Texans spar over climate change as House Republicans pledge to make ‘EPA great again’

The political battleground over climate change on Tuesday shifted to the House, where two prominent Texas lawmakers led ever-intensifying sparring over the Environmental Protection Agency. On one side was Rep. Lamar Smith, the San Antonio Republican who crafted the provocative hearing title of "Making EPA Great Again."

Scores of EPA workers object to Trump’s pick to lead agency

Hundreds of current and former employees of the Environmental Protection Agency are speaking out against President Donald Trump's pick to head the department. About 300 people, including scores of EPA employees, rallied Monday across the street from the agency's regional headquarters in downtown Chicago to oppose Scott Pruitt's nomination.

Current, former EPA workers urge Congress to reject nominee Pruitt

Hundreds of current and former employees of the Environmental Protection Agency spoke up loudly on Monday, hoping it will persuade the U.S. Senate to reject Scott Pruitt as President Donald Trump 's leader in the agency. Still Oklahoma's attorney general until confirmed, Pruitt is nominated as EPA administrator but his appointment has been met with staunch opposition -- partly due to questions surrounding his stance on global warming.

The people must trump bureaucracy

If he didn't understand it previously, Trump certainly has learned his most dangerous political foes are not Democrats in Congress, but the vast federal bureaucracy. Among the new president's first actions was to order a freeze on hiring in the government, with the exception of the military.

Five years after renewed interest Lehigh Train Derailment site, EPA…

It's been five years since a site of a toxic chemical spill in Le Roy -- known as the Lehigh Train Derailment Site -- made the news as part of a media frenzy around reports of students at the high school developing strange, unexplained tics, but clean up work has been ongoing since, according to a spokesman for the EPA. In fact, good progress has been made and the end may be in site for remediation, according to Michael Basile, who represents the Environmental Protection Agency in Buffalo.

Environmentalists preparing to battle Trump, GOP in court

The night before Donald Trump's inauguration, five environmental lawyers filed a federal court brief defending an Obama administration clean-water rule that the new president and his Republican allies have targeted for elimination, considering it burdensome to landowners. The move served as a warning that environmentalists, facing a hostile administration and a Republican-dominated Congress, are prepared to battle in court against what they fear will be a wave of "It's going to be all-out war," said Vermont Law School Professor Patrick Parenteau.

Officials, residents have busy week dealing with Flint water crisis

Flint City Council members look into ways to penalize landlords who fail to pay utility bills owed to the city when the bill is included in rent payments from tenants.

Trump picks Democrat to lead grid watchdog

President Trump picked a Democrat on Thursday to lead the federal government's top energy watchdog, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Cheryl LaFleur, who was named to the commission by former President Barack Obama in 2010, was appointed by Trump as acting chairwoman of the commission.

Trump Is Forcing the EPA to Clear Studies With His Appointees Before…

The Trump administration has just given itself veto power over all scientific studies produced by the Environmental Protection Agency. In an unprecedented move, the White House has mandated that any studies or data produced by EPA scientists undergo review by political appointees before being released to the public, the Associated Press reports .

Scientists get political after government gag order and climate change reversal

The U.S. Department of Agriculture placed a gag order on its main research division , BuzzFeed reported Tuesday morning, which includes bans on sharing scientific summaries of papers, social media posts and talking to the press. The USDA confirmed the gag order was sent out, but then lifted the ban Tuesday evening following public outcry, BuzzFeed reported.

Trump administration in gag order to Department of Agriculture researchers

U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has asked the Environmental Protection Agency to temporarily halt all contracts, grants and interagency agreements pending a review, according to sources. The White House sent a letter to the EPA's Office of Administration and Resources Management ordering the freeze on Monday, an EPA staffer told Reuters.

Letter: Hassan, Shaheen must work to reject EPA nominee

Our senators understand how important the environment is to our economy, our children and our public health. This month Sens. Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen will have an opportunity to confirm, or not, the nomination of Scott Pruitt to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

Trump Can Immediately Repeal These Obama Energy Policies

President Trump expects to sign up to 200 executive orders Monday, following the first tranche of orders he signed over the weekend. Turning from Obamacare and mortgage deductions, Trump at some point in his first week in office will begin to implement his " America First Energy Plan ."

In break with Trump, EPA pick says climate change isn’t hoax

Environmental Protection Agency Administrator-designate, Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt is seen on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2017, at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. WASHINGTON – Donald Trump's choice to head the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that climate change is real, breaking with both the president-elect and his own past statements.

Transition Tracker: Picking apart Trump’s Cabinet picks

Interviews with President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence and sharp questioning of the Cabinet nominees were part of a flurry of activity less than 48 hours before Trump is set to take office. Both Trump and Rep. Tom Price, the Health and Human Services nominee, are trying to reassure the public that while the political process of replacing Obamacare may give us all a headache, the new coverage to come won't.

Trump team relaxes EPA restrictions on media and contracts

The Trump administration said Friday it has thawed its temporary freeze on contract and grant approvals at the Environmental Protection Agency, with all $3.9 billion in planned spending moving forward. A media blackout at the agency also appears to have been partially lifted, as a trickle of press releases were issued by the EPA this week.

Pruitt’s leadership at EPA will restore its constitutional role

That slogan should be printed on t-shirts and given to every protestor who comes to disrupt the confirmation hearing for Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Appearing before Congress in 2015 in his capacity as a state attorney general, Pruitt noted how the EPA is an important agency that plays a vital role in protecting our environment.

GOP chairman plans ‘wholesale change’ at EPA

John Barrasso GOP chairman plans 'wholesale change' at EPA Overnight Energy: Former Exxon chief Tillerson takes the hot seat Republicans scramble on ObamaCare replacement plan MORE , the new chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, wrote in a Fox News opinion piece Tuesday that he and Scott Pruitt, Trump's nominee to head the EPA, will implement a major turnaround at the agency. Barrasso outlined the EPA's failures under Obama, including the Gold King Mine disaster in Colorado and the Flint water crisis in Michigan, as well as expensive rules.