Tag: Environmental Protection Agency

Commentary: Biden Weaponizes the Federal Government for His Own Reelection Campaign

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President Joe Biden has taken every part of the federal government and transformed it into his personal reelection machine, creating a hyper-partisan election apparatus out of supposedly neutral federal agencies. And American taxpayers pay for all of it.

Just since the beginning of April, several explosive revelations have surfaced that show the extent to which Joe Biden has weaponized the federal government in election matters. This should come as no surprise, as the administration continues to unfairly weaponize the federal courts against January 6 defendants, and state and federal courts maliciously prosecute Donald Trump, his rival in the presidential election.

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Commentary: Remembering Nixon’s Legacy 30 Years After His Death

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Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon, the 37th president of the United States, died 30 years ago this week—on April 22, 1994. And while it may be hard to remember a Republican the left despised more than Donald J. Trump—Nixon probably takes the cake.

It was not so much how the former California Congressman and two-term Vice President governed or his introverted personality but rather his adversarial relationship with a hostile media, his sheer determination, intelligence, lawyerly command of the facts, exceptional understanding of both foreign and domestic policy, and his effectiveness as commander in chief that caused the left to view Nixon as persona non grata.

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Biden EPA Giving Millions to ‘Immigrant Justice’ Groups Registering, ‘Mobilizing’ Dem-Leaning Voting Bloc

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New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice public assembly

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is handing out millions of taxpayer dollars to a coalition featuring two immigration-focused activist organizations, one which pushes voter registration for traditionally Democrat-leaning demographics.

As part of a $600 million round of grant funding issued in December 2023 to advance “environmental justice,” the EPA gave out $50 million to a Fordham University-led coalition including the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) and the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice (NJAIJ). The NYIC explicitly engages in “nationally recognized” voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts and pushed for a New York City law that allows non-citizens to vote, while the NJAIJ has advocated for same-day voter registration and maintains a voter registration portal on its website.

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‘The Swamp is Getting Deeper’: EPA Awards Billions from Biden’s Landmark Climate Bill to Organizations Loaded with Democrat Insiders

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President Biden signing a bill

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) awarded nearly $14 billion Thursday to three organizations with deep ties to the Biden administration and the Democratic Party.

The EPA announced the winners of $20 billion of funding from the massive Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF), a program created by President Joe Biden’s signature climate bill, the Inflation Reduction Act. Among the selected awardees are Climate United, the Coalition for Green Capital and Power Forward Communities, three groups that are taking home almost $14 billion combined to establish financing operations for a wide variety of green technology and energy projects under the GGRF’s National Clean Investment Fund.

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‘Entirely Unachievable:’ Biden EPA Locks In Stringent Emissions Rule for Heavy-Duty Vehicles to Fight Climate Change

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Joe Biden

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized aggressive emissions standards Friday for heavy-duty vehicles that will effectively require huge increases in the numbers of electric or zero-emission buses and trucks sold over the next decade.

The agency is projecting that the heavy-duty vehicle emissions standards for model years 2027 to 2032 could result in zero-emission or electric vehicles (EVs) making up 25 percent of new long-haul trucks sold and 40 percent of all new medium-sized truck sales by 2032, according to The New York Times. The EPA’s final emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles complements the agency’s recent release of the final tailpipe emissions standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles that has been characterized as an “EV mandate.”

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Biden EPA Locks in Stringent Emissions Rule for Heavy-Duty Vehicles to Fight Climate Change

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Garbage Truck

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized aggressive emissions standards Friday for heavy-duty vehicles that will effectively require huge increases in the numbers of electric or zero-emission buses and trucks sold over the next decade.

The agency is projecting that the heavy-duty vehicle emissions standards for model years 2027 to 2032 could result in zero-emission or electric vehicles (EVs) making up 25% of new long-haul trucks sold and 40% of all new medium-sized truck sales by 2032, according to The New York Times. The EPA’s final emissions standards for heavy-duty vehicles complements the agency’s recent release of the final tailpipe emissions standards for light- and medium-duty vehicles that has been characterized as an “EV mandate.”

