It's well known that using PFAS-laden firefighting foam caused big problems for the military, but it's sometimes overlooked that civilian firefighting agencies are facing many of these same problems. Bloomberg Law reporters Pat Rizzuto and Andrew Wallender are finding more instances of litigation against fire departments over their use of this foam. And they say the main US firefighters' union is now partnering with law firms after cutting ties with companies that make PFAS-coated protective...

As a multidecade megadrought continues in the West, the Colorado River Basin is drying up. Today we’ll talk about what that means for the millions of people who depend on that water. And we’ll look at what states and regulators are doing to ensure that communities get the water they need to survive. Seven western states are frantically working to reach an agreement on how to divvy up the available water ahead of a Feb. 1 deadline—at which point the federal government has suggested it would...

About a year ago, Richard Glick was chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and was poised to get renominated to a new term. Today, he's out of the job. Glick's plans to more closely scrutinize gas pipeline projects ran afoul of the powerful chairman of the Senate Energy Committee, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.). Without Manchin's support, the Biden administration couldn't get Glick's nomination through the Senate. Bloomberg Law reporter Daniel Moore spoke to Glick shortly before...

News of the world's first nuclear fusion reaction with a net energy gain created a lot of excitement, and justifiably so—fusion could one day be an infinitely renewable, carbon-free energy source. Policy makers, including President Joe Biden, said they want to see a fusion reactor providing electricity to the American grid within 10 years. But scientists say that timeline is probably too ambitious, if not impossible. On today's episode of our environmental policy podcast, Parts Per Billion,...

Companies like Google, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta are now some of the country's largest consumers of electric power. And as Bloomberg Law's Daniel Moore reports, they're starting to wield their strong purchasing power. Big Tech companies are pushing the energy industry to bring more renewable power projects online, Moore says, and they're also hiring energy lobbyists to achieve these goals in Washington. Moore joins our environmental policy podcast, Parts Per Billion, to talk about where...

The 117th Congress is coming to a close at the end of this year and, now that most of the midterm races have been called and partisan control of both chambers decided, we have a pretty good idea of what the dynamics will be in the new 118th. Bloomberg Government energy reporter Kellie Lunney joins this episode of Parts Per Billion, our environmental policy podcast, to talk about what to expect on Capitol Hill for the next two years. For one, she says, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) will...

The Biden administration has made it crystal clear that, to solve climate change, we need to source more of the critical minerals that go into electric batteries--and we need to source them domestically. One potentially huge source of these minerals is in northern Alaska. But what will that mean for the Alaska Natives who have been living off of the land there for centuries? On this episode of Parts Per Billion, Bloomberg Law reporter Bobby Magill tells us about his trip to northern Alaska...

Ali Zaidi, the White House's new climate czar, doesn't have the name recognition of his predecessor, Gina McCarthy. But maybe that's the point. McCarthy was instrumental in getting the Inflation Reduction Act, and its billions of dollars for climate projects, through Congress and to President Joe Biden's desk. But now the task turns to getting that money out the door in a quick-but-not-too-quick manner, and the White House thinks Zaidi is the technocrat for the job. On this episode of Parts...

Because it's so effective, PFAS-laden firefighting foam isn't easy to replace. However, there are indications that PFAS alternatives might finally be ready for prime time. The Department of Defense is expected to change its policies early next year to allow for the use of non-PFAS foams, while some states are also pushing civilian firefighters to phase in the use of these new foams. On this episode of our environmental policy podcast, Parts Per Billion, Bloomberg Law reporters Pat Rizzuto...

It's been nearly 20 years since a handful of northeastern states got together to start a cap-and-trade program for their power sector's greenhouse gas emissions. Since then, the membership of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI, has been anything but static. New Jersey left under former Republican Gov. Chris Christie, then rejoined under his successor. Virginia and Pennsylvania joined RGGI recently, but the current and likely future governors of those respective states are far...

Electric vehicles are seen as one of humanity's best hopes at fighting climate change, and that means humanity will need to build a whole lot of lithium ion batteries. Unsurprisingly, the price of lithium is skyrocketing and the Biden administration is eager to develop domestic sources of the ultra-light metal. One of its best hopes here is a proposal to build a $1 billion open-pit lithium mine in a remote area of northern Nevada called Thacker Pass. But while producing more lithium may...

The Inflation Reduction Act contains billions of dollars to help states fight climate change and achieve other environmental goals, but only some state lawmakers have plans to spend this money. Bloomberg Law reporter Zach Bright spoke with three Democratic state legislators in Democratic-controlled states about how they'd like to allocate the money their states will be getting. But Bright also says states with Republican-controlled statehouses, where fighting climate change isn't as high of...

