Latest news with #Region5
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Another Ohio official named to federal post
(WKBN) — Another Ohio official has been named to a federal post by the Trump Administration. Read next: Canfield Fair announces 2025 music headliners Anne Vogel was named Monday as EPA Region 5 administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Vogel has served since 2022 at the state level in Ohio as director of the Ohio EPA. Valley residents heard a lot from her throughout the cleanup following the East Palestine train derailment. Vogel will now serve in her federal post under U.S. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin. Zeldin mentioned Vogel's accomplishments during the derailment as proof of her leadership abilities. 'I am glad to welcome Anne to our EPA team,' Zeldin said. 'Through her leadership running the Ohio EPA and following the East Palestine incident, Region 5 and the Great Lakes National Program have the right leader at the right time. I am confident that her deep knowledge and vast experience will be vital to implementing President Trump's agenda across Region 5.' Vogel said her past work with the Region 5 team is something she plans to draw from in her new leadership role. 'I've been fortunate to have already worked with the Region 5 team in Ohio, and I look forward to working alongside them to implement the Administration's environmental priorities and ensure clean air, water and land for all, while fostering economic growth and environmental stewardship throughout the Great Lakes region.,' she said. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine also announced Monday that he is nominating John Logue to be the next director of the Ohio EPA. If confirmed, he will replace Vogel. 'John Logue is a strong leader with a proven track record of serving Ohioans and leading important agencies,' DeWine said. 'I know John will continue the progress Ohio EPA has made during my administration protecting our air, land, and water.' Earlier this month, the Trump Administration named Elliot Gaiser to serve in the Office of Legal Counsel. Gaiser served as the Solicitor General of Ohio and was appointed by Governor Mike DeWine. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Chicago Tribune
16-03-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Environmental advocates react to more EPA cuts, Braun executive orders
Staffing cuts to agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency are a willful cruelty one former leader of the agency hasn't seen in her lifetime. Debra Shore, former regional administrator for EPA Region 5, has been distressed watching the agency undergo attacks from the Trump administration, including staffing changes, grant cancelations and deregulations. Shore was appointed by former President Joe Biden in October 2021 and served as administrator until Jan. 20. 'What I found in my time leading Region 5 was a remarkable team of smart, devoted professionals who had a shared sense of mission,' Shore said. 'They wanted to help protect human health and the environment, and they were doing so.' EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin on Wednesday announced 'the biggest deregulatory action in U.S. history,' according to a news release from the administration. Actions include reconsideration of power plant regulations, vehicle regulations and terminating environmental justice and diversity, equity and inclusion arms of the agency. 'We are driving a dagger straight into the heart of climate change religion to drive down cost of living for American families, unleash American energy, bring auto jobs back to the U.S. and more,' Zeldin said in the release. 'Alongside President Trump, we are living up to our promises to unleash American energy, lower costs for Americans, revitalize the American auto industry, and work hand-in-hand with our state partners to advance our shared mission.' Shore mentioned multiple concerns with Zeldin's announcement, particularly that he didn't mention protecting human health and the environment. The deregulation isn't about reducing spending or identifying waste and fraud, Shore said. The agency was created in 1970 in the wake of growing concern about the impact of industrial and agricultural pollution on public health across the country. Locally, multiple fires broke out in the Indiana Harbor and Ship Canal, fish dieoffs occurred in the 1960s along the Grand Calumet River, and open hearths at steel mills routinely pumped dust into the atmosphere that rolled over Gary like a blanket of fog. An internal memo to the EPA said Zeldin plans to reorganize and eliminate offices of environmental justice at all 10 EPA regional offices and the one in Washington, D.C., the New York Times reported. The EPA had reached out to local communities like Gary to be Shore doesn't know how many staff members will be impacted in Region 5 because of the environmental justice office closures. However, that will make communication between the Region 5 office and communities like those in Northwest Indiana more difficult. 'That's going to affect their ability to disperse funds and inspect facilities and more,' Shore said. 