Latest Violations of environmental law News

FILE - This June 15, 2015, file photo shows in the distance, part of the Resolution Copper Mining land-swap project in Superior, Ariz. A group of Apaches who have tried for years to reverse a land swap in Arizona that will make way for one of the largest and deepest copper mines in the U.S. sued the federal government Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2021. Apache Stronghold argues in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Arizona that the U.S. Forest Service cannot legally transfer land to international mining company Rio Tinto in exchange for eight parcels the company owns around Arizona. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)

Apaches object to Forest Service review of huge copper mine

Jan. 15, 2021 5:36 PM EST

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — The U.S. Forest Service released an environmental review Friday that paves the way for the creation of one of the largest copper mines in the United States, against the wishes of a group of Apaches who have been trying for years to stop the project. The Forest Service now has 60...

FILE - In this Aug. 6, 2015, file photo, Dan Bender of the La Plata County Sheriff's Office takes a water sample from the Animas River near Durango, Colo., after the accidental release of an estimated 3 million gallons of waste from the Gold King Mine. The Navajo Nation's Department of Justice announced on Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2021, has settled with two mining companies to resolve claims stemming from a 2015 spill that sent wastewater downstream from the inactive Gold King Mine in southwestern Colorado. (Jerry McBride/The Durango Herald via AP, File)

Navajo Nation, New Mexico reach settlements over mine spill

Jan. 13, 2021 8:13 PM EST

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The Navajo Nation’s Department of Justice announced Wednesday it has settled with mining companies to resolve claims stemming from a 2015 spill that resulted in rivers in three western states being fouled with a bright-yellow plume of arsenic, lead and other heavy metals....

Judge drops suit since Corps reconsidering plastics complex

Jan. 6, 2021 3:12 PM EST

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a challenge to a Taiwan-based conglomerate’s plans for a $9.4 billion plastics complex in Louisiana because the Army Corps of Engineers is reconsidering its permit. Formosa Plastics Group plans to build 10 chemical plants and four other major...

Judge allows oil, gas lease sales in Alaska’s Arctic refuge

Jan. 5, 2021 10:24 PM EST

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — A U.S. judge on Tuesday refused to halt an oil and gas lease sale for Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge that was pushed by the Trump administration in its final days. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason's decision came after conservationists and Indigenous groups...

FILE - In this June 26, 2010 file photo, Plaquemines Parish Coastal Zone Director P.J. Hahn rescues a heavily oiled bird from the waters of Barataria Bay, La. The Trump administration wants to end the criminal penalties under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act to pressure companies into taking measures to prevent unintentional bird deaths. Critics including top Interior Department officials from Republican and Democratic administrations say the proposed change could devastate threatened and endangered species and accelerate a bird population decline across North America since the 1970s. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

Trump administration scales back wild bird protections

Jan. 5, 2021 6:37 PM EST

BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The Trump administration on Tuesday finalized changes that weaken the government's enforcement powers under a century-old law protecting most American wild bird species, brushing aside warnings that billions of birds could die as a result. Federal wildlife officials have acknowledged...

FILE - In this undated file photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, an airplane flies over caribou from the Porcupine caribou herd on the coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in northeast Alaska. Conservationists will try to persuade a U.S. judge to stop the Trump administration from issuing leases to oil and gas companies in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The Anchorage Daily News reported that the videoconference Monday, Jan. 4, 2021, in U.S. District Court in Anchorage is expected to determine whether the Bureau of Land Management can open bids in an online lease sale scheduled for Wednesday. The agency has offered 10-year leases on 22 tracts covering about 1,563 square miles in the coastal plain, which accounts for about 5% of the refuge's area. (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service via AP, File)

Alaska court hears challenge to Arctic refuge oil leases

Jan. 4, 2021 7:57 PM EST

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Attorneys for conservation groups asked a U.S. judge Monday to halt the issuance of oil and gas leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge ahead of a planned sale this week. U.S. District Court Judge Sharon Gleason said she would try to issue a decision by late Tuesday, the day...

Court upholds dismissal of Chemours lawsuit against DuPont

Dec. 16, 2020 1:42 PM EST

DOVER, Del. (AP) — Delaware’s Supreme Court has upheld a judge’s dismissal of a lawsuit alleging that the DuPont Co. massively downplayed the cost of environmental liabilities imposed on spinoff company Chemours. The court issued a one-page ruling dated Tuesday affirming the March decision of...

FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2018, file photo, California Attorney General Xavier Becerra discusses various issues during an interview with The Associated Press, in Sacramento, Calif. President-elect Joe Biden has picked Becerra to be his health secretary, putting a defender of the Affordable Care Act in a leading role to oversee his administration’s coronavirus response. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli, File)

Biden picks Xavier Becerra to lead HHS, coronavirus response

Dec. 7, 2020 11:34 AM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden has picked California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be his health secretary, putting a defender of the Affordable Care Act in a leading role to oversee his administration's coronavirus response. Separately, Biden picked a Harvard infectious disease expert,...

ARCHIVO - En esta fotografía de archivo del 4 de diciembre de 2019, Xavier Becerra, procurador general de California, habla en una conferencia de prensa en Sacramento, California. (AP Foto/Rich Pedroncelli, archivo)

Biden picks Calif. AG Becerra to lead HHS, pandemic response

Dec. 6, 2020 9:25 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden has picked California Attorney General Xavier Becerra to be his health secretary, putting a defender of the Affordable Care Act in a leading role to oversee his administration's coronavirus response. Separately, Biden picked a Harvard infectious disease expert,...

Officials: Rodents likely destroyed rare plants at mine

Dec. 4, 2020 5:38 PM EST

RENO, Nev. (AP) — DNA evidence suggests rodents destroyed part of an area of an extremely rare desert wildflower being considered for endangered species protection at a contentious mine site in Nevada, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Friday. James Calaway, executive director of the Australian...

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