Library Search

Brayton Point Power Station in Somerset, Mass., in 2012. (Denis Tangney Jr. / Getty Images)
From the Experts: Victory April 25, 2024

EPA Finalized New Wastewater Treatment Standards for Coal-fired Power Plants

A 15-year legal fight to curb toxic wastewater to protect drinking water.

After years of inaction by the federal government, the Environmental Protection Agency has proposed long-overdue limits on six PFAS in drinking water. (Getty Images)
feature April 19, 2024

Inside EPA’s Roadmap on Regulating PFAS Chemicals

Toxic “forever chemicals” remain laxly regulated.

The aftermath of the devastating coal ash spill at the TVA Kingston Fossil Plant near Kingston, Tenn., in 2008. More than 1 billion gallons of toxic coal ash sludge burst from a dam, sweeping away homes and contaminating two rivers. (Dot Griffith/ Appalachian Voice via United Mountain Defense)
feature April 25, 2024

Coal Ash Contaminates Our Lives

Coal ash is what is left behind when power plants burn coal for energy, It is a toxic mix of carcinogens, neurotoxins, and other hazardous pollutants.

feature April 9, 2024

What You Need To Know About Chlorpyrifos

The neurotoxic pesticide harms children and the environment. There are no safe uses for chlorpyrifos.

Una pila de cenizas de carbón, aproximadamente de una altura de cinco pisos, se encuentra junto a la central eléctrica AES-PR en la ciudad sureña de Guayama, Puerto Rico. (Mabette Colón)
feature April 16, 2024

Cenizas de Carbón Tóxicas en Puerto Rico: El Peligroso Legado de la Planta de Carbón de AES-PR

Applied Energy Services continúa contaminando el aire, el suelo y el agua en Puerto Rico con cenizas de carbón tóxicas.

Cape Fear Riverkeeper Kemp Burdette collects water samples in the Cape Fear River near the Smithfield slaughter house in Tar Heel, N.C. (Justin Cook for Earthjustice)
Press Release March 26, 2024

Community, Environmental, and Animal Welfare Organizations Press EPA to Strengthen Water Pollution Control Standards for Slaughterhouses and Animal Rendering Facilities

Stronger standards would prevent hundreds of millions of pounds of pollution from reaching rivers and streams, helping to protect more than 22 million people

document March 21, 2024

Fact Sheet: Protecting Communities and Building a Sustainable American Steel Industry

The EPA’s finalized rule will yield billions of dollars in public health benefits for nearby environmental justice communities, who are overexposed to toxic pollution.

(iStockphoto)
Press Release April 11, 2024

Health and Environmental Advocates Petition EPA to Regulate PFAS in Plastic Containers

The petition asks EPA to regulate PFAS created that leach from more than 100 million fluorinated plastic containers into household products and the environment

John Beard, Robert Taylor, Sharon Lavigne and Harry Joseph, left to right, speak to fellow activists from "Cancer Alley" to call on President Biden to declare a state of emergency in St. James Parrish, La., during a protest outside the White House on Oct. 25, 2022. The procession of activists carried photographs of fellow community members who died because of the toxic impact of fossil fuels. (Kevin Wolf / AP Images for Fossil Free Media)
Press Release: Victory April 9, 2024

New EPA Rule Will Reduce Tons of Cancer-Causing Chemical Emissions from Plants

The updates will reduce more than 6,000 tons of the nation’s most harmful air pollution, including the carcinogens ethylene oxide and chloroprene

Press Release: Victory April 9, 2024

Nueva Norma de la EPA Reducirá Toneladas de Emisiones Químicas Que Causan Cáncer

Las actualizaciones reducirán más de 6 mil toneladas de la contaminación del aire más dañina del país, incluidos carcinógenos como el óxido de etileno y el cloropreno

Workmen prepare to replace old water pipes with new copper pipes in Newark, New Jersey in 2021. The city replaced nearly all of its 23,000 lead service lines with new copper pipes. (Seth Wenig / AP)
Article March 11, 2024

This Toxic Metal is Still Contaminating Our Drinking Water. Is Change Coming?

Lead-contaminated water continues to plague many U.S. cities and rural areas alike, but a renewed focus by the federal government and state-based efforts offer hope for finally dealing with this nationwide crisis.

Solar panels at the Truckee Meadows Community College in Reno, Nevada. (Black Rock Solar / CC BY 2.0)
Press Release April 4, 2024

Earthjustice Praises Announcement of New Climate Funds Awardees to Turbocharge Climate and Environmental Justice Investments in Disadvantaged Communities

$20 billion from the Inflation Reduction Act marks an unprecedented investment in local projects that reduce emissions, advance environmental justice, and lower energy costs

Protestors paddle next to the Mackinac Bridge at the Pipe Out Paddle Up Flotilla Against the Line 5 pipeline in Mackinaw City, Michigan. (Sarah Rice for Earthjustice)
Article March 15, 2024

The Great Lakes Are Under Threat. A New Film Tells the Story of the Fight to Save Them.

The Line 5 pipeline has leaked over 1 million gallons of oil to date and threatens the Great Lakes.

A worker in a steel mill checking the flow of molten steel before the casting process in Southern California.  (Robert Lachman / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
From the Experts April 11, 2024

From Ice Cream to Glass to Steel, California Needs to Think Big on Industrial Electrification

It’s time for the largest manufacturing hub in the country to develop a blueprint for zero emissions. Legislation like AB 2083 can get us there.

document December 14, 2023

Snake River Litigation: Factsheet on the United States Government Commitments

The United States Government Commitments, developed as part of a lengthy mediation process, pledge the federal government to continued support for the recovery of healthy and abundant salmon populations in the Columbia River Basin, provide significant federal funding to the Northwest, assist region-wide efforts and planning to address climate change, and set the region on a path to breach the four lower Snake River dams.

(Yipeng Ge / Getty Images)
feature April 10, 2024

Breaking Down Toxic PFAS

What PFAS are, why they’re harmful, and what we can do to protect ourselves from them

In the News: Energy News Network March 12, 2024

Parsing legal definitions, power industry pushes back on EPA coal ash enforcement

Gavin Kearney, Deputy Managing Attorney, Clean Energy Program: “The whole overarching point (of the federal rules) is that groundwater contamination is a big problem; it’s really unsafe, and we have to prevent it. You can’t let water in (to a coal ash impoundment); you can’t let water out; you can’t let water just sit inside…

In the News: Financial Times April 11, 2024

Republican states step up legal threats to Joe Biden’s climate agenda

Sam Sankar, Senior Vice President of Programs: “This is the most right-wing court we’ve seen in almost a century, and that’s emboldening conservative legal activists to swing for the fences with legal claims that would have been laughable just a few years ago. The legal landscape has shifted, and it’s profound.”