EPA issues emergency waiver for summertime sale of E15
For the second year in a row, the EPA said it would waive air pollution rules and permit summertime sale of E15 — gasoline with a 15 percent mix of ethanol — on an emergency basis, even though fuel prices are roughly 57 cents a gallon lower than they were a year ago.
‘The truth is California does not have enough water’
California’s San Joaquin Valley is getting drier, hotter and more polluted as climate change intensifies, and its communities will need to embrace more equitable agricultural strategies in order to survive, according to local experts and political leaders.(No paywall)
Voters to decide constitutional ‘right to food’ in Maine
Maine enacted the country's first food sovereignty law in 2017 to encourage food self-sufficiency. Now, its voters will decide whether to declare a first-in-the-nation constitutional right to food "including the right to save and exchange seeds and the right to grow, raise, harvest, produce and consume the food of their own choosing."
Agriculture linked to one-fifth of U.S. air pollution deaths
Air pollution is the largest environmental mortality risk in the United States, responsible for 100,000 premature deaths annually, and one-fifth of those deaths are linked to agriculture, said research published by the National Academy of Sciences on Monday. Scientists from five universities …
In Maryland, poultry industry monitoring initiative restarts debate
In recent years, agribusiness groups have fought legislation that would require large-scale livestock farms to report what pollutants they discharge into the air. But this week, a Maryland poultry industry group announced a partnership with the state’s environmental regulators to monitor those emissions. (No paywall)
Trump, Congress make it harder for CAFO neighbors to know what they’re inhaling
Recent actions by the GOP-controlled Congress and the Trump administration have exempted big livestock operations from reporting air emissions, according to the latest story from FERN, published with Mother Jones. (No paywall)
Another Missouri community fights the CAFO-expansion trend
Residents of tiny Lone Jack, MO, are fighting a proposal by a local ranch to expand its feedlot from around 600 cows to nearly 7,000. It is the latest in a series of communities pushing back against a national trend toward concentrated animal agriculture. (No paywall)
Deadline arrives for livestock farms to report air pollution
Beginning on Wednesday, from 60,000 to 100,000 livestock and poultry operations will be required to report emissions of ammonia or hydrogen sulfide, said Drovers. The EPA previously exempted livestock farms from filing the reports but a federal court, in response to a lawsuit filed by environmentalists, vitiated the exemption.
Four states take Interior, BLM to court over coal
California, New Mexico, New York and Washington State have sued the Interior Department and the Bureau of Land Management in an attempt to stop new coal leases on public lands.
EPA staffers prepare to fight for their jobs under Trump
Worried that Trump administration cuts to the EPA will mean slashing thousands of jobs, EPA employees are organizing to defend their work, says NPR. At one union hall in Washington, D.C., dozens of EPA staffers filed in to discuss the issue. NPR spoke with Marie Owens Powell, an EPA enforcement officer and local union leader.