Environmental Integrity Project

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Trump Administration Proposes to Strip Protections from 70 Million Acres of Wetlands

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Approving these pesticides without stronger safety data is reckless. EPA should require more research before allowing their widespread use, so people, agricultural workers, and ecosystems aren’t exposed to chemicals with known links to serious health risks.

The move comes just two weeks after the agency approved another pesticide, cyclobutrifluram, for similarly wide use. Both chemicals contain toxic PFAS which are linked to increased risk of a host of health effects, including certain cancers.

On Nov. 18, EPA approved the use of the pesticide isocycloseram on golf courses, institutional settings, and decorative lawns, as well as on a host of crops, including cereal grains, dozens of types of peas and beans, tomatoes, oranges, almonds, and more. time.com/7336883/epa-...

Cutting methane limits and weakening EPA authority may save industry money, but it shifts the cost to communities and the climate. Delays like are major setbacks to protecting public health and the environment.

Administrator Zeldin said the delay would save oil and gas companies an estimated $750 million over 11 years in compliance costs. EPA is also working to erase the government’s legal authority to limit greenhouse gas emissions from car tailpipes and power plant smokestacks.

EPA is delaying methane-cutting requirement for oil and gas operators, pushing compliance to January 2027 and considering scrapping the rule entirely. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/c...

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Pennsylvania must prioritize plugging these wells now that we better understand their methane leaks and groundwater contamination. With evidence of dissolved metals and air pollution, delaying action risks greater harm to public health.

“Until this study, we have had a much less comprehensive picture on the groundwater impacts, which could influence decision-making around well plugging,” according to the corresponding author Samuel Shaheen.

The researchers noted that though many studies have been conducted on atmospheric emissions, this is one of the first that studied how unplugged wells can pollute groundwater.

Researchers from Penn State surveyed 18 abandoned oil and gas wells in and around the Allegheny National Forest and found they were leaking methane into the air and groundwater, with some sites showing elevated levels of dissolved iron and arsenic. www.psu.edu/news/earth-a...

BREAKING NEWS: PA Food Processing Plant Fined $1.1 Million for Pollution Violations in Chesapeake Tributary

Sarah Kula, Attorney for the Environmental Integrity Project, said: “It is great news that Hanover is taking real action to address Clean Water Act violations at its facility and ensure compliance in the future. We were pleased to work with EPA and the Pennsylvania DEP to reach this important agreement to protect Codorus Creek. It’s encouraging to see the government agencies working cooperatively with local clean water activists to solve a problem like this.”

BREAKING NEWS: PA Food Processing Plant Fined $1.1 Million for Pollution Violations in Chesapeake Tributary

Learn more: environmentalintegrity.org/news/pa-food...

Fenceline Monitoring Dashboard | Environmental Integrity Monitoring for invisible, toxic pollutants like benzene along the fencelines of industrial sites can help reduce pollution and protect workers and nearby communities. Benzene is a carcinogen and…

Learn more and subscribe: environmentalintegrity.org/fenceline-mo...

In our newly uploaded data on our Fenceline Monitoring Dashboard, three chemical plants – Exxon Beaumont Chemical Plant, Exxon Baytown Chemical Plant, and LyondellBasell Clinton Plant – exceeded the action level threshold requiring them to address the excess emissions.

NEW ALERT: As of Oct. 22, three chemical plants are over EPA's action level for benzene and should take steps to reduce emissions.

Secretary Wright’s push for more fossil fuels ignores the urgent need to cut emissions and expand clean energy. Telling Europe to double down on oil and gas, instead of accelerating renewables, deepens the climate crisis and delays the transition to more clean energy.

Wright also said that he wanted the U.S. to replace "every molecule" of Russian gas that goes into Western Europe.

"It just hasn’t worked," U.S. energy secretary Chris Wright said of the transition to renewable energy at the conference, where U.S. companies announced deals to supply and drill for gas in Europe.

At an energy conference in Athens last week, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright said the world should focus on securing reliable supplies of fossil fuels, hoping to convince European countries to buy more American oil and gas. www.reuters.com/sustainabili...

This report makes clear that climate change is already uprooting lives on an extremely large scale. With 250 million people displaced in the past decade, many in countries least responsible for the crisis, we must act now to cut emissions and protect communities.

Almost half the world’s displaced people are facing conflict and climate impacts in politically fragile states like Sudan, Syria, Haiti, and Yemen. These countries contribute negligibly to global greenhouse gas emissions yet have limited access to climate finance and solutions needed to adapt.

Climate disasters displaced 250 million people in past 10 years, UN report finds Floods, storms and droughts have uprooted people across the globe as rising temperatures intensify conflict and hunger

Three-quarters of refugees and other displaced people live in countries facing high or extreme exposure to climate-related hazards. www.theguardian.com/environment/...

A new report by the UN Refugee Agency finds that climate-related disasters have forcibly displaced 250 million people globally over the past decade, the equivalent of 70,000 displacements every day.

Rolling back the HFC phaseout hurts businesses that already invested in cleaner refrigerants and delays progress on cutting planet-warming pollution. This will also disrupt markets, create uncertainty, and set back a climate win that industry had already embraced.

The law accelerated an industry shift to alternative refrigerants that use less harmful chemicals and are widely available.

The 2020 law signed by Trump, known as the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act, phased out hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, as part of an international agreement on ozone pollution.

Near the end of his first term, President Trump signed into law a bill that aimed to reduce harmful, planet-warming pollutants emitted by refrigerators and air conditioners. Now the Trump Administration is reversing course by weakening a federal rule based on the law. apnews.com/article/hfc-...

Weakening TSCA reviews and removing safety requirements puts public health at risk. This could lead to more hazardous chemicals in our communities with fewer safeguards and less accountability.

EPA plans to weaken chemical reviews by dropping the requirement to assess all uses and exposure routes, reducing the amount of data manufacturers must provide, and letting the agency rule some uses safe instead of judging overall chemical risk.