WASHINGTON - February 24 - A federal appeals court today ruled that Bush-era clean air standards were deficient, sending them back to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for corrective action. The Bush administration had rejected recommendations by its science advisors for stronger airborne particulate standards, and the Court today ruled that this action was arbitrary. The standards at issue limit levels of soot, smoke, and other airborne particles linked to tens of thousands of premature deaths each year.

WASHINGTON - February 23 - The United States Supreme Court this morning declined to consider a Bush-era rule that would have allowed a cap-and-trade approach to toxic mercury emitted by the U.S. power industry. This decision invalidates the Bush rule and sets a new course that will help protect America's waterways from toxic mercury pollution.

WASHINGTON - February 19 - The dangers of coal ash were largely hidden from public view until December, when a dam holding a billion gallons of the waste collapsed in Eastern Tennessee. But what happened there represents just a small slice of the potential threat from coal ash, according to a new Center for Public Integrity report, Coal Ash: The Hidden Story.  

WASHINGTON - February 10 - The Environmental Protection Agency's Administrator Lisa Jackson announced today that it is stopping a last-minute move by the Bush administration that would have allowed industrial facilities to increase smog and soot emissions. The Natural Resources Defense Council petitioned the EPA to block this action under the "new source review" policy of the Clean Air Act.

WASHINGTON - January 26 - The new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator should immediately adopt agency rules implementing her confirmation vows to promote "scientific integrity", "rule of law" and "transparency", urges a letter sent today to Lisa Jackson on her first day of office by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

WASHINGTON - January 14 - As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency prepares for an era under new leadership, environmental groups are taking legal action aimed at improving much-needed air pollution controls for almost 50 industries.

Attorneys at Earthjustice and the Natural Resources Defense Council are filing a rulemaking petition and lawsuit today targeting weak and overdue air regulations for 48 industries -- from chemical plants to refineries, paper mills to metal smelters.

WASHINGTON - December 18 - “The latest in a long list of midnight regulations released by the Bush Administration to undermine federal environmental standards is the Environmental Protection Agency’s new rule, published today, that will let factory farms off the hook from reporting hazardous air emissions.  This move to exempt confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) from reporting requirements sends a clear message that EPA is no longer interested in doing its job.