Category: EPA

10 years on: the legacy of the Flint water crisis

Volume 403, Issue 10437
27 April1 2024 

WORLD REPORT  The exposure of residents to lead in drinking water caused a national outcry, prompting requirements to update infrastructure and tighten water quality standards. Susan Jaffe reports.  

“Flint is making an impact beyond Flint”, said Mona Hanna-Attisha, a Flint paediatrician who collected data on children’s lead blood levels in 2015. “We’re sharing those big lessons—the need to respect science, the need to invest in prevention, the need to pay attention to things like infrastructure and inequities, but also the really amazing lesson of doing something about it.”. [Continued here]…

Hazardous train spills prompt calls for tougher safety rules

Volume 401, Issue 10383
8 April 2023 

 

WORLD REPORT  New bipartisan legislation has been proposed to protect health and safety following a train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, USA. Susan Jaffe reports from Washington, DC.

A flammable brew of toxic chemicals from a freight train that went off the tracks in the Ohio village of East Palestine is no longer burning but the impact of the wreck is far from over. A massive clean-up continues along with water, soil, and air monitoring. Several government agencies are involved in recovery efforts and are investigating what went wrong. And in a rare show of bipartisanship, Democrats and Republicans in Congress have proposed legislation aimed at closing the gaps in rail safety rules that the accident exposed. The accident’s aftermath has also reached the courts. [Continued here.]…

US plan to shield science from “inappropriate influence”

Volume 401, Issue 10375
11 February 2023 

 

WORLD REPORT  The Biden administration is launching a new initiative on scientific integrity in federal agencies following multiple lapses. Susan Jaffe reports from Washington, DC.

Just a week after Joe Biden was sworn in as president in January, 2021, he created a multi-agency Task Force on Scientific Integrity to restore “trust in government through scientific integrity and evidence-based policy making”…Last month, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released A Framework for Federal Scientific Integrity and Practice, a follow-up to the task force’s 2022 recommendations that provides a blueprint for implementation. [Continued here.] …

Modest health goals for new US Congress

Volume 400, Issue 10369
17 December 2022 

 

WORLD REPORT  With Congress almost evenly split between Republicans and Democrats, consensus on any major health legislation is unlikely.  Susan Jaffe reports. 

When a new US Congress convenes in January, 2023, the slim Republican majority in the House of Representatives and the Democrats’ even smaller margin in the Senate will not enable either party to make major changes in the health-care system. With President Joe Biden promising to use his veto power to defend his health-care agenda, no significant fixes are expected. But there appears to be bipartisan support for some less ambitious legislation on issues that will overcome congressional gridlock.[Continued here.]…

Health organisations welcome US climate crisis law

Volume 400, Issue 10354
3 September 2022 

 

WORLD REPORT  The recently passed Inflation Reduction Act will provide billions of dollars of incentives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Susan Jaffe reports.

There are no emission limits or pollution penalties in the landmark Inflation Reduction Act that Congress approved in August. Instead of forcing cuts, the climate change and healthcare law provides US$370 billion worth of incentives to ratchet down the planet-warming greenhouse gases from fossil fuels that have caused record-breaking heat waves, wild fires, droughts, and floods.  …The law provides $60 billion for communities that have been disproportionately affected by toxic hazards and the consequences of climate change.  [Continued here.] 

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Biden’s science adviser resigns over bullying

Volume 399, Issue 10326
19 February 2022

 

WORLD REPORT   Experts say that Eric Lander’s resignation should not affect the President’s plans to reboot the cancer moonshot project. Susan Jaffe reports.…

Besieged EPA Chief still committed to Trump agenda

Susan Jaffe | Washington Correspondent for The Lancet | 8th May 2018

    At last count, at least four federal agencies were conducting nearly a dozen investigations of Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt, probing his office renovations, a round-the-clock security unit who accompanied him on a trip to Disneyland, personnel management, and first-class air travel. The Capitol Hill condo he rented at a bargain rate of only $50 a night from the wife of an energy industry lobbyist has also come under scrutiny.

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt testifies at a congressional hearing April 26, 2018 (Getty Images).

But in separate hearings held by the congressional subcommittees that oversee EPA, Pruitt dismissed the investigations as politically motivated. 

“Those who attack the EPA and attack me are doing so because they want to attack and derail the president’s agenda and undermine this administration’s priorities,” Pruitt told the congressional panels two weeks ago. “I am simply not going to let that happen.”

…Republicans were eager to praise his achievements during the hearings, and encouraged him to keep at it. [Continued here] …

Scientists and physicians run for office in the USA

 Volume 391, Number 10131   

 28 April 2018

 

WORLD REPORT   Frustrated by what they say is the US Government’s disregard for science, more scientists and physicians are entering politics.  Susan Jaffe, The Lancet’s Washington correspondent, reports.

