OnEarth Magazine

The Trump administration’s U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) wants to gut the Roadless Area Conservation Rule. Their scheme would open up tens of millions of acres of our national forests to destructive logging and road building — including iconic public lands from California’s Tahoe National Forest to Alaska’s Tongass National Forest to the Appalachian Trail. Make your voice heard – by September 21 – in opposition to the Trump administration’s push to chop down our forests.

As artificial turf has grown in popularity over recent decades, so have concerns about its safety. A number of academic studies have detected PFAS in several components of artificial turf, including the plastic blades, the infill that keeps the blades upright, and the synthetic carpet that helps prevent weeds.

Credit: Natalie Keyssar for NRDC Authored by Annabelle Davis, Schneider Transportation Fellow, Climate & Energy, NRDC The cost of car ownership has climbed almost 50 percent in the last six years and shows no sign of slowing as gas prices continue to rise while the conflict with Iran drags on. Improving vehicle efficiency is the best way to insulate drivers from oil price shocks.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Energy abandoned a project that would bring clean steel production to Ohio by allowing the Cleveland-Cliffs facility in Middletown to instead keep its old, coal-based blast furnace. This decision to upgrade the coal furnace locks in antiquated technology and negative air pollution impacts for the surrounding community.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Following a recent GAO opinion, Utah's federal delegation is preparing to introduce a Congressional Review Act resolution to erase the Bureau of Land Management's 2025 Bears Ears National Monument Management Plan. Following is a statement from Andrew Wetzler, Senior Vice President of Nature at NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council): “This is yet another attack on Bears Ears. Trump slashed the monument in July, opening it to mining and drilling.

California is demonstrating something increasingly important for climate policy: Reducing pollution and addressing affordability can and should go hand in hand. This week, the California Energy Commission (CEC) unanimously adopted the nation’s first efficiency standards for replacement tires. The standards will lower costs for drivers, cut pollution, and improve the efficiency of both conventional and electric vehicles. At California’s scale, the benefits are substantial.

WASHINGTON, D.C.— Conservation groups today called a plan by the Trump Administration to rescind the U.S. Forest Service’s Roadless Area Conversation Rule an alarming threat to national forests that are overwhelmingly loved by Americans. Enacted in 2001 with broad bipartisan support, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule protects 45 million acres of national forests.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit today upheld the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) 2024 decision to list two toxic “forever chemicals” — PFOA and PFOS — as hazardous substances under the federal Superfund law. The designations give EPA additional authority to promote the remediation of contaminated sites and make the parties responsible for PFOA and PFOS releases liable for the resulting cleanup costs.

San Francisco — NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council) today announced that Liane Randolph will serve as a strategic advisor, bringing decades of climate and energy policy leadership to support the organization’s work during a critical period of the clean energy transition. Randolph most recently chaired the California Air Resources Board (CARB), where she helped lead the nation’s most ambitious efforts to cut emissions, expand zero-emission vehicles, and strengthen clean air protections.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Agriculture today released a proposed rule to rescind the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, opening a 30-day public comment period on a proposal that would strip protections from nearly 45 million acres of national forest, roughly one-third of the National Forest System.