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EPA boasts of clean energy advances as reversal threat looms
By Shannon Kelleher
In the final week before Donald Trump takes office, federal regulators announced today that the Biden administration has awarded nearly $69 billion through two historic pieces of legislation designed to slash greenhouse gas emissions, lower energy costs, support the clean energy transition and help communities address pollution.
“In just three years, [the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)] has funded thousands of incredibly popular projects in every part of the country, from electrifying school buses in rural Texas to replacing lead pipes in Pittsburgh,” Zealan Hoover, senior advisor to the EPA administrator, said on a press call Friday.
As of Jan. 6, the EPA had awarded 93% of grant funding made available by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), according to the new report. Biden signed the IRA in August 2022, with the administration calling it “the largest investment in clean energy and climate action ever.” The agency has awarded 82% of funding through the so-called Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), which passed in November 2021.
The report comes amid concerns that a Republican budget reconciliation bill could seek to reverse the IRA. A list of “spending reform options” reportedly distributed among House Republicans includes reversing $468 billion in Biden climate policies, which would entail repealing, among other measures, IRA green energy grants.
But while it may be easier to repeal the IRA under a Republican-controlled federal government, Republican lawmakers may hesitate to get rid of funding that benefits their constituents, according to the Brookings Institute, an independent, non-partisan think tank.
Almost 60% of announced IRA projects are in Republican congressional districts, according to a two-year review of the IRA released in August. That month, 18 Republican House Representatives signed a letter calling for attempts to repeal the IRA to leave the legislation’s energy tax credits in place.
As Los Angeles fires rage, states battle over effort to make oil and gas industry accountable for climate change harms
By Dana Drugmand
As fires rage through southern California, the costs of extreme weather events linked to climate change are forecast to keep climbing – adding fuel to growing efforts by some US states to make the oil and gas industry liable for helping foot the bill despite looming legal challenges.
Vermont fired the first shot against the industry last year when it enacted a novel “climate superfund” law aimed at recovering state costs associated with greenhouse gas emissions that drive harmful climate change. New York passed similar legislation last month.
Similar legislation has been introduced in Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and California, as well as at the federal level. While the federal bill is not expected to make headway in a Republican-controlled Congress, climate activists are pushing Democrat-led states to embrace the legislation as a way to show climate leadership amidst a second Trump administration that has promised to promote the interests of the oil and gas industry and roll back environmental regulations.
Supporters of the legislative moves held a Jan 7 press conference highlighting the actions. Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, told reporters at that press conference that she is “extremely optimistic” that California will enact its version of the climate superfund policy this year.
Experts have said the devastating wildfires raging through the Los Angeles area and surrounding communities in early January are directly tied to climate change as prolonged drought and higher temperatures have left vegetation highly flammable. The costs of the disaster have been estimated at more than $20 billion.
Scientists issue “call to arms” to protect children’s health from chemicals causing disease
By Carey Gillam
Children are suffering and dying from diseases that emerging scientific research links to chemical exposures, findings that require urgent revamping of laws around the world, according to a new paper published on Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
Authored by more than 20 leading public health researchers, including one from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and another from the United Nations, the paper lays out “a large body of evidence” linking multiple childhood diseases to synthetic chemicals, and recommends a series of aggressive actions to try to better protect children.
The paper is a “call to arms,” to forge an “actual commitment to the health of our children,” said Linda Birnbaum, former director of the US National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and a co-author of the paper.
In conjunction with the release of the paper, some of the study authors are helping launch an Institute for Preventive Health to support the recommendations outlined in the paper and to help fund implementation of reforms. A key player in launching the institute is Robertson Stephens Wealth Management Vice President Anne Robertson, who is a member of the family that built RJ Reynolds Tobacco.
The paper points to data showing global inventories of roughly 350,000 synthetic chemicals, chemical mixtures and plastics, most of which are derived from fossil fuels. Production has expanded 50-fold since 1950, and is currently increasing by about 3% per year – projected to triple by 2050, the paper states.
Meanwhile, noncommunicable diseases, including many that research shows can be caused by synthetic chemicals, are rising in children and have become the principal cause of death and illness for children, the authors write.
Despite the connections, which the authors say “continue to be discovered with distressing frequency,” there are very few restrictions on such chemicals and no post-market surveillance for longer-term adverse health effects.
“The evidence is so overwhelming and the effects of manufactured chemicals are so disruptive for children, that inaction is no longer an option,” said Daniele Mandrioli, a co-author of the paper and director of the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center at the Ramazzini Institute in Italy. “Our article highlights the necessity for a paradigm shift in chemical testing and regulations to safeguard children’s health.”
Postcard from California: State and feds head for showdown over electric cars
Of California’s dozens of landmark laws to curb climate-heating greenhouse gases and health-threatening air pollution, none is more ambitious than the rule that by 2035 all new passenger cars and trucks sold must be zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) that run on electricity.
Contrary to the inflammatory rhetoric of its critics, the ZEV rule is not a total ban on gasoline or diesel vehicles. In 2035 and beyond, Californians could still drive their existing gasoline cars or buy used ones.