'You can remove the label 'environmental justice,' but you still have those communities — many of them rural — that are overburdened by pollution from nearby chemical plants, manufacturing plants and power plants.' In Indiana, Gov. Mike Braun signed two executive orders targeting the environment, including one to make state regulations consistent with national ones and one prohibiting the use of 'environmental justice' in permitting, enforcement and grant decisions. '…the concept of 'environmental justice' has become increasingly politicized and has often led to the introduction of subjective, non-scientific factors into environmental policy and regulation…' one of Braun's executive orders read. Hoosier environmental advocates have expressed concerns with Braun's actions. Coupled with EPA deregulations, environmental protections are at risk and rollbacks can have deadly consequences, said Robyn Skuya-Boss, chapter director for the Sierra Club Hoosier Chapter. 'It's sort of this question that if the federal EPA is looking to roll back environmental protections, then can this be followed suit by Indiana and our state agencies in reducing those environmental protections?' Skuya-Boss said. Although Skuya-Boss is not surprised by the actions of Zeldin and Braun, he is disappointed to see the environment isn't prioritized. Skuya-Boss encourages local leaders and advocacy groups to become more engaged and make their voices heard, especially in more polluted communities, like those in Northwest Indiana. 'Pollution is not distributed equally,' Skuya-Boss said. 'Promises were made by our government in addressing these sort of long-standing environmental impacts, what we're really seeing is those promises being broken under the guise of these public policy changes and environmental protection rollbacks.' Northwest Indiana environmental groups also reacted to EPA changes and Braun's executive orders. Gary Advocates for Responsible Development said in a press release that shutting down environmental justice offices means more serious health harms in the city. 'The country is going to see more people with asthma, cancer, lung diseases and health problems,' President Dorreen Carey said in a news release. 'This will be especially true in the communities like Gary that already suffer from being overburdened with air, land and water pollution.' Susan Thomas, director of policy and press for Just Transition Northwest Indiana, said Zeldin's actions are not science based, and rollbacks will be damaging and dangerous to communities nationwide. 'This ends three decades of work the EPA has tried to push forward addressing the disparities between low income and minority communities, and the brunt they have historically had to bear against polluting industry,' Thomas said. 'This removes all protections. We are in a very precarious spot, and there will be pushback.' Zeldin's actions won't safeguard community health or the environment, Thomas said. Closing environmental justice offices will put communities at a disadvantage and will no longer help communities advocate for themselves. EPA cuts will not immediately happen, Shore said, because action will be taken in the courts. However, it's dangerous to roll back measures that monitor air and water quality and that hold corporations accountable. 'Those efforts to both monitor and then enforce will be reduced because of cuts to people and cuts to budgets, and so many residents of communities that live near polluting industries won't know what they're being exposed to,' Shore said. 'They'll still suffer from air emissions and degraded water quality, but they just won't know about it.' If federal standards are taken away, Indiana standards will also be gone, Thomas said after Braun's executive orders were released. Reducing environmental regulations will have negative economic effects, Thomas also said. People want a healthy, vibrant quality of place, Thomas said, and if the quality of place is decreased, those communities will suffer. 'What EPA (deregulations) and these executive directors do is rip the rug out from under that,' she added. 'Industry and businesses really need to look at how they are impacting the quality of place because that has a strong economic impact.' Indra Frank, coal ash advisor for the Hoosier Environmental Council, said she's worried how deregulation is going to impact coal ash cleanup. In Zeldin's Wednesday announcement, he said the EPA plans to prioritize its coal ash program to expedite state permit reviews and update coal ash regulations. However, changing coal ash rules can take years, Frank said, and it could stall cleanup. 'Coal ash cleanup projects are large, multi-year projects,' Frank said. 'Changing the federal rule in the middle of cleanups that were already happening because of the rule in place just throws that off. How are our industries supposed to plan and budget for these multi-year projects when the rule keeps changing? That inconsistency can be very costly.' Coal ash is a byproduct that is created primarily from burning coal in power plans, according to the EPA. Communities statewide have had issues with coal ash, including the Town of Pines, which has fought for cleanup measures from NIPSCO for more than 20 years. Coal ash contamination also negatively impacts the economy, Frank said, because it contaminates groundwater and makes large amounts of land unavailable for development. Going forward, Frank said she plans to still advocate for responsible cleanup of coal ash and protecting Indiana communities. She encourages community groups to advocate for better environmental standards locally. Shore continues to tell staff at EPA Region 5 that American people want and deserve clean water, clean air and safe places to live. Staff need to continue advocating for Americans while their jobs are under attack, Shore said. 'Science supports what the EPA has been doing, and it's clear cut in many places,' Shore said. 'I think when Americans start realizing what's at risk, as they have with other parts of society, they will let people know. That's my hope.'
