News Releases

A U.S. Appeals Court decision to throw out the 2012 federal mandate requiring refiners to blend cellulosic ethanol into the domestic gasoline supply should be wake-up call to Congress that the nation’s biofuels policy is in sore need of reform, said Environmental Working Group Vice President for Government Affairs Scott Faber.

A report yesterday by the Associated Press that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency withdrew action against a natural gas company despite evidence that its drilling operations had contaminated drinking water in Texas raises alarming questions about the industry’s influence and the agency’s commitment to protecting public health and the environment.

The Environmental Working Group today submitted comments to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) on its revised draft regulations for high-volume hydraulic fracturing. EWG warned New York officials that the revised rules contain too many flaws and scientific gaps to ensure that so-called “fracking” can be conducted safely.

Environmental Working Group called today’s release of draft risk assessments of five chemicals found in paint strippers, fire retardants, degreasers, fragrances and other consumer products a positive step by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, but EWG emphasized that the agency’s action “also underscores the need for true chemical policy reform.”

Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, issued the following statement on the decision by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson to step down.

The California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources has released a preliminary draft of regulations that for the first time would require oil and gas drilling companies in the state to report where they are using hydraulic fracturing technology and disclose what chemicals they are using.

Forty years after passage of the federal Clean Water Act, it is clear that farm pollution, which remains exempt from the law, is standing in the way of clean water in Iowa and across the nation, a new Environmental Working Group analysis shows. The law succeeded in cutting pollution from cities and industries, but 80,000 miles of rivers and streams in the U.S. remain badly polluted by chemical fertilizers and manure.

New York’s Suffolk County will soon ban retailers from issuing register receipts that contain the endocrine-disrupting chemical bisphenol-A or BPA.

Harmful fire retardant chemicals are turning up in everything from furniture to dust in American homes, researchers report in two new studies published today (Nov. 28), a finding that underscores how California’s misguided fire safety rules have created a pervasive environmental hazard for much of the country.