skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Thursday, April 25, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SCOTUS skeptical that state abortion bans conflict with federal health care law; Iowa advocates for immigrants push back on Texas-style deportation bill; new hearings, same arguments on both sides for ND pipeline project; clean-air activists to hold "die-in" Friday at LA City Hall.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

"Squad" member Summer Lee wins her primary with a pro-peace platform, Biden signs huge foreign aid bills including support for Ukraine and Israel, and the Arizona House repeals an abortion ban as California moves to welcome Arizona doctors.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The urban-rural death divide is widening for working-age Americans, many home internet connections established for rural students during COVID have been broken, and a new federal rule aims to put the "public" back in public lands.

Potential EPA Funding Cuts Could Cost Tennesseans

play audio
Play

Thursday, October 19, 2017   

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Bipartisan criticism over the Trump administration’s ideas for the Environmental Protection Agency has forced several crucial committee hearings to be postponed this week.

President Donald Trump has proposed a 30 percent cut to the EPA's budget, steeper cuts than any other agency.

It's prompting former EPA administrators to voice their concerns, including the impact cuts would have on state and local budgets, according to Heather McTeer-Toney, a former regional administrator for EPA's Southeast Region.

"They are overburdening the cities and towns and local communities that have depended, relied upon and come to know as security that we have worked so hard for and have ensured through our budgets," she states.

McTeer-Toney was in charge of the largest EPA region in the country, covering eight states and a quarter of the nation's population.

Other opponents of the cuts are concerned about the impact on air and water quality and also public health as standards are reduced and funding eliminated.

Environmental groups warn that the EPA under Scott Pruitt is appointing industry lobbyists to loosen regulations on air and water pollution.

Elgie Holstein, senior director for strategic planning at the Environmental Defense Fund, says by replacing scientists with politicians and cutting the budget, the Trump EPA poses a threat to public health.

"If enacted, the cuts would reverse decades of progress cleaning up pollution including toxic substances that foul our drinking water, our air and our soil,” he points out. “We will see higher cancer rates. We will see more asthma attacks. We will see more heart attacks and stroke."

McTeer-Toney says much is at stake as the administration rolls back regulations in the name of expanding business and trimming the budget.

"It puts us back in a position where we're saying we're putting people, children, babies, expectant mothers in a place where they are physically going to be harmed because people are not protecting them and because they cannot depend upon their federal government," she stresses.

McTeer-Toney served during the latter half of the Obama administration.

A number of other EPA administrators, including former EPA chief Gina McCarthy, also have spoken out in opposition to Trump's proposed cuts and recent actions under Pruitt.





get more stories like this via email

more stories
Rep. Crystal Quade, D-Springfield, the House Democratic floor leader, called Missouri politicians "extremist" on social media after they passed the most restrictive abortion ban in the country and defunded Planned Parenthood. (Fitz/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

The Missouri Legislature has approved a law to stop its Medicaid program known as MO HealthNet from paying Planned Parenthood for medical services for…


Environment

play sound

A round of public testimony wrapped up this week as part of renewed efforts by a company seeking permit approval in North Dakota for an underground pi…

Social Issues

play sound

Air travelers could face fewer obstacles in securing a refund if their flight is canceled or changed under new federal rules announced Wednesday…


The Iowa Movement for Migrant Justice calls Senate File 2340 a "ridiculous stunt," passed in an election year "to mobilize voters using fear and anti-immigrant sentiment." (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Advocates for immigrants are pushing back on a bill signed by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds in the last few days of the legislative session, modeled on a …

Environment

play sound

An environmental group is suing the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to protect the Arkansas mudalia snail under the Endangered Species Act. In …

Currently, more than 2.7 million Californians live within 3,200 feet of an operational oil well. (MSPhotographic/Adobestock)

Environment

play sound

Leaders concerned about pollution and climate change are raising awareness about a ballot measure this fall on whether the state should mandate buffer…

play sound

A coalition of climate groups seeking cleaner air at the rail yards and ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will hold a "die-in" rally tomorrow at Los…

Health and Wellness

play sound

By Marianne Dhenin for Yes! Magazine.Broadcast version by Shanteya Hudson for Georgia News Connection reporting for the YES! Media-Public News …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021