Trump Administration Shifts Guidance for Superfund Lead Cleanup — ProPublica

The Biden administration lowered the guidance for so-called removal management levels to 200 parts per million. 

The Trump administration has said its new guidance, which raised them to 600 parts per million, would speed cleanups by providing clearer direction and streamlining investigations of contaminated sites. But environmental advocates said it only accelerates project completion by cleaning up fewer properties…

https://www.propublica.org/article/omaha-nebraska-lead-superfund-epa-trump 

 

The U.S. Oil Industry Has Repeatedly Stifled Efforts to Reform Well Cleanup — ProPublica

In New Mexico, oil companies agreed to work with regulators to find a solution to the state's more than 70,000 unplugged wells. After months of negotiations, the industry turned against the bill it helped shape...

https://www.propublica.org/article/oil-industry-lobbying-unplugged-wells

Chemical industry throws temper tantrum over ‘polluter pays’ tax to cover cleanup of its toxic sites

"It's high time the culprits, not the public, foot the bill for mopping up the toxic waste plaguing countless communities across the country that pose substantial threats to human health and the environment," said Cook...

https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/chemical-industry-throws-temper-tantrum-over-polluter-pays-tax-to-cover-cleanup-of-its-toxic-sites

Private Equity-Backed Oil and Gas Drillers Saddle Taxpayers With Costly Cleanup Risk

Further legislation is needed to ensure that fossil fuel companies cannot use bankruptcy to ditch their responsibility to clean up oil and gas wells. 

"If these companies declare bankruptcy and abandon these oil and gas wells, the public faces major costs, and buyout firms escape with their profit and zero consequences," said Alan Zibel, an oil and gas researcher with Public Citizen who co-authored the report. "Private equity buyout firms have a history of buying up businesses in declining industries, extracting profits and then filing for bankruptcy once the assets the company owns become worthless. That means federal and state officials must be on high alert as these firms pick up and consolidate oil and gas assets discarded by oil and gas giants."…https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/private-equity-backed-oil-and-gas-drillers-saddle-taxpayers-with-costly-cleanup-risk

Interior Announces Funding for Much-Needed Cleanup of Orphaned Oil and Gas Wells

Orphaned wells have been abandoned by the oil and gas industry, spewing toxic chemicals into the air and water, threatening the health of nearby communities, and emitting large amounts of methane, a greenhouse gas more than 80 times as potent at driving the climate crisis as carbon dioxide...

https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/interior-announces-funding-for-much-needed-cleanup-of-orphaned-oil-and-gas-wells

Norfolk Southern is paying $6.5 million to derailment victims. Meanwhile, it's shelling out $7.5 billion for shareholders | CNN Business

Norfolk Southern CEO Alan Shaw pledged Tuesday the freight railroad will spend $6.5 million to help those affected by the release of toxic chemicals from its derailment nearly three weeks ago in East Palestine, Ohio. But in a plan released earlier this year, the company said it's planning to spend more than a thousand times that amount — $7.5 billion — to repurchase its own shares in order to benefit its shareholders...

https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/22/investing/norfolk-southern-share-repurchases/index.html