Plastic waste
The Energy Secretary Pushes Pseudoscience
The Drain is a weekly roundup of environmental and climate news from Legal Planet.
Remember alternative facts? That catch phrase from Season 1, Episode 1 where Trump officials lied about the size of his inauguration crowd has now metastasized into a governing philosophy for how federal agencies plan to ignore, and ultimately exacerbate, the climate crisis. Trump 2.0 is pushing alternative science. Late last month, Energy Secretary Chris Wright …
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CONTINUE READINGFrom Sacramento to Geneva: Two Arenas Tackle Plastic Pollution
California considers adding microplastics to its Candidate Chemical List as delegates negotiate a Global Binding Treaty on Plastics in Switzerland
Last Monday, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) closed its public comment period on a proposal to add microplastics to its Candidate Chemicals List. Adding microplastics to this list would allow the State’s Safer Consumer Product Program to evaluate potential Priority Products that may contain or release microplastics. The Program works to make …
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CONTINUE READINGHow to Grow a Victory Garden out of Trash
Private recycling subscription services are helping my family divert our waste, though I wish we didn’t need them.
While unelected billionaires and sycophant cabinet members are pretending to get rid of waste in Washington, I’ve declared war on waste, fraud, and abuse in my own Los Angeles home. My family is fighting food and plastic waste using a pair of recycling subscription services. Yes, I realize it’s just a small ripple in the …
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CONTINUE READINGWhy You Should Read CA’s ExxonMobil Plastic Lawsuit
California’s lawsuit against ExxonMobil for lying about plastic recycling is the latest example of the state using old-fashioned legal tools to address more modern harms.
The media have moved on (understandably) from California’s recent lawsuit against Exxon over plastic recycling to other environmental stories like Hurricane Helene’s catastrophic damage and Hurricane Milton’s terrifying, rapid intensification. But anyone interested in the problem of plastic pollution—which should, frankly, be everyone—will appreciate digging deeper than the Day One headlines to read California’s 147-page …
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CONTINUE READINGThe Ins and Outs of Kennedy’s Environmental Positions
His campaign website is a mashup of very different perspectives, from “back to the earth” to tech bro.
Working through his website seemed to reveal a broad effort to combine distrust of government and big business), belief in free markets, and valuing nature and the land for their own sakes. Kennedy offers an unusual blend of Sixties “back to the land” environmentalism with Tech Bro libertarianism.
CONTINUE READINGEverywhere and Forever All at Once: PFAS and the Failures of Chemicals Regulation
Environmental law helped create a world awash in toxic chemicals. It’s time to think about how regulation can operate as a form of green industrial policy for chemicals.
This post was originally published on the Law & Political Economy Blog as “How Environmental Law Created a World Awash in Toxic Chemicals.” Earlier this spring, the Biden administration finalized two important rules targeting a small subset of so-called forever chemicals: one establishing drinking water standards for six such chemicals and the other designating two …
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CONTINUE READINGHappy 50th Anniversary, Federal Clean Water Act
One of America’s Foundational Environmental Laws Has Proven Transformational, But Requires Updating a Half-Century Later
The Clean Water Act (CWA), one of the nation’s most important environmental laws, is 50 years old today. It’s proven to be one of the most successful of America’s bedrock federal environmental statutes. But the CWA is far from perfect, needs some important updating, and will probably never fully achieve the aspirational goals Congress proclaimed …
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CONTINUE READINGCalifornia Adopts Nation-Leading Legislation to Cut Plastic Pollution
Extended producer responsibility law will reduce single-use waste and shift responsibility to industry
In a welcome reprieve from news coming out of the Supreme Court, here’s an uplifting story from the Golden State: On Thursday, Governor Newsom signed SB 54, a comprehensive piece of legislation aimed at significantly reducing single-use waste. The law will affect just about every type of plastic packaging you see walking down the supermarket …
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CONTINUE READINGDebate Amid Coronavirus: Are Single-Use Plastic Bags Safer?
How Plastics Companies and Environmental Groups Can Help Us Find an Answer
Since the outbreak of COVID-19, concerns have grown over the safety of grocery bags. Many U.S. states—among them New York, California, Maine, Massachusetts, and Oregon—have suspended or delayed their single-use plastic bag bans in the past two months. Some places like Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and San Francisco have gone even further to temporarily ban reusable …
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CONTINUE READINGUdall and Lowenthal Lead Charge to Break Free From Plastic Pollution
The Senator and Representative introduce bold new federal plastics legislation
Last week, Senator Udall (D-NM) and Representative Lowenthal (D-CA), joined by Senator Merkley (D-OR) and Representative Clark (D-MA), announced that they were introducing federal legislation to combat the plastic pollution crisis. The Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act will go beyond past Congressional efforts to address plastic pollution, such as the Save Our Seas Act, …
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