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Yesterday a startling study was published which analyzed 32 million U.S. births to reveal that pregnant women who are exposed to air pollution, high temperatures and ozone are more likely to have premature, underweight or stillborn babies. What’s worse is that Black mothers are at the highest risk of these pregnancy complications. As the New […]
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Pregnant women in rural California who lived near active oil and gas wells were 40% more likely to give birth to low birthweight babies, according to a new study. The study conducted by University of California researchers is the first to study how California’s network of oil and gas development affects babies born nearby. As […]
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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Houston Chronicle reported on Friday that the state of Texas has waived all monitoring and reporting requirements for oil and chemical companies because the companies claim they do not have the staff to conduct tests or file reports.
Why This Matters: The state only denied 10 of 140 requests for regulatory relief.
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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, Andrew Wheeler, appeared before Congress yesterday and when asked about all the rollbacks of environmental regulations by the agency recently, he defended his leadership saying “All our rules make things better.”
Why This Matters: It is patently clear that EPA is making things better for corporate polluters, not ordinary citizens who are negatively impacted by them.
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A study published yesterday in the journal Nature Climate Change found that greenhouse gas emissions are down by 17% globally compared to 2019 levels thanks to strict coronavirus lockdowns, which could result in as much as a 7% decline in emissions for the year.
Why This Matters: We need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 4-7% each year globally for the foreseeable future to keep global temperature increases in check.
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On Tuesday, the Trump administration proposed to leave in place the national ambient air quality standards for Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) or soot, even though the Agency’s science staff recommended tightening it, saying that a tougher standard would save 12,000 lives each year.
Why This Matters: Industry groups such as the American Petroleum Institute and the Chamber of Commerce “cheered” the decision saying the air in the U.S. is clean enough.
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