Emily Donovan

Trump Administration Said to Drop Lawsuit Over Toxic Chemical The Biden administration had sued to force the Denka Performance Elastomer plant in Louisiana to reduce emissions of chloroprene, a likely carcinogen.

Trump touted his admin's "Make America Healthy Again" agenda during yesterday's address.

What he didn't say is that the EPA plans to drop a lawsuit against a chemical manufacturer whose emissions fueled pollution and health problems in Louisiana's "Cancer Alley."

Hello?

“You take a clam and it is completely helpless. The only thing you can do is to take care of it. It brings out the emotions of affection.” 🥹

The US Treasury Claimed DOGE Technologist Didn’t Have ‘Write Access’ When He Actually Did Sources tell WIRED that the ability of DOGE's Marko Elez to alter code controlling trillions in federal spending was rescinded days after US Treasury and White House officials said it didn't exist.

DOGE operative Marko Elez got the ability to alter US Treasury payment system code on Feb 1, WIRED's sources say.

For days, Trump officials fed members of Congress and the press a different story.

Elez is out now for posts reading "I was racist before it was cool" and "normalize Indian hate."

Elon Musk's DOGE should be renamed DODGE - Department of Destroying Government Efficiently

Treasury Department Says DOGE Access Is ‘Read Only’ The letter comes after people tied to billionaire Elon Musk gained unusual access to the system.

We have two very different assessments of what's going on here:
1-The official story, from Treasury, that there's nothing to see here, it's just an "operational efficiency assessment"
2-The story from the IT professionals in the government, that this is a code rewrite in progress.
I believe #2.

Illegal Executive Spending Decisions Are Happening Now With the rightful concern about collapsing the U.S. payment system, we’ve lost sight of the illegality happening in real time: presidential impoundment of funds for disfavored causes.

Underneath the terrifying takeover of the payments system, the mass firings, etc., there are active impoundments illegal and unauthorized delays to federal spending, happening right now, in real time, that have been a bit memory-holed. So I try to elevate them here.
prospect.org/justice/2025...

Legit question—data has already been breached. How do we put it back and restore public trust?

Meanwhile, coastal NC residents are seeing home insurance rates spike bc frequent natural disaster payouts due to climate change are overwhelming the state insurance industry. State Farm in CA is already requesting emergency rate hikes. HSR is 90% more carbon efficient than driving.

Or what if they’re unable—like USAID.

And it’s been confirmed:

Completely failed us.

radio.wcmu.org/local-region...

“Please do not fail us,” she said. “Do it for the children in my region who no longer have their moms or dads.”

Mark Ruffalo presses Biden to act fast on ‘forever chemicals’ before Trump takes office Actor and activist Mark Ruffalo is urging the Biden administration to take decisive regulatory action on “forever chemicals,” as the return of President-elect Trump to the White House l…

Donovan credited the current president for finalizing the PFAS drinking water standard, but at the same time, she said she is “begging the Biden administration to allow the EPA to propose a rule to limit PFAS discharges.”

thehill.com/policy/energ...

Their Fertilizer Poisons Farmland. Now, They Want Protection From Lawsuits. A company controlled by Goldman Sachs is helping to lead a lobbying effort by makers of fertilizer linked to “forever chemicals.”

As always, great reporting on the complexities of this issue. There's a lot of farmland that probably needs to be tested!

www.nytimes.com/2024/12/06/c...

⚠️Europe's waters are polluted with PFAS⚠️

New briefing from the European Environment Agency shows PFAS pollution to be widespread throughout Europe's waters, often exceeding safe levels for human and environmental health!

Full briefing 👉 eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/...

#BanPFAS #ToxicFreeFuture

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'Frontlines of a crisis we did not create': Low-lying nations make climate case to ICJ - Pearls and Irritations Over the next two weeks, the court will hear statements from nearly 100 nations, including wealthy developed countries such as the US.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) heard arguments Monday in the largest climate case ever brought before it as a coalition of low-lying and developing nations demanded larger polluting nations be held to account. #auspol #climate

35% of NCians have private wells.

Anger at commission boils over during PFAS rules hearing | Coastal Review Public outrage greeted the state Environmental Management Commission Monday in Wilmington for its latency in adopting per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance health standards, for including only three comp...

Grateful for the heartfelt public comment in support of groundwater standards for (three) PFAS; the EMC should propose and adopt surface water quality standards as well. coastalreview.org/2024/12/publ...

If you use our tool to get your own file, here’s how to help our team learn more about the ways insurers deny claims … www.propublica.org/getinvolved/...