HARRISBURG, Pa. – States in the Northeast and on the West Coast are challenging Trump administration changes to environmental regulations.
Stateline, a journalism project of The Pew Charitable Trusts, has kicked off its 2018 State of the States series with a report on the mounting resistance in Democratic states to actions by the Trump administration. States are suing to block efforts to roll back environmental regulations, especially around energy and climate change.
According to Stateline editor Holly Yeager, state attorneys general, most of them Democrats, filed 36 coordinated lawsuits against the Trump administration last year.
"That's triple the number of lawsuits filed by groups of states during the most contentious part of President Obama's tenure and the administrations that went before it," she says. "This is a tool that Democratic attorneys general are turning to more than they have at least in the recent past."
On the other hand, Republican attorneys general have praised the administration for eliminating regulations that they oppose.
Yeager says more lawsuits are on the way. Several states are expected to sue as the administration tries to repeal the Clean Power Plan. And the White House is reconsidering fuel efficiency and emission standards for cars and light-duty trucks.
"The Trump administration, in 2018, is expected to roll some of that back," she warns. "Democratic attorneys general are talking to each other about going to court to stop that one as well."
In the Northeast, attorneys general in every state except New Jersey and New Hampshire filed lawsuits over environmental, energy or land-use issues last year.
But Yeager points out that such lawsuits have a mixed record of success and failure.
"Sometimes those lawsuits work, sometimes they don't," she explains. "One thing they definitely do is they slow things down and make it more difficult for the Trump administration to do what it wants to do on some of these issues."
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As West Virginia opens its door to the plastics recycling or "advanced recycling" industry, a recent report found only a fraction of plastics are recycled and plastics labeled as biodegradable in reality can take years to degrade.
One study found biodegradable plastic bags were still fully intact after three years of being buried in the soil. There are currently no federal standards regulating bioplastics, or products claiming to be biodegradable or compostable.
Judith Enck, president of the group Beyond Plastics, said the plastic recycling plants being built in Appalachia increase exposure to microplastics and pose health risks for neighboring communities.
"Chemical recycling just takes plastics heated at a really high temperature to make small amounts of fossil fuels, or uses vast amount of toxic chemicals to try to break down old plastic and make it new plastic," Enck explained. "(It is) the last thing we need."
Plastic production is forecast to increase by 70% over the next 20 years, with roughly half designed for single-use products, according to the report.
Enck argued without significant reduction in plastic packaging, consumers will continue to ingest chemicals like PFAS, lead, mercury, vinyl chloride and other chemicals found in food and beverage packing.
"We're particularly concerned by a chemical called polylactic acid, PLA," Enck noted. "That is typically made from corn or sugar crops, and they also contain toxic chemicals."
Microplastics and nanoplastics are produced when plastic products break down into tiny fragments, which end up in soil and waterways.
Enck pointed out plastic particles have been found in honey, beer, salt, tea bags, fruit, vegetables, seafood and meat. Microplastics have been found in human blood, organs, brains, breast milk and in newborn babies. Research has linked microplastics exposure to heart attacks, stroke, and diseases related to hormone disruption.
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Two new studies find that without sustained intervention, California may permanently lose big sections of old-growth giant sequoia groves.
The majestic trees only grow on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada. Since 2015, 20% of them have died, mostly in three megafires in 2020 and 2021.
David Soderberg, Ph.D, a biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey and a study co-author, said the blazes incinerated many of the older, seed-bearing trees.
"You're getting much larger patches of fires burning at what's called high severity. So, you have this kind of bad combination for the sequoias where many more of the mature trees are dying, and there are many fewer of the seedlings regenerating," he explained.
The studies show there are substantially fewer seedlings than in the past, and those that germinate are imperiled by drought and heat stress linked to climate change. The Giant Sequoia Lands Coalition partners have planted more than 500,000 native seedlings in severely burned areas where reproduction has been insufficient.
Paul Ringgold, chief program officer with the Save the Redwoods League, said the idea is to give forest regeneration a head start.
"When you're planting seedlings, you're planting trees that have been grown in the nursery for two years or more. They're more robust than a seedling that is sprouting from a seed, giving it a little bit of an edge against the impact of drier, hotter summers," he said.
Old-growth sequoia are the world's largest trees and depend on fire to reproduce. But Ringgold noted that past fire-suppression efforts have led to a buildup of excessive fuel loads in the forests. So, extensive projects are underway to clear out dead vegetation and make the groves more resilient to fire.
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Nearly 10,000 Montanans have petitioned the U.S. Forest Service to prevent mining activity in the iconic Smith River watershed.
The Smith is known for its majestic views and numerous wildlife species but it is also a huge draw for outdoor enthusiasts seeking to "disconnect." The Smith River Public Lands Coalition has called on the Forest Service to withdraw mineral leases granted to a company planning a $4 billion copper mine on private land near Sheep Creek, which feeds the Smith more than half of its water.
Josh Seckinger, a Bozeman-based Smith River guide, estimated he has floated the 5-day, 59-mile-long Smith 100 times. He thinks the copper sulfide mine drainage would be devastating.
"It just decimates anything with gills downstream," Seckinger pointed out. "That's fish, that's amphibians, that's aquatic bug life. It's a terrible way to sterilize a river."
Mine developer Black Butte Copper said it is committed to preserving Montana's water while creating economic development opportunities in the state, and claims it can build the mine in an environmentally friendly way.
Seckinger noted beyond the environmental and wildlife damage the mine drainage could cause, it also threatens the local landscape and the recreational economy built around the Smith River. He argued it is not just a hit to the businesses but to Montanans who want to experience the trip. It requires winning a permit in a state lottery.
"It is my hope that every resident of this state puts in for a lottery permit and wins, so they get the chance to experience this place," Seckinger emphasized. "Because once you experience this place, you understand immediately why it needs to be protected."
Black Butte Copper has bought nearly 700 claims on the public lands surrounding the one near Sheep Creek, potentially allowing the company to further expand its mining operations.
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