Environmental Health

"For the past 25 years, researcher Stephen Jones has tried to understand the threat that bacteria may pose to oysters in New Hampshire's Great Bay estuary. He often couldn't get funding to study the problem. But that is beginning to change as scientists notice 'something is going on.'"

"The European Commission has developed its own evidence to avoid an overly stringent regulation of these hazardous substances."

"U.S. EPA released a plan yesterday for setting objectives to protect the nation's drinking water. The blueprint lays out how federal, state, tribal and local agencies, as well as the private and nonprofit sectors, can address six initiatives."

"The Cheat River flows pale green and slate gray, glistening in the sunshine as it gathers speed, turns to whitewater and drops between rocks on the way toward the Monongahela River. From there it makes its way to the Ohio River and the drinking water of millions of people. As West Virginia pushes toward an uncertain economic future, a river that once flowed bright orange charts a course out of mining's toxic legacies."

"Top officials of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last year made critical changes at the eleventh hour to a highly anticipated, five-year scientific study of hydraulic fracturing’s effect on the nation’s drinking water. The changes, later criticized by scientists for lacking evidence, played down the risk of pollution that can result from the well-drilling technique known as fracking."

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has prioritized 10 chemicals, including asbestos, that could be banned under a new chemical safety law."

"President-elect Donald Trump says environmental regulations are stifling the U.S. economy. He has vowed to roll back some of those rules, and he's also taken aim at the international climate agreement signed in Paris last year. Now, environmentalists are getting ready to fight back. Some are soliciting donations by invoking an inevitable legal battle. And environmental attorneys are preparing their defense."

"President-elect Donald Trump [was] scheduled to meet [Monday] with two possible contenders for U.S. EPA administrator who have called for drastic rollbacks of environmental rules."

"Environmental groups are pushing the Obama administration to wrap up as many rules, regulations and protections as possible before President-elect Donald Trump takes office in January."