Nuclear engineer Elaine Luria running for Congress in southeast Virginia (photo/elaineforcongress.com)

Scientists, physicians, engineers, and their supporters surprised many people—and maybe themselves—when they assembled in cities across the USA a year ago demanding an end to President Donald Trump’s Administration’s so-called war on science, which has attacked climate change, environmental protection laws, and funds for biomedical research, among other targets.

But, for some critics, protests are not enough. Instead of appealing to elected officials, now they want to take their place.

“…More and more scientists realise that they have… an obligation to see that the idea of science is defended, that evidence is respected, and that the conditions for science to thrive are respected”, said Rush Holt, chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.  [Continued here.]  …

After a weekend of negotiations and demonstrations, shutdown disrupts health agencies

Susan Jaffe | Washington Correspondent for The Lancet | 22nd January 2018

On the first anniversary of Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 45th president of the United States on January 20, 2018, the federal government ground to a shutdown and hundreds of thousands of women and their supporters rallied against the new president in dozens of cities across the country. [Continued here.]  

 

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Science appointments in the USA

  Volume 389, Number  10088
    24 June 2017

WORLD REPORT    Slow appointments and vacant positions in federal agencies challenge the stability of research in the USA.   Susan Jaffe, The Lancet’s Washington correspondent, reports.  

     As President Donald Trump rolls out his domestic agenda, his proposed budget cuts and lingering vacancies in key federal agencies have rattled some people in the biomedical research and science community.
     “This has been the most anxious time in science that I have seen in this country”, said Rush Holt, chief operating officer at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), which represents 250 scientific societies and academies serving 10 million members. Holt cited a litany of reasons: “fake news” that distorts science, “policy making based on wishful thinking rather than evidence, funding proposals that are nonsensical, and unfilled positions in government agencies”.  [Continued here]  

 

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Marching for science as budget cuts threaten US research

lancet cover 2Volume 389, Number  10080 

29 April 2017 

WORLD REPORT   Americans push back against President Trump’s proposed budget cuts… Susan Jaffe, The Lancet’s Washington correspondent, reports. 

President Donald Trump is famous for his early morning Tweets and off-the-cuff remarks that can sometimes be puzzling. But what he thinks about biomedical research and basic science is quite clear in his first proposed budget for running the federal government.

March for Science, Washington, D.C. / Susan Jaffe

Trump’s America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again outlines a $1·1 trillion spending plan that would take effect when the new fiscal year begins in October. The president wants to move $54 billion from domestic agencies to fortify the US military. To help pay for the transfer, he is proposing funding cuts for the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA; 31%) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH; 18%) [and other domestic agencies]….

To squeeze $5·8 billion out of the agency’s $30·3 billion budget, the Trump administration would reorganise NIH’s 27 institutes and centres and “rebalance federal contributions to research funding” according to the budget blueprint. …Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price told a congressional committee last month that the NIH could operate on a tighter budget by cutting the roughly 30% of grant money that pays for indirect research costs. These expenses can include rent, utilities, administrative staff, and equipment. “That money goes for something other than the research that’s being done”, Price said.

Price’s suggestion was especially disturbing coming from the person who is responsible for overseeing the NIH, said Harold Varmus, who directed the NIH in the 1990s and headed the National Cancer Institute at NIH for 5 years until 2015. “You can’t do research in the dark”, he said. “You can’t do research—at least my kind of research—without a building and without electricity and water and administrative expenses”. [Continued  here]

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US health and science advocates gear up for battle over EPA

lancet cover 2Volume 389, Number  10075 

25  March 2017 

WORLD REPORT    The Trump administration’s proposed budget makes large cuts to the US Environmental Protection Agency.  Susan Jaffe, The Lancet’s Washington correspondent, reports. 

As Oklahoma Attorney General, Scott Pruitt represented his state in more than a dozen lawsuits challenging the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) efforts to limit air and water pollution. Several cases sought to block President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan aimed at reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from coal plants linked to climate change.

…Less than a year later, Pruitt and his opponents have switched sides. President Donald Trump appointed Pruitt to lead the EPA and now those opponents accuse the Trump administration of federal overreach by seeking to undermine key environmental laws.

