University of Massachusetts Amherst commits to 100 percent renewable energy
The University of Massachusetts added to the Earth Day festivities Friday when Chancellor Kumble Subbaswamy announced that the state’s flagship public university will power its campus entirely with renewable energy by 2032.
Interactive map shows widespread lead contamination in schools drinking water
BOSTON -- Lead contamination of school drinking water is more pervasive than previously thought, according to testing data from across the nation published on Thursday by Environment America Research & Policy Center and U.S. PIRG Education Fund on a new interactive map. The groups urged public officials to take swift action to “get the lead out” of schools’ drinking water.
Thousands call on EPA to get the lead out of drinking water
Nearly 15,000 people are urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to not only set a 10-year deadline for removing lead pipes but also take decisive action to ensure safe drinking water at schools and child care centers. Environment America Research & Policy Center and U.S. PIRG Education Fund submitted comments Wednesday from these individuals on the EPA’s Draft Strategy to Reduce Lead Exposures and Disparities.
A coalition of groups, including Environment Washington, Center for Biological Diversity, Sierra Club and more launched an effort Tuesday called the Climate Forests campaign. It will focus on protecting older and mature trees on federal lands that are most critical in the fight against climate change.
Groups urge EPA and Army Corps to restore nation’s clean water protections
Environment America Research & Policy Center’s Clean Water Network delivered support from nearly 100 groups Monday to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Army Corps of Engineers urging federal policymakers to officiallyrescind the Trump administration's Navigable Waters Protection Rule (also known as the ‘Dirty Water Rule’) and restore protections for our nation’s waterways. In addition, Environment America Research & Policy Center and Environmental Action submitted 18,316 comments from their individual members on this issue.
Nation’s environmental leaders urge Governor Newsom to save solar
SAN FRANCISCO – As the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) considers gutting the state’s bedrock solar program, a broad coalition of national and state environmental organizations delivered a letter Wednesday to CPUC commissioners and Gov. Gavin Newsom urging them to immediately issue an alternative that allows rooftop solar and battery storage to continue to grow. The letter was delivered by 70 organizations, including Environment America, Environment California, Greenpeace, The Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Environmental Working Group and the Center for Biological Diversity.
69.9% of Costco’s shareholders vote to reduce carbon pollution and deforestation
As Washingtonians experience the consequences of climate change — record heat waves, wildfires, droughts, and shrinking snowpacks —69.9% of the shareholders in Costco*, one of the largest retailers in the world, voted yes on a shareholder proposal that calls on Costco to set “short, medium, and long-term science-based greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets” to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.
New Report: President Biden’s first year in office marks progress on numerous environmental fronts
Following years of rollbacks, President Joe Biden began his term nearly a year ago amidst unprecedented environmental and public health challenges. Despite these obstacles, his administration has made significant strides toward restoring lost environmental protections and confronting daunting threats to our climate and public health, according to a new report by Environment America Research & Policy Center and U.S. PIRG Education Fund.
New report: Reinstated ‘polluter pays’ taxes should speed up lagging toxic waste cleanup
WASHINGTON -- For more than 20 years, the federal government’s “Superfund” program aimed at cleaning up toxic waste sites has languished for lack of funding. The program was originally funded by a tax on the chemical and petroleum industries, but those “polluter pays” taxes expired in 1995. When President Joe Biden signed the bipartisan infrastructure package (BIF) into law last month, a polluter pays tax was finally reinstated on chemical industries.