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Biden Admin Finalizes Stringent Tailpipe Emissions Standards

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Mechanic underneath car

The Biden administration unveiled its final tailpipe emissions standards for vehicles Wednesday, effectively requiring about 67 percent of all light-duty vehicles sold after model year 2032 to be electric vehicles (EVs) or hybrids.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) finalized standards rolled back some of the de facto EV production benchmarks for manufacturers proposed initially, but still require automakers to reach the final standards set forth in the agency’s April 2023 proposal. The agency finalized the standards as the American EV market is struggling: demand has not grown as quickly as expected, manufacturers are losing billions on their EV product lines, executives have backed away from near-term production targets and Biden administration subsidy programs to facilitate the creation of a nationwide EV charging network have so far failed to make much of an impact.

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Maine’s Public Schools Purchased Taxpayer-Subsidized Electric Buses but Say They are Defective

Just the News
School Bus Driver

Maine’s Department of Education is reportedly urging school districts to stop using taxpayer-subsidized electric school buses that were purchased within the last year.

The districts reported problems with the new buses, which were supplied by Canada-based Lion Electric Co., last fall, according to CentralMaine.com. The windshields on the buses would leak whenever it rained, as the glass didn’t appear to be securely in place.

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Foreign Billionaire-Backed ‘Climate Power’ Pressuring Broadcasters to Censor Ads Critical of Biden’s EV Mandate

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President Joe Biden

A green nonprofit that is indirectly funded by a foreign billionaire is pressuring broadcasters to drop advertisements that criticize the Biden administration’s massive electric vehicle (EV) agenda.

Climate Power wrote to numerous broadcasters this week demanding that they stop airing American Fuel and Petrochemicals Manufacturers (AFPM)-funded advertisements in swing state markets that rail against President Joe Biden’s plans to impose widespread EV adoption in the coming years. The charitable organization affiliated with Hansjorg Wyss, a Swiss health care mogul and billionaire philanthropist, donates millions of dollars to the Fund for a Better Future, which was the fiscal sponsor for Climate Power until 2023, a spokesperson for Climate Power previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

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Biden’s Electric School Bus Program Faces the Daunting Challenge of Inadequate Utility Power

Just the News

President Joe Biden’s signature $5 billion program to convert the nation’s school buses to an electric fleet has collided with a formidable challenge: a lack of charging infrastructure and power generation from local utilities.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s internal watchdog issued a report just before the New Year’s holiday that offered the latest evidence of a cart-before-horse dynamic in the Democratic push for green energy.

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Biden Admin Doles Out $600 Million to Activist Groups, Universities for ‘Environmental Justice’

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Climate Protest

The Biden administration is shelling out $600 million in taxpayer funds to grantmaking organizations to distribute for “environmental justice” projects all across the country, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Wednesday.

The funds will go to 11 different organizations, which include universities and left-wing groups that focus on advancing social justice causes in addition to their environmental advocacy, according to the EPA’s announcement. Each of the recipients will in turn use the money to provide sub-grants to local organizations to pursue thousands of “environmental justice” projects like environmental jobs training programs and “healthy homes” initiatives.

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$33 Million in Federal Funding to Support Tucson Area Water Resources

The Center Square

Funds from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will be used to for water cleaning resources by developing a new treatment center in Tucson. 

Specifically, the facility would focus on PFAS chemicals, which the United States Environmental Protection Agency describes as “widely used” and “long-lasting,” but could also have negative health consequences when they make their way into water and other consumables. Out of $10 billion targeted toward getting chemicals out of water in the act, $33,520,000 is Tucson bound, according to a news release. 

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Rep. Eli Crane Leads Three Arizona Republicans in Warning New EPA Rule Will Increase Water Rates

Tom Pappert

Four of Arizona’s congressional Republicans submitted a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday, warning that a new rule about so-called “forever chemicals” will result in higher water rates and legal liability for Arizona businesses.

Representative Eli Crane (R-AZ-02) was joined by Representatives Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05), Paul Gosar (R-AZ-04), and Debbie Lesko (R-AZ-08) in a letter requesting the EPA modify its new rule to keep Arizonan citizens and businesses from bearing “the economic burden of any necessary remediation when they have had no association with water pollution.”

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U.S. Senator JD Vance Frustrated by Pace of East Palestine Derailment Cleanup

Hannah Poling

U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) is frustrated by the slow pace of cleanup from Norfolk Southern’s February train derailment and chemical spill in East Palestine, Ohio.

