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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Federal agency

Appears in 14 stories

Stories

Company releases Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes in the D.C. region

New Capabilities

Regulator that registered ZAP males as a biopesticide

In early June, a Silver Spring pest-control company began releasing male mosquitoes across the Washington, D.C. region. The insects carry a bacterium that leaves the females they mate with unable to produce offspring that hatch.

Updated 4 days ago

Court fight over EPA's canceled environmental justice grants

Rule Changes

Lost ruling on program-wide termination

Community groups in Baltimore, Nashville, and San Diego were promised federal money to clean up pollution and cool overheated neighborhoods. On June 12, a federal judge ruled the EPA broke the law when it cut off the entire $2.8 billion program.

Updated Jun 13

Compliance costs drive consolidation in US water utilities

Money Moves

Sets the federal drinking-water rules driving compliance costs

American Water paid $315 million on June 1 for 47,000 customer connections that Nexus Water Group held across eight states. The deal closes one mid-size piece of a broader sell-off: small water systems shedding compliance-heavy assets to investor-owned utilities.

Updated Jun 5

Trump administration dismantles federal climate regulation framework

Rule Changes

Defendant in wave of federal lawsuits over endangerment revocation

The EPA's February 2026 revocation of its 2009 endangerment finding ended federal greenhouse gas authority, but the rollbacks kept coming. By May 2026, the agency had also repealed mercury protections for coal plants, relaxed refrigerant deadlines for businesses, and sent a final rule to the White House budget office to erase power plant emissions standards.

Updated May 30

Court holds DTE Energy parent companies liable for Zug Island pollution

Rule Changes

Plaintiff; secured $100M penalty after seeking $140M

EES Coke Battery has no employees. Every worker at the Zug Island coke plant near Detroit is on the payroll of a DTE Energy subsidiary. For years, that corporate arrangement helped DTE argue it wasn't responsible for the facility's sulfur dioxide pollution. On February 17, a federal judge disagreed—and used that very arrangement as evidence to hold three DTE parent entities liable as "operators" under the Clean Air Act, ordering them to pay $100 million.

Updated May 29

Quantifying the U.S. forest carbon sink

New Capabilities

Publishes annual U.S. greenhouse gas inventory including forest carbon

American forests have stored more carbon over the past two decades than at any point in the last century. A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that forest age is the primary driver, locking in 89 million metric tons of carbon annually as trees reach peak growth stages. Climate factors (temperature, precipitation, and elevated carbon dioxide) add another 66 million metric tons per year.

Updated May 29

America's 100-fold victory over lead

Rule Changes

Primary enforcement body for lead regulations

For most of the twentieth century, Americans inhaled roughly two pounds of lead per person annually from car exhaust alone. A new University of Utah study analyzing century-old hair samples documents the scale of this unintentional mass poisoning—and the reversal that followed. Lead concentrations in human hair dropped from 100 parts per million before the 1970s to less than 1 part per million today, a 100-fold decline documented through specimens preserved in family scrapbooks.

Updated May 27

EPA extends installation deadline for higher-GWP HFC refrigerant equipment

Rule Changes

Issued the May 2026 extension rule

The Environmental Protection Agency gave HVAC contractors an extra year on Tuesday to install commercial air-conditioning equipment that uses older, higher-warming refrigerants. The final rule covers variable refrigerant flow systems manufactured or imported before January 1, 2026, and pushes the installation cutoff out to January 1, 2027.

Updated May 26

California declares emergency as GKN Aerospace chemical tank threatens Garden Grove

Built World

Monitoring air quality, advising on chemical behavior

The risk of a catastrophic explosion is gone, and 50,000 displaced residents were cleared to go home. OCFA Interim Chief TJ McGovern announced Monday that the BLEVE (vapor explosion) risk 'is now off the table' — the tank cooled from 100°F to 93°F and its crack released built-up pressure.

Updated May 25

US water utilities ramp capital spending under EPA lead-pipe mandate

Built World

Administering LCRI; first compliance milestone November 1, 2027

Pennsylvania American Water confirmed $631 million in 2026 capital spending during Infrastructure Week. That was the largest single-state disclosure in the American Water Works rollout so far. Tennessee American Water followed with $40 million, closing out a week that began with Illinois's $290 million announcement on May 18.

Updated May 19

EPA flips the switch on Phase 2: Clean Water Act reporting goes digital—finally

Rule Changes

Sets NPDES eReporting requirements; builds tools; approves state deadline extensions.

For years, Clean Water Act reporting has lived in a split-screen world: core discharge numbers went digital, but paperwork stayed stuck in PDFs, emails, and filing cabinets. Phase 2 of EPA's NPDES Electronic Reporting Rule aims to close that gap, with a December 21, 2025 compliance date.

Updated May 16

CRC buys Berry, builds a bigger California oil empire—while betting on carbon storage as the second act

Money Moves

Permitting authority for Class VI CO2 injection wells relevant to CRC’s CCS plans

The CRC–Berry all-stock combination is now in the paperwork-and-plumbing phase. CRC's post-close 8-K confirms Berry is a wholly owned subsidiary and discloses an amendment raising CRC's elected credit-facility commitments to $1.46 billion. CRC has 71 days to publish pro forma financials for the combined company.

Updated May 15

Trump EPA moves to stall and unravel Biden’s auto pollution rules

Rule Changes

Rewriting and delaying key vehicle pollution and climate rules under Trump‑appointed leadership

The EPA isn't killing Biden's vehicle pollution rules outright. It plans to keep looser 2026 standards in place for two extra model years instead of enforcing tougher limits on smog-forming pollution starting in 2027.

Updated May 11

Trump’s 2025 fuel economy reset reignites the U.S. auto emissions battle

Rule Changes

Attempting to rescind Endangerment Finding and vehicle GHG standards

On December 3, 2025, President Trump unveiled an NHTSA proposal to slash Biden-era CAFE standards, cutting the 2031 target from about 50.4 mpg to roughly 34.5 mpg. The rule also slows annual increases to 0.25–0.5% from 2% and bans credit trading after 2028, which especially hurts EV-focused companies that sell credits to gasoline-heavy manufacturers.

Updated May 10