The administration has already taken steps to begin rolling back some environmental rules issued by the EPA under President Barack Obama (panel). And last week, Trump unveiled his proposed federal budget, which reduces federal non-defence spending by US$54 billion, including a 31% ($2·6 billion) cut in EPA funding—more than any other domestic agency.  [Continued here] …

Paris Climate Change agreement to be signed in New York

Susan Jaffe | Washington Correspondent for The Lancet | 19th April  2016

Secretary of State John Kerry will join world leaders at the United Nations headquarters in New York on April 22 to sign the landmark Paris Climate Change agreement, aimed at controlling greenhouse gasThe Lancet USA blog logoes and preventing what many scientists believe would be the harmful effects of global warming.

Representatives of some 155 countries  are expected at the signing ceremony, including President François Hollande of France, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other heads of state. …UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged all countries to ratify the agreement as soon as possible.  “It is in their national interest to implement the agreement and reap the benefits of sustainable global climate action,” he said in an email to The Lancet.

…When 55 countries responsible for at least 55 percent of global emissions do so, the agreement takes effect.  That could happen this year said UN spokeswoman Devi Palanivelu, noting that several countries are coming to New York with ratification documents they will submit after signing the agreement.  But things are not moving as swiftly in the U.S.  [Continued here]  …

Paris climate change agreement faces hurdles in the USA

Susan Jaffe | Washington Correspondent for The Lancet | 31st December 2015
Only a few hours after thousands of representatives from 195 countries approved the landmark Paris cliThe Lancet USA blog logomate change agreement, President Barack Obama stepped before the TV cameras at the White House to congratulate them. It Paris 2offers the best chance we have to save the one planet we have,” Obama said. “We’ve shown that the world has both the will and the ability to take on this challenge.”
But the international consensus to reduce global warming failed to move the Republican candidates competing for Obama’s job.  {Continued here.]
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Clean Power Plan

Susan Jaffe | Washington Correspondent for The Lancet   25th August 2015The Lancet USA blog logo
 Before President Barack Obama’s Clean Power Plan can inspire other nations to control greenhouse gases by following the USA’s lead in dramatically reducing carbon emissions, the Administration has to convince West Virginia—and at least 15 other skeptical states. [Continued here]
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Obama steps up US campaign on climate change

lancet cover 2Volume 385, No. 9978     25 April 2015

 

WORLD REPORT   In recent weeks, the Obama Administration has unveiled several new initiatives to tackle climate change. The Lancet’s Washington correspondent,  Susan Jaffe reports.

Thumbnail image of Figure. Opens large image

Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy and President Barack Obama

With less than half of his final term in the White House remaining, US President Barack Obama is no longer confining his efforts to slow climate change to Congress or the courts, where opponents are trying to block new, tougher environmental rules at every turn.

In the past 3 weeks, his Administration has announced a multifaceted public appeal, including plans to expand public access to tracking the impact of climate change with help from such private sector giants as Google and Microsoft, create a coalition of 30 medical, nursing, and public schools to train health-care providers to respond to the health effects of climate change, and host a climate change and health summit at the White House in the spring….

Last month, the Obama Administration submitted a US climate plan to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in preparation for December’s global conference in Paris. But the US pledge to reduce greenhouse gases depends in a large part on power plants reducing their carbon dioxide pollution; the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is expected to finalise limits for power plants this summer. Even before they take effect, 14 states and two coal companies have taken the unusual step of challenging the agency’s still uncompleted rules in federal court.

The President is also making the fight personal, recalling, during an interview on national television, that when his eldest daughter was 4 years old, she had such a severe asthma attack that her parents had to take her to the hospital for emergency treatment. “The fright you feel is terrible”, he said.

Obama warned of increased asthma cases and “a whole host of public health impacts that are going to hit home”, speaking after meeting with the medical and nursing schools coalition. [Continued: full text or PDF ]…

Republicans’ bills target science at US environment agency

lancet cover 2Volume 385, Issue 9974, 28 March 2015

 

WORLD REPORT      Proposed legislation would change how the US Environmental Protection Agency uses science to determine pollution limits. The Lancet‘s Washington correspondent Susan Jaffe reports.

Approval of two controversial environmental bills in the US House of Representatives last week was the latest assault in the Republicans’ “war on science”, according to Democrats. Republicans, however, considered it a big step towards assuring that federal environmental regulations are based on solid scientific research. Despite the sharp difference of opinion along political lines, both sides claim to pursue similar goals—to keep the agency responsible for protecting the nation’s health and environment impartial and closely guided by the best science.

…The Secret Science Reform Act of 2015 would prohibit the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from proposing or finalising any policy “unless all scientific and technical information” officials relied on is “the best available science” and is “publicly available online in a manner that is sufficient for independent analysis and substantial reproduction of research results”.

“The days of ‘trust me’ science are over”, the bill’s lead sponsor, Texas Republican Lamar Smith, told The Lancet. “The American people deserve to see the data.”   [Continued: full text or PDF ]…