Chicago Tribune
18-02-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
‘We are the patriots': Chicago federal employees protest mass firings in Federal Plaza
Two months ago, Nicole Smith moved from Michigan to Chicago for a new job at the Environmental Protection Agency where she would look for communities that had lead poison in the air. That all changed last Friday when the 25-year-old received an email that she said left her 'absolutely gutted:' she had been terminated from the agency. 'I was immediately locked out of everything, no idea about my benefits, or how I'm gonna get my last paycheck,' Smith said. 'It's been really tough, just being in a new city and then finally getting my dream job and then having it taken with one button pushed.' Smith was one of just over a hundred people who braved bitter cold in Federal Plaza on Tuesday to protest the Trump administration's mass firing of federal workers. Since late January, the administration has focused on shrinking the federal workforce, offering buyouts to employees and ordering agencies to lay off nearly all probationary employees who had not yet gained civil service protections. So far, thousands of federal employees across different agencies have either taken the buyouts or been fired, including workers from the Department of Education, Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Veterans Affairs. On Tuesday morning, 168 National Science Foundation employees were also fired as part of the administration's aggressive efforts to reduce the federal workforce. Tuesday's rally followed nationwide protests on Presidents Day that organizers said were focused on state capitals and major cities including Washington, D.C.; Orlando, Florida; and Seattle. In Chicago, people marched from Federal Plaza to Trump Tower with signs that read 'Nobody elected Elon' and 'It's a Coup! Stop President Musk!' Organizers of Monday's protests said they were targeting 'anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies.' 'This is like a suicide pact. We see the harm that's being done to our country,' Ald. Maria Hadden, 49th, said at Tuesday's gathering. 'I'm worried about how people are going to eat, how people are going to get clean water, how we're going to continue to fund our housing, how we're going to be able to build our infrastructure.' The federal workforce shrinkage is felt strongly in Illinois, speakers said at Tuesday's rally, emphasizing concerns about how the government will be able to protect the Great Lakes, clean up toxic waste sites and ensure people have access to clean drinking water and safe air in the Upper Midwest. EPA Region 5 — which includes Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Minnesota — is headquartered in Chicago. Nicole Cantello, president of the union that represents workers in EPA Region 5, said that her region has lost as many as 100 employees so far to resignation, firing, retirements and forced administrative leave. 'When we lose EPA workers at this scale, we can no longer effectively protect the public in emergencies, like Flint, Michigan, water crisis, or the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio,' Cantello said. 'In fact, we have less people working here at EPA right now in the Great Lakes region than during the Reagan administration.' Workers from agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency, Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Emergency Management Agency, showed up at the rally bundled up in heavy winter coats and signs that ranged from 'Protect CFPB' to 'Stop the Billionaire Takeover.' 'We've been ordered to stop work, and I want to get back to work protecting Americans from predatory consumer financial products,' Joseph Sanders, an enforcement attorney with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, said. Sanders was one of over a thousand affected employees when Trump ordered the agency last week to halt its work. The administration also fired dozens of bureau employees, although a judge has blocked the administration from mass layoffs at the bureau. The determination to get back to work that Sanders felt is one shared by many people at the rally, with workers chanting 'AFGE, DOGE won't silence me' and 'Get up, get down, Chicago is a union town.' 'It's vital that we remember that we are the patriots here. We've got to take America back,' said Cam Davis, commissioner for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. As Davis spoke, he pulled out an American flag and handed it to the crowd for the group of protesters to pass around. Cheers from protesters erupted in response.
