“On the ropes,” Bayer seeks escape from costly Roundup litigation
Bayer executives have been warning in recent weeks that after losing billions of dollars to Roundup case settlements and jury awards, they may be ready to give up the fight.
Environmental Protection Agency
Pesticide makers continue quest for immunity from lawsuits by sick farmers
LA MOTTE, Iowa — Ray Bickel spent over a decade driving a truck through giant corn and soybean fields in Clinton County, Iowa, applying pesticides. He says it was good work, while it lasted. In 2017, he had a heart attack. The doctors ran tests to find out what caused it and found something else.
Thousands of US water systems show dangerous levels of cancer-causing chemicals
By Carey Gillam
Millions of people across the United States could be drinking water contaminated with dangerous levels of substances created when utilities disinfect water tainted with animal manure and other pollutants, according to a report released Thursday.
As EPA shutters environmental justice offices, rural Americans at risk
By Julia Tilton / The Daily Yonder
Environmental justice efforts at the 10 US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regional offices have stopped and employees have been placed on administrative leave, per an announcement from EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin earlier this month. Former EPA employees involved with environmental justice work across the country say rural communities will suffer as a result.
An open letter from EPA staff to the American public
“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”
Judge orders wildlife service to do more to protect imperiled species from pesticides
By Douglas Main
A federal judge ruled late Wednesday that the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) must finish assessing the impact of five pesticides on endangered and threatened species, and that the agency had violated federal law with its “unreasonable” delay in completing the required analyses.
“We need it” – Debate over dicamba herbicide in hands of Trump’s EPA
By Richard Mertens
Patsy Hopper dreamed of a home in the country with a garden and lots of trees. What she didn’t count on were the herbicides that would come drifting in, year after year, from the farmland around her, killing vegetables in her garden and wildflowers in the ditches and curling the leaves of the trees she had planted.
Farm country fight – Battle rages over proposed legal protections for pesticide makers
By Carey Gillam
Pesticide company efforts to push through laws that could block litigation against them is igniting battles in several US farm states and pitting some farm groups against each other.
EPA proposal for pesticide tied to reproductive harm lands back with Trump
US environmental regulators are planning to change allowable levels of a weedkiller tied to reproductive health problems to a level critics say discounts years of documented health risks — and potentially marks a new battlefront within the Trump administration.
Lee Zeldin, Trump’s EPA nominee, pledges independence from industry ties in senate hearing
By Douglas Main
Incoming President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) appeared on track for confirmation after a Senate hearing Thursday in which he pledged independence from industry money and influence.