Vance visited the derailment site and met with local leaders to discuss the cleanup status on Monday evening. According to Vance, the cleanup was supposed to be completed in July but now in the middle of August, it’s still nowhere near completion.

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2024 Presidential Hopefuls Address Questions About the Future of the EPA and Biden Administration’s Climate Legislation

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Several 2024 Republican presidential candidates would defund the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and repeal President Joe Biden’s signature climate law if elected, they told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Gas prices are rising, power plants are closing and regulations are impacting internal combustion engine vehicles and appliances like water heaters. Along with slashing the EPA and repealing the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), many GOP hopefuls also pledged to withdraw from the United Nations Paris Climate Agreement if they secure the White House in 2024, several candidates told the DCNF.

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Commentary: The Biden Admin Has a Bad Regulation for Every Room in Your House

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2023 began with federal regulators targeting gas stoves, but we have since seen a host of other proposals going after washing machines, refrigerators, dishwashers, ceiling fans, water heaters, and others. They are all part of the Biden administration’s prioritization of the climate change agenda over the interests of consumers. Each runs the risk of boosting appliance prices, limiting choice, and compromising performance. And cumulatively, they add up to substantial headaches for homeowners that will only grow in the years ahead.

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EPA Targeting Companies for Bypassing Vehicle Emission Controls

The Center Square

In the last two years, the Environmental Protection Agency has fined companies millions of dollars across the U.S. for installing illegal mechanisms that bypass vehicle emission controls known as “defeat devices.” 

One manufacturer, Sinister Diesel agreed on Aug. 1 to pay the $1 million after pleading guilty to conspiracy and the manufacturing and selling of illegal defeat devices over the last ten years.

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EPA Poised to Turbocharge Biden’s Climate Agenda After Ripping Up Trump-Era Rule

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The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on July 7 rescinded a Trump-era EPA rule which required the agency to conduct benefit-cost analysis of any significant new air pollution rules.

While it was in effect, the rescinded benefit-cost analysis rule required the EPA to identify the specific problem a new air pollution regulation addresses, explain why market alternatives cannot solve that problem and distinguish between direct and indirect health benefits that an air pollution emission is expected to generate. The Biden EPA will be able to more freely pursue its regulatory agenda against fossil fuels using the Clean Air Act after issuing a final rescission of the benefit-cost rule.

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GOP Lawmakers Introduce Bills to Disarm Federal Bureaucrats

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Several Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation which would disarm enforcement agents from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

Republican Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana introduced the No Funds for Armed Regulators Act of 2023 on June 30, joined by seven co-sponsors. The bill would disallow the use of taxpayer dollars to hire or retain armed regulatory enforcement agents in the EPA, DOL and IRS if it becomes law.

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Arizona Republican Lawmakers Oppose the Biden Administration’s Proposed EPA Regulations

Hannah Poling

Arizona Republican lawmakers are fighting back against the “disastrous impacts” the proposed changes to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules will have on Arizonans.

Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Mesa) and House Speaker Ben Toma (R-Peoria) sent two letters to the U.S. EPA in opposition to the EPA’s proposed regulations which would mandate a transition to electric cars and trucks from model year 2027 through model year 2032.

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Republican AGs Push Back Against ‘Reckless’ Plan from Biden’s EPA That Could Further Hobble American Coal

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by Nick Pope   Several state attorneys general are engaging in legal battles against President Joe Biden’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to determine whether or not his administration will be able to impose its costly plan for implementing a regulation designed to further incapacitate the American coal industry. Multiple states have already achieved early success in their legal challenges against the EPA’s federal implementation plan (FIP) for meeting ambient ozone standards of the 2015 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), the implementation of which could further restrict coal-fired power generation in 22 states, according to the FIP’s Federal Registry entry. Numerous state attorneys general are seeking to follow their own state implementation plans (SIPs) rather than the comparatively restrictive FIP the EPA wants to impose in order to have the states meet the ambient ozone standards. “President Biden doesn’t care if his radical agenda undermines our economy. His EPA’s reckless regulation will wreak havoc in the Commonwealth, forcing the shutdown of many of Kentucky’s coal-fired power plants—killing jobs and raising utility rates for Kentuckians—while further undermining American energy independence,” Republican Kentucky Attorney General David Cameron said to the Daily Caller News Foundation. Kentucky’s challenge has so far resulted in a stay against the EPA’s disapproval of its SIP, a…

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GOP House Settles Rift, Returns to Conservative Agenda in Passing Bill Protecting Gas Stoves

Just the News

The rift with within the Republican House Conference that shut down floor votes last week appears to have been resolved enough for the chamber to resume voting, with the Tuesday passage of a marquee conservative bill to stop Biden administration initiatives to further regulate gas-powered stoves.

