aerosol propellants and refrigerant turned out to be damaging to the ozone layer.

Recently, it’s gotten more complicated: We still enjoy the increased power …

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Landfill with blue sky and cumulus clouds

EPA not Afraid of Changin’, Wants Landfills to Bring it (Methane Emission) Down

The Environmental Protection Agency intends to issue a rule updating its Clean Air Act emission standards for new and existing municipal solid waste (MSW) landfills to cut methane and other harmful landfill gas emissions. 

The rule follows another Clean Air Act-related proposal the EPA issued in January, designed to reduce emissions of nine pollutants, including smog- and soot-forming sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides by approximately 14,000 tons per year at MSW incinerators, as found here.

The EPA expects landfill operators to achieve these standards …

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Hazy morning pollution and dusty smoke and smog atmosphere in Bangkok

In Aftermath of Supreme Court Decisions in Ohio and Loper, EPA’s Defense of ‘Good Neighbor Plan’ Persists

The Environmental Protection Agency’s implementation of the 2015 National Ambient Air Quality Standards “Good Neighbor Plan” (GNP) was met with a fury of legal challenges (see ELM’s previous coverage of EPA’s GNP here).   

Then, on June 27, the Supreme Court in Ohio v. EPA (Ohio) issued a 5-4 opinion granting a temporary stay of EPA’s implementation of its Good Neighbor Plan (see ELM’s recent coverage of Ohio v. EPA here). However, in another landmark 5-4 decision that same day, the Supreme …

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Yellow school buses parked diagonally

August Means Back-to-[Microplastics] School

Plastics are inescapable. They are used in packaging, home supplies, medical devices, and countless other items. Naturally then, over the past several years, and as covered by ELM and GS’s Toxic Tort and Environmental Law team, microplastics have gained notoriety in the United States. These small fragments of plastic, smaller five millimeters, have increasingly been released into the environment — often into bodies of water — via production, use, or degradation. Microplastics have also been found in aquatic life and human organs.

Reflecting …

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Flag of California

California will Soon Vote on Proposed $10 Billion Climate Bond

In one of its last official acts before starting its summer recess earlier this month, the California legislature passed a bill putting Prop 4 on the November ballot, which would allow the state to borrow $10 billion plus interest toward addressing climate change. Before it gained the moniker “Prop 4,” the bond measure was initially called SB 867 – The Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024.

Passed on July 3 by both the California Senate and Assemblymembers, …

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High Angle View Of Beach

Who Owns the Beach? A Waterfront Case in Maine Makes Waves

As coastal erosion continues to shrink beaches, the sand that remains has become ever more valuable; and in Maine, a battle over the beach has reached the state’s highest court.

In most coastal states, the intertidal land — (the land subject to the ebb and flow of the tides) — is owned by the state in trust for the public under the public trust doctrine. Thus, the public is generally entitled to use the intertidal zone for recreational purposes. Maine is one of only a few …

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Big net thrown in the ocean capturing lots of fish

Common Summertime Eats – Fish and Shellfish: EPA Adds Various PFAS Compounds to Monitoring/Advisory Programs

On July 11, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued updated recommendations under the Clean Water Act for contaminants that states, Tribes, and territories should consider monitoring in locally caught, freshwater fish. For the first time, the EPA has added several per- and polyfluorinated substances (PFAS) to the contaminant list (e.g., PFDA, PFHxS, PFNA, PFOA, PFOS), in addition to lead, three cyanotoxins, a flame retardant, and amphetamine.

States, Tribes, and territories monitor and analyze contaminants in fish and shellfish caught in local, fresh waterbodies. When they …

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Aerial view of Planet Earth with clouds

GAO Study Greenlights Commercial Space Transportation

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is responsible for licensing the companies that charter private space transportation. To issue a license for commercial space travel, the FAA is required under the National Environmental Policy Act to assess how their licensees’ activities may impact the environment.

FAA policy requires before issuing a license for space travel that the agency assess 14 separate categories, including noise, coastal resources, and land use, for potential environmental impact. In addition to this environmental review, the FAA also assesses how commercial space …

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Long exposure of Hudson Yards and Midtown Manhattan across the Hudson River on a hazy day where the Canadian fire smoke engulfs the city including the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building

EPA Clearly Wants the Haze Gone

On a clear day, you can’t actually see forever — if you follow the blue sky out to the horizon, you will often see it become somewhat more pale and opaque, owing to ‘visible pollution,’ or “haze” — the result of the interaction of sunlight with particulate matter in the air.

Before the modern industrial age, haze was largely attributed to wind-blown dust, soot from wild-fires, and other types of volatile organic compounds (VOC) released by trees and plants into the atmosphere from America’s vast …

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Wind, sun and water energy.

You Say You Want a (Heavily Subsidized) Revolution: New Clean-Fuel Tech Could Provide Endless Green Mileage

Tech-savvy energy producers are currently looking for economically viable methods to create “green hydrogen” from water using renewable electricity. This technology, which can produce clean fuel for planes, ships, and trucks, could be the world’s biggest development in power generation since the 19th century. In particular, the creation of clean fuels for heavy vehicles could sharply reduce or even eliminate a major source of carbon emissions. Green hydrogen could also cut carbon pollution by providing an ingredient for fertilizers, or to refine steel, chemicals, and oil.

Electric motors can …

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