Latest news with #LeeZeldin
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
EPA funds brownfield fixes in Kansas
WASHINGTON (KSNW) — Nearly $4 million in federal Brownfields Grants is heading to Kansas to help clean up and redevelop contaminated properties, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced this week. The grants will support cleanup projects in Beloit, Topeka, and across several eastern Kansas counties. They'll also fund dozens of environmental assessments and planning efforts led by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE). In a news release, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the grants are part of a broader $267 million investment nationwide aimed at turning polluted sites into usable spaces for businesses and housing, ultimately boosting local economies and benefiting families. In Kansas, the grants include: $418,620 to Beloit to clean up a former juvenile detention center and prepare it for redevelopment into housing. $1 million to the Flint Hills Regional Council to establish a loan fund supporting cleanups in seven counties. $2 million to KDHE to assess more than 100 sites and develop cleanup plans in Kansas City, Eureka, and El Dorado. $500,000 to Topeka to evaluate and plan reuse of sites like the former White Lakes Mall and two closed schools. Kansas ash trees under attack from returning pest KDHE Secretary Janet Stanek said the investment will raise property values, create jobs, and transform vacant land into productive assets for communities across the state. Senator Roger Marshall called the funding an important step in revitalizing Kansas communities and protecting public health, crediting the Trump administration for prioritizing clean air, land, and water. A brownfield site is a previously used property—often industrial or commercial—where redevelopment is complicated by potential environmental contamination. Since 1995, the EPA's Brownfields Program has supported over $42 billion in cleanup and redevelopment efforts across the country. For more Kansas news, click here. Keep up with the latest breaking news by downloading our mobile app and signing up for our news email alerts. Sign up for our Storm Track 3 Weather app by clicking here. To watch our shows live on our website, click here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
E&E News
4 days ago
- General
- E&E News
Democrats demand details on the future of EPA labs
Top House Science, Space and Technology Committee Democrats are insisting that EPA leaders explain their plans for the agency's research labs while meanwhile accusing them of dishonesty. 'It is time to tell the truth,' ranking member Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) said in a caustically worded Tuesday letter to Administrator Lee Zeldin. Lofgren asked Zeldin whether EPA intends to close any of its 10 field laboratories and research facilities, and if so, which ones. Should any of those facilities remain open, Lofgren asked, will their budget and staffing levels increase to pick up work from those that close? And which EPA program office will run them? Advertisement Joining the California Democrat on the letter was Rep. Gabe Amo (D-R.I.), ranking member on the Science Subcommittee on the Environment.
Gizmodo
4 days ago
- Business
- Gizmodo
Trump's EPA Plans to Ditch Emission Limits on Power Plants
There would be no greenhouse gas caps on coal and gas-fired power plants. The United States was making solid progress on decarbonizing its energy sector. Time to hit rewind on that. According to a report from the New York Times, the Environmental Protection Agency under the Trump administration has drafted a plan that would eliminate all caps on greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas-fired power plants. The proposal, which comes under the leadership of new EPA chief, and longtime climate change skeptic, Lee Zeldin suggests that the emissions generated by power plants from burning fossil fuels 'do not contribute significantly to dangerous pollution'—a statement that seems to imply the existence of good pollution, but that's a whole other thing. Per the Times, the agency's repeal would apply to all greenhouse gas emissions standards that are currently applied to fossil fuel-fired power plants. That would effectively undo much of the work of the Biden administration to clean up the energy sector, including rolling back requirements for coal plants to capture carbon pollution before it leaves its smokestacks and store it, and rules that require gas plants to use newer technologies that produce fewer emissions. 