EnviroPolitics Blog

Pa. Gov. Shapiro sues over Trump administration funding freeze

By Ford Turner, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau

HARRISBURG – The Shapiro administration on Thursday sued the federal government over its implementation of President Donald Trump’s executive orders, challenging a freeze of federal funding and saying state agencies can’t access $1.2 billion and face roadblocks on $900 million more.

“The federal government has entered into a contract with the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, promising to provide billions of dollars in Congressionally-approved funding,” Mr. Shapiro said in a news release. “With this funding freeze, the Trump administration is breaking that contract.”

Besides the $1.2 billion, the Shapiro administration said that as of Thursday there is another $900 million that requires “an undefined review by federal agencies” before it can be drawn down.

The firestorm over frozen funding broke out with the issuance of a memo by the Office of Management and Budget on Jan. 27, less than a week into Trump’s second presidency. Mr. Shapiro, a Democrat, said the next afternoon that state employees “literally can’t access the payment systems and the computer systems” used to run high-profile federal-state programs.

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Hard-fought NJ bill to reduce plastic packaging clears a hurdle

It took nine hearings in a single New Jersey Senate committee to spring loose a bill on Monday (S3398) that would shift responsibility for handling products in plastic containers to manufacturers. The plastics industry and their business allies continue efforts to block the legislation. Environmentalists and health advocates say it’s essential, pointing to studies showing plastic particles building up in our bodies.

Overview:
State lawmakers are advancing bills to make plastic producers more responsible for the waste they create through Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs. EPR has been gaining traction as a promising waste management and reduction approach, with California, Colorado, Maine, and Oregon enacting EPR programs for plastic waste in recent years.
Building on legislation from these states, at least 11 other states have introduced 24 policies in 2024 to help improve their waste systems by establishing their own EPR for packaging programs.

Hard-fought NJ bill to reduce plastic packaging clears a hurdle Read More »

Trump’s next environmental target: Endangered species

Republicans have pushed to loosen protections for grizzly bears around Yellowstone National Park and the Continental Divide.
Photographer: Jonathan Newton/Getty Images

Bobby Magill, Bloomberg Law

Nonprofit environmental law groups adding attorneys
Rarely convened ‘God Squad’ seen as tool to trim animal protections

Environmental law groups are hiring a cadre of attorneys in a bid to block President Donald Trump’s deregulatory efforts, which they assert will dismantle endangered species protections.

The Center for Biological Diversity, which sued the first Trump administration more than 280 times, is adding six lawyers. Earthjustice, a nonprofit law firm that sued more than 200 times, is seeking eight more.

Both groups say they’re preparing to file possibly hundreds of lawsuits to challenge potential rollbacks under Trump’s Jan. 31 deregulation plan, which directs federal agencies to eliminate 10 rules for each new one they enact.

“We’re not as caught by surprise as we were last time around,” said Kristen Boyles, managing attorney for Earthjustice.

The scramble is a response to the disruption cascading across multiple departments and agencies, as the president and his newly formed Department of Government Efficiency seek to shrink government and repeal or replace every last vestige of the Biden agenda.

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Trump’s next environmental target: Endangered species Read More »

The amazing Mr. Musk. Can he win playing both sides on China?

Elon Musk listens as President Donald Trump speaks after taking the oath of office at the 60th Presidential Inauguration in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Monday, Jan. 20, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Pool Photo via AP)

By Katrina Northrop and Vic Chiang, Washington Post

Elon Musk’s Tesla on Tuesday opened an enormous $200 million battery plant in Shanghai, near its car-making Gigafactory, deepening the company’s investment in China even as its CEO serves in an administration picking a trade war with Beijing.

Musk has been busy in Washington — he is spearheading President Donald Trump’s effort to radically reshape the federal government through his U.S. DOGE Service — and did not attend the ceremony in China.

But the new factory underscores his unusual position as economic tensions between the United States and China escalate.

“If he’s not playing things right on the edge, Elon Musk is not comfortable, so he’s in his element,” said Michael Dunne, a China auto industry consultant, adding that it reflected Musk’s apparent belief that he would innovate faster than everyone else, keeping him in good standing in China.

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What’s your take on Elon Musk? Send you comments to editor@enviropolitics.com, Maybe we’ll publish them in an upcoming post.

The amazing Mr. Musk. Can he win playing both sides on China? Read More »

Trump’s return met with silence from formerly outspoken billionaire environmental champions

From left, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta; Lauren Sanchez, the fiancée of Jeff Bezos of Amazon; Mr. Bezos; and Sundar Pichai of Google with cabinet nominees at President Trump’s inauguration. Kenny Holston/The New York Times

By David Gelles, New York Times

Over the last decade or so, a group of America’s wealthiest individuals, largely from the tech industry, became some of the world’s biggest climate champions, pledging billions in highly public campaigns.

With the exception of Bloomberg, none of the leaders, including Bezos, Gates, Powell Jobs and Benioff, have made statements opposing the Trump administration’s actions. Silicon Valley’s major tech companies that have committed to reducing their emissions have also been silent.

On his first day in office, Trump withdrew the United States from the Paris climate accord, set in motion plans to open Alaskan wilderness to drilling and mining, halted federal approvals for new wind farms, told federal agencies to stop subsidizing electric vehicles, and paused approvals for renewable energy projects on public lands. Since then, his assault on climate initiatives promoted by the Biden administration has continued.

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What changed with NJ’s new Groundwater Quality Standards?

By David J. Mairo, Chiesa Shahinian & Giantomasi PC (CSG Law)

On February 3, 2025, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) published the updated Class IIA Ground Water Quality Standards (GWQS), N.J.A.C. 7:9C, originally proposed on January 2, 2024 and formally adopted on January 2, 2025. The new standards have the potential to impact ongoing and completed remediations at sites throughout New Jersey.

When originally published, the Department sought to update the specific ground water quality criteria and/or practical quantitation levels (PQLs) for 73 constituents of Class II-A ground water. The updates were reportedly based on United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) methodologies and the best available scientific information. The adopted version resulted in changes to 64 of the 73 originally identified constituents, of which 52 became more stringent and 12 became less stringent. The other nine constituents remained less than or equal to their PQLs, therefore no change was made. Some of the more commonly encountered contaminants for which there are now updated GWQSs include:

Benzene: 0.45 ug/l (ppb)
Perfluorononanoic acid (PFNA): 0.013 ug/l
Tetrachloroethene: 0.4 ug/l
Trichloroethene: 0.28 ug/l
Vinyl Chloride: 0.035 ug/l

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What changed with NJ’s new Groundwater Quality Standards? Read More »

Pa. Gov. Shapiro sues over Trump administration funding freeze

Hard-fought NJ bill to reduce plastic packaging clears a hurdle

Trump’s next environmental target: Endangered species

The amazing Mr. Musk. Can he win playing both sides on China?

Trump’s return met with silence from formerly outspoken billionaire environmental champions

What changed with NJ’s new Groundwater Quality Standards?

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