environmental protection agency
Southwest Arkansas and the promise of ‘green’ lithium extraction
Editor’s note: This is the first of a two-part series looking at the promise and possible environmental peril of lithium extraction in Southwest Arkansas. At 4:30 p.m., Jan. 10, 1921, the Busey No. 1 well drilled 2,233 feet and sent a thick black column of gas, oil, and water through the top of the derrick, […]
Arkansas files federal lawsuit against EPA over Arkansas’ rejected ozone plan
The Natural State’s dirty air problems are causing another beef between Gov. Sarah Sanders and the Biden administration. During a 20-minute news conference at the Oswald Generating Station in Wrightsville, owned by the Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corp., Sanders announced that she asked state Attorney General Tim Griffin to file a federal lawsuit against the Biden […]
Ethanol touted at U.S. Senate hearing for possible national clean fuels standard
A national clean transportation fuel standard should include enough flexibility to allow for biofuels and other non-electric-vehicle solutions, bipartisan members of a U.S. Senate panel said Wednesday. The United States doesn’t have a national clean fuels standard, though senators on the Environment and Public Works Committee hinted that one may be in the works. Members […]
Longtime tensions over federal wetlands rule return in U.S. House WOTUS hearing
A U.S. House panel renewed the decades-long fight Wednesday over how standing waters on farmland and other private property should be defined and regulated by federal authorities, with Republicans calling for a pause until the U.S. Supreme Court can provide more clarity. The definition of so-called Waters of the United States, or WOTUS — wetlands […]
Environmental enforcement has fallen off under Biden, report says
Federal environmental enforcement, as measured by Environmental Protection Agency civil cases closed against polluters, hit a two-decade low in 2022, per a report released last week by a national environmental group that blames budget cuts, staff shortages and the U.S. Senate’s failure to confirm key leaders. The Environmental Integrity Project said the 72 civil enforcement […]
Tribes seek U.S. help to curb Canadian mining threats to Northwestern states
Indigenous leaders from the Northwest renewed their call this week for the federal government to pressure Canada to stop additional mining activity in British Columbia, which they say contaminates waters and threatens Native American ways of life in Alaska, Montana and Idaho. As British Columbia plans to expand its profitable coal, copper and gold mining […]