Trump administration continues to threaten drinking water safety

Girl & water fountain

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is committed to repealing and replacing the Clean Water Rule with a weaker standard that would ultimately hurt the health of our waterways and our families.    “Trump’s EPA and their Republican allies in Congress are attacking the safeguards that keep our water clean.” FRED TANNEAU/AFP/Getty Images   From our colleagues at … Read more

State of Risk: How Weakening EPA Imperils Our Health, Families, Jobs & Economy

EPA was created to protect our air, water, lands –  and, above all, our health.  Since its creation in 1970, EPA has made our air and water cleaner, prevented millions of asthma attacks and hospitalizations, and avoided hundreds of thousands of premature deaths, all while America enjoyed a growing economy and expanding population.  Protecting the … Read more

Pruitt’s Strategic Plan for EPA – and Why It Matters

  The Trump/Pruitt team has released its roadmap for EPA. What is strategic planning? A systematic process of envisioning a desired future, and translating this vision into broadly defined goals or objectives and a sequence of steps to achieve them. Strategic plans create a framework for accountability between the Agency, Congress and the American people. … Read more

I Am a 30-Year Veteran Scientist from US EPA; I Can’t Afford to Be Discouraged

Two large smokestacks on an industrial plant spewing pollution.

. . . And neither can you. Since January, we have seen a continual assault on our environmental protections. EPA has put a political operative with no scientific experience in charge of vetting EPA grants, and the agency is reconsidering an Obama-era regulation on coal ash. The well-established legal processes for promulgating environmental regulations, and—very … Read more

Pruitt’s Hypocritical Visit to the Gold King Mine

EPA chief Scott Pruitt, U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper

Scott Pruitt came to Colorado on August 4th to visit the Gold King Mine.  His companions, Senators Cory Gardner & Michael Bennet, Representative Scott Tipton, and Governor John Hickenlooper,  held a town hall in Durango following their visit to the mine. Pruitt skipped out. There were folks outside the town hall who wanted to ask … Read more

Make Your Voice Heard: ROLLBACK OF AIR POLLUTION STANDARDS — OIL AND GAS SECTOR 

Oil well flaring gas

Comment by August 9 The Trump Administration wants to delay and weaken emission controls that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions and asthma-inducing smog.  The public comment period is ongoing; comments must be received on or before 11:59 pm August 9. Summary EPA has proposed to delay key elements of methane air quality emissions standards for … Read more

Summertime – and the climate is heating

Denver may see a month of 100-degree days by 2080. It’s early June and temperatures in Denver are already in the mid-90s. Climate modeling predicts a lot more of those days to come. Today’s Denverite has a good piece about summertime getting hotter and what Denver and the State of Colorado are doing – and … Read more