'We are seeking to ensure that the agency follows the rule of law while providing all Americans with access to reliable and affordable energy,' Zeldin said in a statement to the Times. The US power sector continues to be one of the country's largest sources of greenhouse gas—second overall, just behind the transportation industry—and is responsible for one-quarter of all carbon emissions. Under the Biden administration's standards, new power plants were significantly cleaner than the existing infrastructure. According to a report from Cleanview, 96% of new power plants built in 2024 were carbon-free. Per the EPA during the Biden era, its standards required existing coal-fired and new natural gas-fired power plants to control 90% of their carbon pollution, finding ways to capture or offset the emissions. Those requirements could go away entirely under Trump, opening up the possibility of more dirty-burning power plants getting built without any efforts to mitigate the potential harm. Even if the objection of Trump's EPA is that it doesn't believe fossil fuel emissions contribute to climate change, there are still plenty of adverse effects of dirty-burning fuels that are real and tangible. A study published in 2023 found that the pollution produced by coal-fired power plants likely resulted in as many as 460,000 excess deaths, the result largely of air-based pollution that is generated by burning coal. So forget the long-term destruction that will result from the planet getting hotter—people are dying because of these plants right now.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Republicans' pro-pollution agenda exposes the fraudulent MAHA movement
As Republicans peddle propaganda about their purported desire to 'Make America Healthy Again,' they're pursuing a literally toxic agenda, one that's rolling back anti-pollution measures and putting Americans at risk. For me, this came to mind last week, when the Trump administration announced that it was rolling back guidelines meant to prevent the spread of 'forever chemicals,' which have been linked to cancer and heart disease. This week, Donald Trump's Environmental Protection Agency chief, Lee Zeldin, launched what I'd describe as a vocal defense of some forever chemicals, claiming that research is inconclusive and framing the Biden administration's regulations as too onerous for corporations. In an interview with Fox News, Zeldin said entities that provide water to the masses deserve 'more flexibility to be able to come into compliance,' which sounds like bureaucratic jargon that effectively means companies should have more leeway and not be forced to meet strict standards. As the saying goes, 'the devil doesn't need an advocate.' And I don't think cancer-causing chemicals do either. And keep in mind: This move is coming from the same administration whose health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has spread conspiracy theories about fluoridated water. In addition, House Republicans approved a measure early Thursday that would roll back the Biden administration's guidelines meant to prevent air pollution. The GOP-led Senate approved a similar measure last month, and the House version is headed to Trump's desk to be signed into law. As The Hill reported: The House early Thursday morning voted to eliminate a Biden-era rule that sought to crack down on toxic air pollution, sending the resolution to President Trump's desk. The vote was 216-212, and Trump is expected to sign the measure. The vote took place overnight as the House debated the GOP's megabill of Trump's priorities. The Biden-era policy required polluters that had once been considered 'major' emitters of seven types of pollution to continue to follow strict pollution control and reporting requirements. Senate Republicans also bypassed the filibuster this week in order to kill California's air pollution standards that regulate vehicles' emissions. California Gov. Gavin Newsom hit the nail on the head while vowing to fight the move, saying the GOP's legislation stands to 'make America smoggy again.' The past week has highlighted the ruse undergirding the GOP's Make America Healthy Again rhetoric. As Trump, Kennedy and others in the MAGA movement portray themselves as faithful stewards of Americans' health, this administration and its allies in Congress appear to be doing everything in their power to make it easier for dangerous toxins to reach the masses. This article was originally published on
E&E News
23-05-2025
- Politics
- E&E News
Zeldin's new attack on endangerment finding: It combined 6 GHGs
EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin appeared to propose a new argument this week for why his agency should overhaul a key scientific finding that underpins most climate rules. Speaking at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on his agency's budget Tuesday, Zeldin said the Obama-era EPA had erred by not considering the harm done by each of the six greenhouse gases individually when it formulated its so-called endangerment finding, which assessed their combined effects. 'They didn't study each of these six individually. They studied all six collectively,' he said, in response to a question by New York Rep. Paul Tonko (D) about EPA's announcement in March that it would review the 2009 finding, which paved the way for greenhouse gas emissions to be regulated under the Clean Air Act. Advertisement The original endangerment finding looked at the harm posed by greenhouse gas emissions from vehicles, Zeldin noted, even though vehicles don't emit all six gases.
