In the News

Betsy Southerland, EPN member and former EPA Director, Office of Science & Technology in the Office of Water, is interviewed about the progress on Montana’s Superfund cleanup sites being put in jeopardy once again by a potential second government shutdown.

EPN member Bernard Goldstein, former EPA Assistant Administrator for Research and Development, is quoted in this article on an EPA research unit tasked with evaluating chemicals’ health risks hindered by the agency’s top leadership.

Betsy Southerland, EPN member and former EPA Director, Office of Science & Technology in the Office of Water, is quoted in this article about EPA’s expected plan to deal with “forever” PFAS chemicals amid complaints from Congress and environmentalists that is has not moved aggressively enough to regulate them.

EPN member Joe Goffman, former EPA Associate Assistant Administrator for Climate and Senior Counsel in the Office of Air and Radiation, is quoted in this article about the EPA, as part of its proposed Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, waiving New Source Review (NSR) permitting requirements for coal-fired power plants seeking to make efficiency upgrades known as heat-rate improvements that are not projected to result in an hourly emissions rate increase.

EPN member Joe Goffman, former EPA Associate Assistant Administrator for Climate and Senior Counsel in the Office of Air and Radiation, is quoted in this article about the EPA-reported dip in emissions resulting largely from the continued move toward cleaner burning fuels—such as natural gas and renewable energy—to produce electricity, and away from carbon-intensive coal.

EPN member Cynthia Giles, former EPA Assistant Administrator, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, is quoted in this article about sharp drops in in EPA’s civil and criminal penalties, site inspections and other measures under the Trump administration.

EPN member Cynthia Giles, former EPA Assistant Administrator, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, is quoted in this article about civil and criminal crackdowns on polluters dropping significantly in the 2nd year of the Trump Administration. This piece also ran in The Seattle Times.

EPN members Dave Coursen, former EPA Office of General Counsel, and Cynthia Giles, former EPA Assistant Administrator, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, are quoted in this article about an 80% drop in some penalties levied against polluters, signaling that the EPA has become a less aggressive watchdog:. The piece also ran in Press of Atlantic City, among other outlets.

EPN member Cynthia Giles, former EPA Assistant Administrator, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, is quoted in this article about the EPA inspecting fewer industrial facilities during 2018 than at any time over the past decade.

EPN member Joe Goffman, former EPA Associate Assistant Administrator for Climate and Senior Counsel in the Office of Air and Radiation, is quoted in this article about the EPA’s plans to finalize the Affordable Clean Energy rule in the second quarter of 2019.

Joel Mintz, EPN member and former EPA Enforcement and Supervisory Attorney, wrote this op-ed about the many lessons to be learned by our political leaders and the public at large from the recent government shutdown.

EPN member Dan Reich, former EPA Assistant Regional Counsel, Region 9, wrote this op-ed  about using tariffs to address the real and present danger of climate change.

Betsy Southerland, EPN member and former EPA Director, Office of Science & Technology in the Office of Water, was interviewed by KOA-AM on the State of the Union address.

EPN member Jeffry Fowley, former EPA General Attorney, is quoted in this article about Fowley’s request that the agency’s Office of Inspector General investigate allegations of misconduct in EPA Region 5. Jeff is also quoted in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on the same topic.

Ronnie Levin, EPN member and former EPA Senior Scientist in Region 1, is quoted in this article about public health advocates finding last week’s reports that EPA would not set a legal limit for toxic PFAS chemicals in drinking water disappointing, but not surprising.

Betsy Southerland, EPN member and former EPA Director, Office of Science & Technology in the Office of Water, co-wrote an op-ed about the administration’s long list of regulatory rollbacks that put public health in jeopardy.

EPN members Jeff Alson, former EPA Senior Engineer and Policy Advisor in the Office of Transportation and Air Quality, and Joe Goffman, former EPA Associate Assistant Administrator for Climate and Senior Counsel in the Office of Air and Radiation, are quoted in this article about 11 major energy sector rules targeted for repeal or relaxation and how these actions would boost businesses and harm society according to the administration’s own estimates.

EPN member Stan Meiburg, former EPA Deputy Regional Administrator in Region 4 and Region 6 and Acting Deputy Administrator, is quoted in this article about the partial U.S. government shutdown threatening to delay the rollout of new vehicle models in the U.S. by stalling required certifications from the EPA.

Cynthia Giles, EPN member and former EPA Assistant Administrator, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, is quoted in this article about her analysis of EPA data that shows an 85% decrease in civil penalties for polluters under the Trump administration.

Cynthia Giles, EPN member and former EPA Assistant Administrator, Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, is quoted in this article about her analysis that shows civil penalties for polluters under the Trump administration plummeted during the past fiscal year to the lowest average level since 1994.

EPN’s PFAS comments are referenced in this article on EPA’s reports on the health hazards of chemicals GenX and perfluorobutane sulfonic acid (PFBS), which many groups say came too late, weren’t done correctly, and fail to address the chemicals’ presence in drinking water across the country.

Janet McCabe, EPN member and Advisor and former EPA Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation, is quoted in this article, which discusses how limiting the positives of a rule by discounting its “co-benefits,” as the EPA proposed last month with its mercury emissions regulation, allows agencies to tweak their regulations in ways that are friendlier to those covered by them.

Betsy Southerland, EPN member and former EPA Director, Office of Science & Technology in the Office of Water, is quoted in this E&E article about environmental experts who say closing the gap between current federal waterway protections and the administration’s proposed Waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule will be all but impossible given state laws limiting environmental regulations or imposing budgetary restrictions.

EPN member Judith Enck, former EPA Regional Administrator for Region 2, is quoted in this article about the growing risks from the partial government shutdown, not only to the economic security of some Americans, but the health of us all.