Joe Manchin, the West Virginian who represents the crucial 50th Democratic vote in the Senate, surprised Washington last week with a dramatic about-face. Just weeks after rejecting his party's climate legislation, he reversed course and announced he'd reached a deal with Democratic leaders to send a climate bill to the president's desk. However, it later became clear that, in exchange for his support, Democrats granted Manchin numerous pro-fossil fuel provisions, including a measure that...

It's still technically possible for Congress to pass President Joe Biden's climate policy agenda sometime this year. But most people on Capitol Hill, including some Democrats, say Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. Va.) just essentially delivered a death blow to this agenda last week. Though Democratic leadership already scaled down their climate legislation earlier this year to accommodate him, Manchin announced he couldn't support even this more modest package, citing this month's high inflation...

A group of 12 Republican senators criticized the Pentagon's Climate Adaptation Plan last year, saying its focus in that area distracts from its mission of fielding a "ready and lethal force." But the Defense Department, and its commander in chief, counter that the exact opposite is true. They contend its many climate initiatives—everything from shoring up flood-prone installations to electrifying its fleet of tanks and armored vehicles—actually make the military more capable, not less. On...

Scientists and environmental regulators have been studying PFAS for years now, but new details are still coming out that make these so-called "forever chemicals" seem even more hazardous than previously thought. Earlier this month, the EPA said it's unsafe to be exposed to essentially any amount of PFOA and PFOS, the two most well-known PFAS chemicals. The agency set a new non-binding health advisory for these two chemicals at less than one tenth of one part per trillion. The EPA's prior...

If it was ever easy to be the manager of an ESG fund, it certainly isn't any more. Demand for these environmentally friendly investment options is skyrocketing, but scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission is increasing along with it. Late last month, BNY Mellon paid the agency $1.5 million to settle a claim that it misled investors about how it applies ESG principles to some of its mutual funds. Also, the SEC released proposed regulations imposing new requirements on funds that...

DuPont, a company founded shortly after the turn of the 19th century, has gone through a merger and several spinoffs in recent years, still existing more or less in name only. And while there were many reasons for these moves, the weight of liability from the chemicals collectively known as PFAS undoubtedly played a factor. But DuPont isn't the only company that could be brought low by PFAS suits. Bloomberg Law's Andrew Wallender did a deep dive on PFAS litigation data and found that...

Last year's infrastructure bill gave the EPA a deluge of cash to hand out to water utilities for infrastructure upgrades. But some of the smallest and neediest water utilities in the country may not see much, if any, of it. There are thousands of struggling water systems, many in remote, rural areas, that serve just a few hundred people. Many are in the Catch-22 situation of desperately needing federal money, but simply not having enough expertise and manpower to apply for it. On today's...

It's never easy for environmental activists—whether global, national, or local—to stop the construction of a big energy infrastructure project. But now, it may be nearly impossible. For an example, look to southwestern Louisiana. Fossil fuel companies are building new liquefied natural gas terminals there as fast as they can, with explicit approval from a Biden administration that desperately wants to replace Russian's energy dominance overseas. And these terminals are being built in an...

Here's yet another complicated and confusing question about the transition to a post-greenhouse gas world: Is what's billed as low-carbon gasoline good or bad for the environment? That's the question lawmakers in several Democratic-led states are asking themselves, and no easy answers are appearing. New Mexico, New York, and Minnesota, to name a few, have debated new standards that would encourage the adoption of more climate-friendly auto fuels, either through blending with ethanol or with...

Some good news for ESG investors, and even better news for accountants: the Securities and Exchange Commission just unveiled a new proposal that would force public companies to disclose mountains of climate change information. The proposal goes far beyond requiring disclosure of the fossil fuels a company itself uses: It would also have companies report out the carbon footprint of their supply chains and even, in some cases, of the customers who use their products. On today’s On The Merits,...

If you thought Russia's invasion of Ukraine hurt the oil market, wait until you hear what it's doing to uranium. Before last month's invasion, Russia and its allies supplied nuclear power plants in the U.S. with half of their uranium, and 100% of a special type of uranium needed for smaller, next generation power plants. That entire supply chain has obviously been thrown into question since then, and that has huge implications for not only the future of nuclear power but also for climate...

The Supreme Court heard oral argument in West Virginia v. EPA on Monday, a case that could result in the narrowing of the agency's authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. But, to some surprise, a few of the court's conservative justices posed tough questions to the attorney arguing against the EPA, which may indicate they're open to siding with the agency in this case. On today's episode of Parts Per Billion, our weekly environmental podcast, we're joined by Bloomberg Law's Jennifer...