Miranda Willson

How DC dodged a bullet in Potomac River sewage spill The record-setting sewage spill could have been much worse — a warning for the region's vulnerable water supply and old infrastructure nationwide.

“We were very fortunate that the collapse occurred downstream from the primary drinking water intakes,” said Michael Nardolilli, executive director of the Interstate Commission on the Potomac River Basin. “It’s better to be lucky than good, but there’s only so much luck that can go around here.”

E&E News: Where the ‘Fork’ took a bite out of EPA The agency’s loss of scientific know-how put "a knife into the heart" of its research enterprise.

Great story, with charts and detailed breakdowns, about the exodus of EPA career staff (especially research scientists) over the past year from my colleague @kevinbogardus.bsky.social
subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eene...

Trump fixates on sewage, a favored talking point, in fight with Wes Moore

Growing evidence points to link between autism and wildfire smoke Two new studies have identified an alarming connection between exposure to wildfire smoke during pregnancy and autism in young children.

There is no evidence that vaccines cause autism, but there is growing research that shows a link between wildfire smoke exposure in pregnant mothers and autism diagnoses. Two studies published in the last month indicate wildfire smoke has profound neurological impacts: grist.org/health/growi...

MacKenzie Scott has the chance to do the funniest thing right now.

E&E News: Army Corps fires commander who clashed with lakefront homeowners Little Rock District Commander Patrick Caukin’s shoreline management angered homeowners at Table Rock Lake in Missouri’s Ozark Mountains.

“This sounds more like the commander [was] looking out for public safety & ensuring he can deliver benefits like recreation & flood control for all the taxpayers, not just those that complain about good development standards,” said a former Army Corps official, who sees the firing as highly unusual.

Water rule rollback stokes affordability concerns The Trump administration says the regulation will ease permitting expenses. Utilities say costs could shift to them and their customers.

“The affordability issue is already a challenge, & this is going to exacerbate that even further,” said Tony Parrott, who heads up the sewer district in Louisville, Kentucky. “If we’re losing that layer of wetlands as a tool, it means we’re going to have to make larger investments on the back end.”

E&E News: EPA proposal limits state veto power for energy projects The plan aims to fast-track permits and would make it harder for states to block projects or impose environmental conditions on them.

EPA's push to limit the scope of the Clean Water Act continued today, with the agency releasing a new rule that could make it harder for states to block energy projects that have the potential to pollute waterways.

Interior Secretary Burgum asked public land users to flag ‘negative’ depictions of American history. Wyoming criticized the effort instead. - WyoFile Environmental group’s public records request shows few residents took the initiative to respond, and those who did were critical and 'embarrassed' by the Trump administration’s effort.

Public records released via an environmental group's Freedom of Information Act request show few residents took the initiative to respond, and those who did were critical and "embarrassed" by the Trump administration's effort.

States push to end secrecy over data center water use The effort is drawing bipartisan support and is expected to come up again next year as officials grapple with the artificial intelligence boom’s side

“I don’t think we have enough good data to know how much [water] is being used,” said Virginia state Sen. Richard Stuart, a Republican in the Virginia legislature whose district has become a hub for data centers.

A neutral arbiter agrees: @politico.com violated our contract and its own journalistic standards when it deployed AI.

Our readers deserve news, not slop!

wbng.org/2025/12/01/p...

Meet the Republicans who killed solar subsidies — after using them POLITICO’s E&E News examined satellite imagery of more than 100 homes owned by Republican lawmakers to see if they have solar panels. Seven had rooftop arrays.

Meet the Republicans who killed solar subsidies — after using them

New: Conde Nast fired four employees who were among a group that confronted the company's head of human resources on Wednesday over the decision to fold Teen Vogue into Vogue/recent cuts. Employees who were fired included journalists from the New Yorker, Wired, and Bon Appétit.

EPA: Superfund cleanup ‘likely’ fouled Pennsylvania town’s water Municipal sewage sludge was used as fertilizer in the project that began decades ago in Palmerton, where PFAS now taint soil and water.

Recently, I started to look into how PFAS chemicals came to be a Pennsylvania town's drinking water. I had heard the PFAS might have come from a surprising source: an EPA-approved cleanup plan at a Superfund site.

Now, EPA has found that the use of sewage sludge during cleanup was a likely factor.

EPA flush with cash for ‘priority’ staff The agency is taking an unprecedented approach to furloughs during this latest government shutdown.

EPA still has a "walking around money" left over in fy 2026. But it's choosing to furlough some people while others remain on the job and drawing a paycheck. It appears to be keeping those working on deregulation and other priorities. @ellieborst.bsky.social and I: www.eenews.net/articles/epa...

E&E News: This Alaska village had a $20M life preserver. EPA yanked it away. Federal cash would have built water infrastructure in Huslia and moved its homes away from a rapidly eroding riverbank.

