• People

Justice Ginsburg’s Death Puts Supreme Court on Even Shakier Ground for Environmental Cases

• clean air
• clean water
• climate change
• Ruth Bader Ginsburg
• Supreme Court

Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a rock-steady vote in favor of environmental protection and sympathetic on issues involving clean water and air.

Why This Matters:  There are many challenges to President Trump’s rollbacks of environmental laws that are working their way to the Supreme Court. Once there, the Court can effectively re-write those laws narrowing them considerably by upholding the Trump deregulatory position even if it is contrary to prior interpretations or other plausible interpretations of the statute itself. 

• Politics

Catching Rainwater to Avert Mexico City’s Water Shortages

• clean water
• Isla Urbina
• Mexico City
• rain water
• safe drinking water

By Julia Fine, ODP Contributing Writer The current global pandemic has effectively made water access even more crucial, as lack of clean water exacerbates the spread of COVID-19. One non-profit in Mexico City, a place with an immense amount of rainfall yet a scarcity of potable water for the city’s 20 million residents, is trying […]

• Politics

DNC Night 4: Joe Biden’s Acceptance Speech Is Infused With the Climate Crisis and Possibilities

• #BuildBackBetter
• #JoeBiden
• clean water
• climate change
• climate crisis
• Joe Biden

The last night of the Democratic National Convention began with climate change front and center.  Vice President Joe Biden infused climate change throughout his acceptance speech — sometimes explicitly and other times as an allusion in his vision for the future. 

Why This Matters: Climate change and the environment are on the ballot and only one candidate will take them on — Joe Biden.  

• Energy

NC Denies Pipeline Project Permit Due to Water Quality and Project Risks

• clean water
• Endangered Species Act
• fracking
• Mountain Valley Pipeline
• natural gas
• pipeline
• safe drinking water

The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NC DEQ) on Monday rejected the permit application of the MVP Southgate natural gas pipeline project, a $458M, 75-mile extension of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) that would cross numerous water bodies. 

Why This Matters: This is yet another blow to the natural gas and pipeline industries.

• Politics

House Dems Pack the “Minibus” Government Funding Bill With Environmental Fixes

• Appropriations
• clean air
• clean water
• conservation
• environment
• House of Representatives
• minibus
• PFAS
• rollback

It’s the time of year that Congress passes funding bills for agencies and this year’s mashup of bills — known as a “minibus” because it only funds some parts of the government — is chock full of environmental provisions intended to reverse Trump rollbacks, take actions the Administration has blocked, and to prevent them from taking others.

Why This Matters:  There are more than 100 environmental amendments that the House will debate and many will pass only on party lines.

• Water

Clean Water Protections Under President Trump Continue to Be Eroded

• clean water
• Clean Water Act
• regulations
• rollback
• safe drinking water
• WOTUS

The Trump Administration’s severe rollback of the Clean Water Act’s coverage went into effect yesterday with numerous non-profits and states vowing litigation, and Colorado has already successfully pushed back implementing the new rule.  In addition, last week the administration decided not to regulate a chemical used in rocket fuel that has been linked to developmental damage ans the Massachusetts state Department of Environmental Protection failed to send federal regulators reports about the safety of watersheds required by the Act, according to the state auditor.

Why This Matters:  There is not much left of the Clean Water Act with the Trump Administration at the helm of the so-called Environmental Protection Agency.