But by electrifying the state’s fleet over time, the rule would steadily reduce tailpipe emissions, which are by far the largest source of greenhouse gases in California. It would also slash emissions of smog-forming air contaminants, averting thousands of heart attacks and strokes and hundreds of thousands of asthma attacks.
The Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California at Davis calls the ZEV rule “one of the most daring and controversial air quality policies ever adopted.” Eleven other states have signed on, extending its reach to 40% of the US population.
California lawmakers adopted the current version of the ZEV rule in 2022. But to implement it, the state needed a waiver from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), allowing California to set stricter emissions standards than federal rules.
In one of the last major acts of the Biden administration, the EPA granted the waiver Dec. 18. It was a huge milestone in California’s clean-energy transition – but it also set up a high-stakes showdown between the state and the incoming Trump administration.
Fluorinated drugs, a type of PFAS, widely contaminating US drinking water
By Douglas Main
New research suggests that fluorinated pharmaceuticals — a category that includes well-known medications such as Prozac and Flonase — are showing up in the water supply of millions of people. These drugs and their breakdown products are technically classified as being per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), also known as “forever chemicals,” which as a chemical class is the subject of worldwide health concern.
A study published January 6 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that the bulk of PFAS entering and exiting wastewater treatment plants is made up of these fluorinated drugs. Notably, the researchers determined that the pharmaceuticals were largely not removed from the water by conventional wastewater treatment practices.
This pharmaceutical material “doesn’t get treated in the wastewater treatment plant, and it doesn’t break down,” said Bridger Ruyle, study co-author and researcher at New York University. “And we know [these chemicals] can be re-entering drinking water supplies.”
The study estimates that this material contaminates the water supply of around 23 million Americans, Ruyle said.
These drugs enter wastewater after being excreted by people. About 50% of drinking water utilities are located downstream of a wastewater outflow plant and regularly use varying amounts of this water.
A slight majority of this material was made up of only four drugs and one of their metabolites: the arthritis medication Celecoxib (Celebrex); flecainide (Tambocor), prescribed for arrhythmia; maraviroc (Selzentry), and one of its metabolites, used to treat HIV; and sitaglipt (Januvia), a diabetes drug.
“We don’t know that much about what the exposures or health risks are” for those drinking small concentrations of this material, Ruyle said.
Landmark study affirms fluoride’s link to lowered IQ, adds to debate
By Douglas Main
Fluoride exposure is consistently linked with lowered IQ, according to a landmark analysis of more than 70 published studies on the subject.
The paper, published January 6 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics and authored by scientists with the National Institutes of Health, found a significant inverse relationship between measures of fluoride exposure and IQ in 64 of 74 studies.
The study, the largest meta-analysis of its kind, found that those exposed to high levels of fluoride have measurably lower IQs, equivalent to a difference of nearly 7 IQ points, compared to those in the low fluoride groups. This conclusion came from 59 studies that looked at levels higher than those used in water fluoridation.
The study found the link between fluoride and IQ loss persisted even at low levels of fluoride, as measured in human urine samples.
The meta-analysis is an offshoot of the National Toxicology Program’s investigation into fluoride’s likely impact on neurodevelopment and cognition, published in August 2024, and comes at a time of heightened scrutiny of, and debate over, the practice of fluoridation of public drinking water.
In a seven-year-long court case that wrapped up in September 2024, US District Judge Edward Chen of the Northern District of California, ordered the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to take regulatory action to eliminate the “unreasonable risk” that water fluoridation presents. The fluoridation of water at 0.7 ppm “poses an unreasonable risk of reduced IQ in children,” Chen wrote in his decision.
Many researchers are sharply divided over the issue, however.
Tribunal says Mexico violated trade agreement in banning GM corn
By Douglas Main
An international tribunal set up to resolve disputes between the United States, Mexico, and Canada has ruled that Mexico violated the terms of the international trade agreement in banning the import of genetically modified (GM) corn for human consumption.
The decision, handed down by a commission set up under the auspices of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), was criticized by over a dozen civil and environmental groups, who argue that Mexico is well within its rights to restrict the import of this material for health precautions and others reasons.
Mexico has argued that it needs to ban GM corn to protect its citizens and the environment. Earlier this year, it filed a 189-page document with the tribunal outlining what it sees as the risks posed by GM corn and glyphosate.
“Mexico has legitimate concerns about the safety and innocuousness of genetically modified corn… and its indissoluble relationship with its technological package that includes glyphosate,” the Mexican government’s report states. There is “clear scientific evidence of the harmful effects of direct consumption of GM corn grain in corn flour, dough, tortilla and related products,” Mexico stated. More evidence is needed, Mexico says, to determine “whether and to what extent, such risks are transmitted to food products further downstream.”
The Mexican government said in a statement it would comply with the ruling. “The Government of Mexico does not share the panel’s determination, as it considers that the measures in question are in line with the principles of protection of public health and the rights of indigenous peoples, established in national legislation and in the international treaties to which it is a party.”
