March 12, 2021 10:15 AM EDT
In a memo sent to senior EPA staff yesterday, the Office of Research and Development (currently led by Jennifer Orme-Zavaleta) announced that its Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) program will resume the risk assessment for the hazardous air pollutant formaldehyde. Read more >
January 6, 2021 1:53 PM EDT
The Biden Administration has promised to tackle PFAS pollution. Here are some of the things they can do to fulfill that promise. Read more >
April 2, 2020 1:22 PM EDT
The EPA’s watchdog, the Office of Inspector General (IG), released a report this week that highlights how inadequate EPA’s communication around the hazardous air pollutant, ethylene oxide, has been in communities that need information most. The IG’s report confirms what communities have been saying for months and recommends that EPA take urgent action to engage with all communities near ethylene oxide-emitting facilities to let them know about the real and present dangers associated with exposure. Read more >
January 16, 2020 3:59 PM EDT
This morning, I found myself back at EPA headquarters in downtown Washington, DC, asking EPA a second time to do something that should be obvious: listen to its own scientists and use the best available science to protect communities from hazardous air pollution. Read more >
April 19, 2019 2:40 PM EDT
The Union of Concerned Scientists along with the Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Environmental Protection Network asked EPA’s Scientific Integrity office to investigate what seems to be political interference that occurred at the EPA in its recent suspension of the Integrated Risk Information System (IRIS) formaldehyde risk assessment. In his responses to senators’ questions about the assessment earlier this year, Wheeler claimed that “Formaldehyde was not identified as a top priority.” But, in documents obtained through FOIA request, the Union of Concerned Scientists found evidence that EPA staff was not only interested in the formaldehyde risk assessment, but as of 2017 the air office had a “strong interest in the review and are anxious to see it completed.” Read more >