You may have read about Kipnuk, an Alaska village devastated by a typhoon months after EPA nixed $$ for climate resilience projects.

Huslia, in interior Alaska, similarly lost a $20 million EPA grant to help protect itself.

"We don’t want the history of our village to keep getting flushed away."

Trump claims ‘wind mills’ kill whales but quietly torpedoes the… The Interior Department defunds two vital research programs that track North Atlantic right whales near active offshore wind construction sites.

SCOOP from me:

I uncovered that the Interior Department just quietly defunded *two* multimillion dollar research programs studying how whales move and behave near U.S. wind farms actively being built.

Trump blames wind turbines for whale deaths, then cuts vital research on the topic. 🧵

E&E News: Lead pipe projects face delays amid EPA funding holdup The agency said that billions to replace lead pipes will be allotted to states soon, but health advocates said the delay is highly unusual.

EPA "keeps saying it will come soon, and we keep waiting, and now we’re in a shutdown," one environmental advocate said of the funding delay.

The government’s own data rebuts Trump’s claims about wind and solar prices The Trump administration has targeted renewable energy for driving up electricity prices, but POLITICO’s analysis shows states that are growing their wind and solar power typically have lower power co...

Trump & his Cabinet say wind & solar are making electricity more expensive.

Federal data say the opposite.

Our analysis showed states w/ > avg wind/solar generation & > avg acceleration of wind/solar since ‘21 were likelier to have < avg power prices.

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...

E&E News: State wetland managers lose EPA funding The nonpartisan group that backs state and tribal wetland programs has been forced to reduce staffing and move out of its headquarters.

The Trump administration has ended a longstanding partnership between EPA and a national nonprofit that supports state wetland programs.

The agreement was a major source of funding for the National Association of Wetland Managers, which is now having to cut four of its nine staff positions.

E&E News: Why Trump’s bid to save coal might raise your water bill EPA says delaying wastewater curbs at coal plants will lower electricity prices, but it could spur higher costs for cleaning up drinking water.

Will allowing coal plants to continue with outdated water pollution controls actually save Americans' money, as the Trump administration has said? Maybe not, according to the agency's own cost-benefit analysis.
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For at least two days last month, federal workers could not clean up the black oily goop in this Louisianan town beca of funding issues and a legitimate threat of gun violence.

My latest:

It's not clear how many projects are affected. But it'll be interesting to see how this plays among lawmakers in flood-prone states.

"It’s important that we come to a sensible, commonsense solution & not one that just says, ‘Nonstructural is all done here,’” Sen. Whitehouse (D-R.I.) said yesterday.

E&E News: Army Corps halts some large-scale flood studies The agency intends to reevaluate whether nonstructural projects, such as home elevations, are a good use of its resources.

Studies on future "nonstructural" flood control projects are paused at the Army Corps of Engineers. Rather than hold back floodwaters through things like levees & seawalls, these projects aim to reduce flood harms, by elevating homes, flood-proofing properties & offering people buyouts.

Katrina inspired a $3B wetlands rebuilding project. Louisiana just killed it. A pillar of the state's coastal restoration plan is dead. Its backers say it would have offered the most effective, natural storm protection.

Katrina inspired a $3B wetlands rebuilding project. Louisiana just killed it.

EPA plans to dramatically reduce wetland protection A proposal shared with staffers Wednesday would shrink the reach of Clean Water Act permitting and oversight.

EPA has proposed a regulation under the Clean Water Act that could eliminate protections for many wetlands and small streams. I obtained slides from a presentation given to agency staff yesterday with details on the rule, which is currently being reviewed by the White House.

Homeowners say the Army Corps and its contractors mishandled L.A. fire debris cleanup Complaints by survivors and internal government reports reveal a number of lapses and inconsistencies in Eaton and Palisades wildfire cleanup.

www.latimes.com/environment/...

GHG booster to Zeldin: Beware ‘public health harms’ of regulations Documents show that fossil energy promoter Alex Epstein asked the EPA administrator to stop using a scientific model to project climate impacts.

@politico.com’s E&E News first reported on the March EPA meeting back in April, and today, @mirandawrites.bsky.social posted an update about the meeting citing the new @nsarchive.bsky.social docs. Read her piece here:
www.eenews.net/articles/ghg...

www.notus.org/climate-envi...

E&E News: Trump 1.0 funded her PFAS study. Trump 2.0 revoked it. A research project on "forever chemicals" was abruptly canceled by EPA in April. The agency still wanted the report, though.

“If we're not going to see this kind of funding from the EPA, where is it going to show up?” Preisendanz said. “PFAS research is so expensive. You can fund the student, but if that student doesn't have money for sample analysis or sample collection, it's not very helpful."