Genetically modified corn is used by most US growers; companies have engineered the crop to be toxic to certain insects and to tolerate being sprayed with certain herbicides. Corn, and products made with corn, have often been found to be contaminated with glyphosate, one of the active ingredients in Roundup weed killer, for instance, because farmers can spray the pesticide directly over the growing crop to kill surrounding weeds.
The U.S. has not done or commissioned the research necessary to really determine if GM corn has long-term effects on human health, said Chuck Benbrook, a long-time consultant and expert who worked with Friends of the Earth in defending the Mexican position. “The US government never did [an] appropriate risk assessment of GM corn, period,” he said.
Boosting LNG exports would harm people and the planet, DOE report concludes
By Shannon Kelleher
The US Department of Energy (DOE) this week released a report that concludes a rise in exports from the booming natural gas industry would lead to greater global fossil fuel emissions, expose already-vulnerable communities to more pollution and raise gas prices for consumers.
The publication “reinforces that a business as-usual approach is neither sustainable nor advisable,” said US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm in a statement.
“Unfettered” liquified natural gas (LNG) exports would increase the price of wholesale natural gas in the US by over 30%, said Granholm, impacting households, farmers and industry. The study also concluded that current US LNG exports are “already more than enough to meet global demand,” she said, and that while LNG has been suggested as an alternative to coal for some countries, the study “shows a world in which additional US LNG exports displace more renewables than coal globally.”
The report, published Dec. 17, comes after the Biden administration last January announced a pause on pending applications for facilities that export liquified natural gas (LNG) while the DOE reviewed the approval process, citing climate change considerations. In September, more than 125 scientists signed a letter addressed to Granholm and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, warning that the increase in natural gas production threatens to worsen climate change and jeopardize public health and the environment.
“Our hope is that we can now assess the future of natural gas exports based on the facts and ensure authorizations are reviewed in a manner that truly advances the public interest of all the American people,” said Granholm. “Special scrutiny needs to be applied toward very large LNG projects,” she added, noting that a project that exports 4 billion cubic feet of LNG per day would singlehandedly emit more climate-warming greenhouse gases than almost three-quarters of the world’s countries each did in 2023.
Montana Supreme Court upholds historic youth climate lawsuit win
By Dana Drugmand
The Montana Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld a trial court ruling in a youth-led case against the Montana state government, affirming that the sixteen young plaintiffs have a right to a “stable climate system.” The decision marks what legal observers say is a landmark achievement in US climate litigation that is likely to inspire more lawsuits seeking to hold governments accountable for climate change harms in the US and around the world.
In the 6-1 decision, the court ruled against the state in its appeal of the August 2023 verdict in Held et al. v. State of Montana, which went to trial in June 2023. Seeley found that a pair of state laws effectively shielding fossil fuel projects from public scrutiny over their climate impacts, and from judicial review of those impacts under the Montana Environmental Policy Act (MEPA), violate the state’s constitution, including the right to a clean and healthful environment. That environmental right includes the climate system, the court determined, and every additional ton of greenhouse gases emitted from fossil fuels – including from projects like coal mine expansion authorized by Montana regulatory agencies – exacerbates climate change damages and harms to Montana’s environment and the youth plaintiffs.
“This is a monumental moment for Montana, our youth, and the future of our planet,” Nate Bellinger, lead counsel for plaintiffs and a senior attorney with the nonprofit law firm Our Children’s Trust, said in a statement. “Today, the Montana Supreme Court has affirmed the constitutional rights of youth to a safe and livable climate, confirming that the future of our children cannot be sacrificed for fossil fuel interests.”
“This ruling is a victory not just for us, but for every young person whose future is threatened by climate change,” said lead plaintiff Rikki Held.
Beware the air you breathe – more evidence links microplastics to health problems
By Carey Gillam
People diagnosed with infertility and certain cancers may have to blame the very air they breathe, according to a new report that adds to evidence that tiny plastic particles in air pollution and other environmental sources could be causing these and other diseases and illnesses.
Researchers at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) said they reviewed approximately 3,000 studies in determining that exposure to microplastics – plastic particles less than 5 millimeters – may be causing a host of health problems in people, including colon cancer; chronic pulmonary inflammation, which can increase the risk of lung cancer; and infertility issues in both men and women.
The paper was published Wednesday in the Environmental Science & Technology journal.
“We urge regulatory agencies and policy leaders to consider the growing evidence of health harms from microplastics, including colon and lung cancer,” study lead author Nicholas Chartres said in a statement. Chartres, formerly with the UCSF Program on Reproductive Health and the Environment, is now with the University of Sydney.
The study expands on a 2023 collaboration between the research team and other experts aimed at informing state lawmakers.
Microplastics are increasingly drawing concerns from public and environmental health scientists as evidence builds showing they’ve become essentially ubiquitous, found in air, water, food, and within human tissues. One recent study that has not been peer reviewed found particularly concerning accumulation of microplastics in brain samples. The microplastics in air pollution can come from many sources, including tires and degrading garbage that shed tiny pieces of plastic into the air.