The Gas Stove Protection and Freedom Act passed 248-180, after failing to get a final vote last week because 11 conservative-leaning conference members – in a nearly unprecedented move – blocked a preliminary procedural vote, essentially over what they considered House GOP leadership’s mishandling of the debt-ceiling agreement with Democrat President Joe Biden.

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Norfolk Southern Seeks to Dismiss Lawsuit Over East Palestine Train Derailment

Hannah Poling

Norfolk Southern Railway seeks to dismiss a mass class action lawsuit against it following the catastrophic train derailment that occurred in East Palestine, Ohio earlier this year.

The class action lawsuit, filed in federal court in Youngstown, is a collection of 31 separate lawsuits that residents and businesses from East Palestine and the surrounding areas brought against the railroad corporation. Earlier this year U.S. District Judge Benita Pearson ordered that all 31 cases be consolidated to streamline proceedings.

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House Follows Senate in Voting for Resolution to Halt Tougher EPA Vehicle Emission Standards

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The GOP-led House on Tuesday voted in favor of a resolution to strike down the Environmental Protection Agency’s  emissions restrictions for heavy-duty trucks. 

The joint-chamber resolution, which passed the House by a 221-203 vote, was introduced by Republican lawmakers in February via the Congressional Review Act (CRA) – a law that allows Congress to reverse rules made by a federal agency.

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Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw Testifies at Ohio Statehouse

Hannah Poling

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw testified to the Ohio Senate Select Committee on Rail Safety on Tuesday, over two months after the February 3rd train derailment in East Palestine.

Ohio Senators questioned Shaw over a wide range of topics related to the derailment and subsequent controlled release of toxic chemicals that negatively impacted the environment and the health and safety of residents, including long-term community assistance programs, two-person crew requirements, and safety requirements for tanker cars.

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Americans Less Concerned about Environment as Battle over Far-Reaching ‘Waters of the U.S.’ Hits Fever Pitch

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As the battle over the controversial federal Waters of the United States environmental rule heats up, new polling shows that Americans are growing less concerned about the environment.

Newly released Gallup polling found a dip in environmental concerns, even though the Biden administration continues to push increasingly far-reaching policies.

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Biden Still Hasn’t Visited Derailment Area; Pennsylvania Legislators Wish He Would

Bradley Vasoli

Well over two months have passed since a Norfolk Southern train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, less than a mile from Pennsylvania’s border, and President Joe Biden hasn’t visited affected communities in either state. Pennsylvania lawmakers are urging him to do so. 

Six weeks ago Biden said he would “be out there at some point.” The White House did not respond to a request for comment on whether he has yet scheduled a visit. (Biden’s Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg first went to the site more than two weeks after the derailment.)

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EPA Proposes New Standards to Require Two-Thirds of New Car Sales by 2032 Be EVs

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The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced what is being considered its strongest-ever proposed pollution standards for gas-powered vehicles – which if enacted would effectively mandate that 67 percent of new passenger vehicles sold in the U.S. in 2032 must be zero-emission ones.

The rule has been expected for weeks and is a dramatic, proposed increase from President Biden’s stated goal of 50 percent zero-emission passenger car sales – including battery-powered electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids and fuel-cell vehicles – by 2030. It would also likely and dramatically increase EV sales, which accounted for just 5.6 percent of new car sales in the U.S. last year, according to Road & Track.com.

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Commentary: The ‘Lower Energy Costs Act’ Could Be a Big Win for Americans

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Before they scooted out of lawless and increasingly dangerous Washington, DC, for the Easter recess, the House of Representatives passed the most important energy legislation (emphasis on “energy”) Congress has considered in almost a decade.

The Lower Energy Costs Act is a buffet of various energy and permitting provisions ranging from an affirmation of the wisdom of exporting crude oil (which strengthens the United States’ own domestic oil and natural gas production) to a remedy for a nettlesome provision in the Clean Water Act that has given States a de facto veto over energy projects.

