Day: April 6, 2017

Trump’s EPA moves to dismantle programs that protect kids from lead paint

Read the full story in the Washington Post.

Environmental Protection Agency officials are proposing to eliminate two programs focused on limiting children’s exposure to lead-based paint, which is known to cause damage to developing brains and nervous systems.

The proposed cuts, outlined in a 64-page budget memo revealed by The Washington Post on Friday, would roll back programs aimed at reducing lead risks by $16.61 million and more than 70 employees, in line with a broader project by the Trump administration to devolve responsibility for environmental and health protection to state and local governments.

Trump wants to slash funds for the outside experts who make sure EPA gets the science right

Read the full story in the Washington Post.

It’s nowhere near the biggest proposed cut to the Environmental Protection Agency by the Trump administration. But it could be the most symbolic.

In a 64-page agency budget document revealed by the Post Friday, a particularly deep cut is aimed at the agency’s 47-member Science Advisory Board, an august panel of outside advisers to the EPA created by Congress in 1978. The board, which is mostly comprised of academic scientists, reviews EPA research to ensure that environmental regulations have a sound foundation.

Wealth didn’t matter. Pollution from a coal-fired plant, carried miles by wind, still hurt their babies.

Read the full story in the Washington Post.

Air pollution from power plants has wanderlust. It never stays still. It rides the wind, drifting far from its source, visiting homes miles away with potentially harmful effects.

New research released Monday documents the impact that pollution from a coal-fired plant in Pennsylvania had on four wealthy New Jersey counties as far as 30 miles downwind. Women in those counties had a greater risk of having babies of low or very low birthweight — less than 5½ pounds — than did women in similarly affluent areas.

With Climate Change Deniers in Charge, Time for Scientists to Step Up

In a Yale e360 interview, researcher Kevin Trenberth talks about why climate scientists need to speak out in the face of the Trump administration’s denial of the facts about climate change.

China Calls Trump and U.S. ‘Selfish’ Over Climate Change Policies

Read the full story at Triple Pundit.

Watch for a war of words to erupt between U.S. President Donald Trump and “Jina” at any moment.

A major Chinese daily, the Global Times, lashed out at Trump on Thursday in the wake of the White House announcement that it would overturn many climate-related policies implemented under the former Barack Obama administration. While Trump insists these moves are necessary to save the U.S. coal-mining industry and its jobs, the Global Times’ editors attacked the policy shifts as a “retreat from action” on moving the world toward a low-carbon economy.

Nike Jumps On Upcycling Bandwagon With New Shoe Packaging

Read the full story at Triple Pundit.

Nike’s new shoe packaging is made from 100 percent post-consumer waste, including milk and orange juice containers and coffee lids. The shoe boxes are made from a single process of polypropylene with no added chemicals.

Potentially Explosive Methane Gas Mobile in Groundwater, Poses Safety Risk: Study

Read the full story from the University of Guelph.

Potentially explosive methane gas leaking from energy wells may travel extensively through groundwater and pose a safety risk, according to a new study by University of Guelph researchers.