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The article offers information on the Clean Power Plan (CPP), a policy initiated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to fight climate change and limit carbon pollution from power plants. It states that the policy requires states to create plans for reducing carbon emissions from power plants using the 2005 emissions as the baseline. It mentions the role of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) on environmental regulations.

The article claims that the U.S. administration is weakening the national environmental laws of the country. Industry-funded polemicists and politicians who deride national standards as inefficient command and control approaches argue that problems can be better solved at the local level. The federal government has slashed spending on clean water, even though the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that the nation's sewage-treatment facilities need $390 billion over the next 20 years. U.S. President George W. Bush and the U.S. Congress have tried to give responsibility to whatever level of government is least likely to do a good job. The Bush Administration and the radical right in the U.S. Congress are trying to destroy modern pollution control, while trying to strip citizens of their power to stop them. When California required that automakers to sell zero-emission vehicles in the state, the administration and auto companies sued. Some of the judges on the federal bench dispute the right of citizens to challenge the lax enforcement of environmental laws in court.

The article documents news briefs regarding public health and the environment. The 2010 U.S. budget allegedly allocates funds for sex education, but not for abstinence-only programs. The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama is said to have eliminated funding for cars that use hydrogen-fuel cells. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a final ban on the pesticide carbofuran.

This article briefly compares the environmental impacts of two news items. The fact that Bank of America Corp. has decided to curtail business with coal companies that engage in mountaintop removal coal mining is noted. Reforms to mountaintop removal mining regulations administered by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President George W. Bush are also noted.

The article presents U.S. political news briefs. A U.S. federal judge has ruled that the U.S. Navy must create sonar-free zones in areas where marine mammals congregate. The U.S. Forest Service has approved a contract for British company Vane Minerals to search for uranium in Kaibab National Forest in Arizona. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) plan for controlling mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants has been found to be in violation of the Clean Air Act.

The article provides information regarding the performance of the U.S. in terms of fuel-economy standards. It stresses that the U.S. is far behind Europe, Japan, and China for such fuel-economy standards because cars use a gallon for every 27.5 miles and 22.2 miles per gallon (mpg) for sport utility vehicles (SUVs), minivans, and pickups. Further, such revealed performance of the U.S. comes from the analysis of the coalition of air-quality and transportation experts International Council on Clean Transportation from the converted disparate fuel-economy rules which collides with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) testing formulas.

The article presents information on U.S. President George W. Bush delaying decisions on environmental policies till the expiry of his term in January 2009. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from cars and trucks but President Bush has directed the agency to come up with appropriate rules by the end of 2008. Bush proposed further studying the issue of climate change at the June 2007 meeting of the Group of eight nations delaying the agreement till the end of 2008. A court order to improve weak water-quality standards for factory farms has been put off-until February 27, 2009 ostensibly to provide time for the agricultural community to adjust to the new requirements.

The article presents news briefs about the environment in the U. S. A report from the General Accountability Office states that the administration of President George W. Bush is responsible for the $11 million cost of salvage logging in Oregon's Rogue River-Siskiyou National Forest. A report from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has determined that the agency never conducted mandated environmental-justice reviews. The EPA announced a rule that cuts the maximum allowable daily intake levels of airborne particulates.

The article discusses a debate on the regularization of carbon dioxide (CO2) that contributes to global warming. The research institute, Competitive Enterprise Institute (CIE), of the United States has recently released TV ads built around the slogan "Carbon dioxide: they call it pollution, we call it life." Through the ads CIE has tried to derail the regularization of carbon dioxide. CIE has conveyed in their ads that CO2 is a gas that human beings breathe out and plants breathe in. Shortly after this debate the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear a challenge brought by states to compel the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon dioxide as a harmful pollutant.

The article reports on the easing of water rules, in various U.S. states including California, New York and Pennsylvania, by the U.S. Environment Protection Agency. Earlier, the residents of these states were affected by a recent by a recent Supreme Court judgment that will end protection for headwaters and seasonal streams under the Clean Water Act. A report prepared by the Sierra Club has revealed that the tap-water supplies of more than 111 million Americans could be threatened by pollutants. The article also presents a chart that shows the number of persons affected by the judgment.

The article reports on the examination of 303 new cars and trucks from 2000 to 2006 and comparison of their real-world gas mileages with their U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ratings. The examination was done by the magazine "Consumer Reports." Ninety percent of those vehicles got fewer miles per gallon than the federal agency said they would, and some got as little as half the mile-age promised. Some of the biggest discrepancies were for hybrid cars. The magazine found that while 2000-model cars sucked up 6 percent more fuel than the federal agency said they would, 2005 and 2006 models chugged 12 percent more. The EPA admits that its method could stand to be updated, and it will propose new testing protocols soon.

The article reports on the lack of information to reporters regarding environmental hazards in the wake of Hurricane Katrina from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Mark Schleifstein, the lead hurricane reporter for the New Orleans Times-Picayune, had some urgent questions for the EPA regarding what kinds of toxic chemicals had been released into the floodwaters, and where were they coming from. There are 24 Superfund sites in the flood zone, and some 400 toxic-spill reports were filed in the aftermath of the storm. Certainly residents had a right to know what dangers they were facing if they returned to their homes. But the EPA never answered Schleifstein's questions, not even after the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter filed a formal request under the Freedom of Information Act. A survey by the Society of Environmental Journalists reveals that data that was already difficult to get before September 11, 2001, has only become more elusive. Reporters from around the country say that agencies sometimes take more than a year to fulfill them.

This article presents news briefs related to environmental issues in the U.S. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s draft strategic plan on environmental justice has seemingly found a way to make the problems of poor communities vanish, Environmental justice, the agency says, means applying environmental policies fairly, regardless of race, color, national origin, or income. It sounds great, but the revision ignores the fact that the poor and people of color are disproportionately affected by issues like air pollution and hazardous waste, which was acknowledged in an executive order issued by former U.S. President Bill Clinton in 1994. The EPA denies that the new plan violates the order. Two years ago, scientists at the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and the Fish and Wildlife Service found that a new set of proposed rules would make it harder to limit grazing on overused land, harming wildlife, vegetation, and endangered species. But after higher-ups finished with the report, the warnings disappeared. An environmental impact statement released this summer concludes that the rules might even be beneficial for wildlife.