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Federal and State Environmental Protection Agency Officials Testify on East Palestine Derailment at U.S. House Hearing

Hannah Poling

Federal and state Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials were questioned about the East Palestine train derailment at a Tuesday hearing of the U.S. House Environment, Manufacturing, and Critical Materials Subcommittee over a month after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio.

Debra Shore, the regional administrator of the U.S. EPA Region 5, and Anne Vogel, the director of the Ohio EPA, both gave testimony and detailed the actions they have taken in reaction to the incident.

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Hazardous Dioxin Chemicals Were Produced During the East Palestine Burn ‘It’s Not a Question of Maybe,’ Chemist Says

Hannah Poling

Although the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), ordered rail company Norfolk Southern to test for dioxins following the catastrophic February 3rd train derailment, and says that East Palestine suggests a “low probability” of dioxin contamination a retired chemist told The Ohio Star that dioxins “were produced” during the burn “it’s not a question of maybe.”

The EPA has maintained there is a “low probability” that dioxins were released from the derailment based on its sampling for “indicator chemicals” that it says would signal the presence of dioxins in East Palestine.

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Ohio U.S. Senator JD Vance Demands Biden Administration and EPA Remove Toxic Waste from East Palestine

Hannah Poling

On Monday, U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) pushed the Biden administration and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to transport dangerous waste to authorized facilities after seeing a pile of toxic waste in East Palestine, Ohio.

Vance visited the waste site after giving testimony at a March 9th U.S Senate railroad safety hearing regarding how the waste was still in East Palestine weeks after a railway catastrophe caused dangerous chemicals to contaminate the community.

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Ohio Governor DeWine Calls on U.S. EPA and Norfolk Southern to Authorize More Sites to Take East Palestine Contaminated Soil

Hannah Poling

The cleanup at the toxic train derailment site in East Palestine last month has stalled because Ohio is having problems locating sites to accept the 24,400 tons of excavated contaminated soil. According to Ohio Governor Mike DeWine’s office only 2,980 tons have actually been removed so far.

DeWine says that some states with sites that are certified to take in hazardous materials aren’t accepting the soil. He said that refusing the soil is unfair to the residents of East Palestine, which isn’t where it belongs.

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Commentary: Pro-Market Reforms Lead to Fewer Chemical Spills

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East Palestine Train Wreck

The train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio has attracted the ire and attention of the public and government officials. Unfortunately, train disasters are just one of many contributors to the threat posed by environmental contamination. According to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) data analyzed by The Guardian, the U.S. is averaging one chemical accident every two days. Some of the top culprits are water treatment plants, which regularly use hazardous inputs such as chlorine and sulfur dioxide in their operations. (Mostly) government-owned plants fail to place proper safeguards on these chemicals, resulting in dangerous exposures to the public. Policymakers should consider alternative approaches that incentivize careful treatment operations at affordable prices for consumers.

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Norfolk Southern CEO Tells US Senate Committee Vinyl Chloride Controlled Burn Decision ‘Made by a Unified Command Under the Direction of the Incident Commander,’ East Palestine Fire Chief Drabick

Hannah Poling

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw faced questions about who authorized the controlled burn at a Senate hearing on Thursday as Washington lawmakers held their first hearing on railroad safety about a month after a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed in East Palestine, Ohio.

U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullins (R-OK) asked Shaw “when the vent and burn process was being made, who made those decisions and what were the considerations other than just burning it and letting the material burn off.”

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National Transportation Safety Board to Investigate Norfolk Southern Following Train Derailments

Hannah Poling

After a train carrying hazardous chemicals derailed last month in East Palestine, Ohio, and a number of other “significant accidents,” the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced Tuesday that it will begin an investigation into Norfolk Southern.

The organization declared that it would investigate the railroad’s safety procedures and culture.
Only a few hours earlier, the railroad had reported that a conductor had been fatally injured at a steel mill in Ohio.

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East Palestine Residents Furious as Norfolk Southern CEO Fails to Show Up at Community Town Hall Again

Hannah Poling

After Norfolk Southern CEO failed to appear once more at the town hall meeting and his representative told the audience that the firm “feels horrible” about the crash, East Palestine residents exploded in rage.

Residents of East Palestine were visibly upset at the town hall meeting on Thursday night as they yelled at an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) representative not to “lie to them” and asked, “Where’s Alan?” as railroad CEO Alan Shaw once again failed to appear in the little town.

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Ohio Senators Ask Federal Agencies to Monitor Health of East Palestine Residents over Long Term

Bradley Vasoli

U.S. Senators J.D. Vance (R-OH) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) this week sent a letter to heads of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention  (CDC) urging long-term health monitoring of East Palestine, Ohio residents. 

Vance and Brown asked EPA Administrator Michael Regan and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky to guarantee baseline medical testing for those living near the site of the February 3 train derailment. The rail company Norfolk Southern followed the incident with what the company termed a “controlled burn” of five cars containing vinyl chloride. 

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Source: Forestry Workers Find Animals Dying at Alarming Rates in Ohio Parks Following East Palestine Train Derailment

Hannah Poling

Although Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, the Environmental Protection Agency, and local officials continue to assure Ohioans that recent air monitoring and water sample tests have shown no concerns with air quality or water quality in East Palestine’s municipal water supply, following the catastrophic train derailment on February 3rd, forestry workers have found that animals are dying at alarming rates.

A source told The Ohio Star that her husband, a wildlife biologist and consultant for the federal forestry, received hundreds of calls on both Sunday and Monday from colleagues who say forestry workers have found hundreds of dead animals in Ohio’s parks.

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Ohio Senate to Hold Hearing on East Palestine, Ohio Train Derailment

Hannah Poling

According to Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima), the Senate’s Special Committee on Rail Safety will have its initial hearing to examine the Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

The committee will convene in the Senate Finance Hearing Room on Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. If the Senate’s voting session runs past that time, the committee will convene immediately after the chamber adjourns.

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Nonprofit Law Firm Files Lawsuit Against EPA and Local Authorities, for Improper Handling of East Palestine, Ohio Train Disaster

Hannah Poling

A nonprofit public interest law firm called We The Patriots USA (WTP USA) held a press conference Monday, in Akron to discuss newly filed litigation against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and local authorities over how they handled the East Palestine railway incident.

WTP USA filled a federal civil rights law suit on Monday at the John F. Seiberling Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse in Akron, on behalf of Courtney Miller against the United States, the EPA, EPA Administrator Michael Regan, Governor Mike DeWine and Ohio EPA Director Anne Vogel.

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East Palestine, Ohio Residents Urged to Document Health Concerns by Environmental Activist Erin Brockovich

Hannah Poling

There are growing reports of health concerns from residents following the chemical explosion and toxic train derailment that upended the community of East Palestine, Ohio over three weeks ago.

Some residents this month say they have been diagnosed with bronchitis, lung issues, and rashes that doctors and nurses suspect are linked to the chemical exposure.

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U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg Visits East Palestine, Ohio

Hannah Poling

Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, visited East Palestine, Ohio, on Thursday as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) announced the preliminary findings of its investigation into the derailment of a Norfolk Southern train transporting hazardous materials.

The February 3rd derailment has caused significant health and environmental concerns for the locals, who have expressed dissatisfaction at how slowly the federal government has responded to the emergency.

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Ohio Senators JD Vance and Sherrod Brown Send Joint Letter Requesting Dioxin Monitoring Plans For East Palestine from the EPA

Kaitlin Housler

Over the weekend, Ohio Senators JD Vance (R-OH) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) worked together in sending a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – both at the federal and state level – requesting that the agencies provide their plans to monitor East Palestine and surrounding areas for dioxins following the February 3rd derailment of a Norfolk Southern train.

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Ohio Governor DeWine Responds to Senator Vance’s Video, Confirms Creek ‘Very Near’ East Palestine Derailment is ‘Severely Contaminated’

Hannah Poling

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine responded on Friday to a viral video tweeted by U.S. Senator JD Vance (R-OH) that showed a “chemical rainbow” in a creek near the location of a railway crash two weeks ago that released harmful chemicals into the environment in East Palestine, Ohio.

“I know that there’s been some video played on TV circulating of visible contamination in one of the local waterways. A section of Sulfur Run that is very near the crash site remains severely contaminated. We knew this. We know this. It’s going to take a while to remediate this,” DeWine said at a press conference where he gave an update on local environmental testing and cleanup operations.

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