Governor blows up congestion pricing; Assembly fails to pass NY HEAT, Packaging Reduction, and more

Senator Boozman’s proposal fails to address the realities farmers across the country face amid a changing climate

Organizations express opposition to the 2024 Farm Bill. Objections center around changes to the National Environmental Policy Act and the Endangered Species Act contained within Title VIII: Forestry.

With provisions to rollback climate-smart agriculture provisions, weaken environmental laws, and offer handouts to polluting industries, the House Farm Bill is the culmination of a toxic partisan process.

Peter Lehner, Managing Attorney, Sustainable Food & Farming Program: “It would be difficult to achieve if not impossible. You can’t claim to be climate friendly or net zero because beef production ineluctably uses an enormous amount of land and emits an enormous amount of methane and nitrous oxide. You can reduce that, but you’re still…

Opposition grows as poison pills appear in previews of the Farm Bill text by Republican House Ag Committee Chair Glenn Thompson which include reductions in key climate and nutrition programs and undercuts to bedrock environmental law and Endangered Species Act

Earthjustice writes in strong opposition to the proposed Farm Bill. This partisan bill undermines the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) essential investments in climate-smart agriculture programs, removing a critical tool for farmers to address climate change, improve profitability, and advance their resilience in the face of increasingly frequent extreme weather events.

The legislation to expands participation in the food donation and food scraps recycling program

Peter Lehner, Managing Attorney for Earthjustice’s Sustainable Food & Farming Program, speaks about the U.S. farm bill and agricultural emissions

“Senator Stabenow’s call for a bipartisan process is exactly what we need, and the Senate should quickly work together on advancing a Farm Bill that addresses the modern challenges we face.”

Service will begin process to ensure that industrial dredging does not conflict with wildlife protection, according to settlement agreement with traditional shellfish harvesters and conservationists

The agreement follows a lawsuit filed in 2023 by the North Oyster Bay Baymen’s Association and the Center for Food Safety, both represented by Earthjustice, challenging the Service’s decades-long failure to prevent harm from industrial shellfish dredging.

The neurotoxic pesticide harms children and the environment. There are no safe uses for chlorpyrifos.

Peter Lehner, Managing Attorney, Sustainable Food & Farming Program: “Consumers are beginning to be aware of the fact that meat, and particularly beef, has a very, very high climate impact. JBS is fully aware of this, and trying to get ahead of that by telling consumers, ‘Oh, don’t worry, we’ve got it under control.’ But…

Pajaro Valley Federation of Teachers, Safe Ag Safe Schools, Center for Farmworker Families, Monterey Bay Central Labor Council, and Californians for Pesticide Reform petition for judicial review of six permits allowing the use of highly toxic, restricted pesticides near three schools in the Pajaro Valley area of Monterey County.

Regulators are failing to protect children from repeat exposure to the most dangerous pesticides

Stronger standards would prevent hundreds of millions of pounds of pollution from reaching rivers and streams, helping to protect more than 22 million people

Inadequately controlled water pollution from slaughterhouses and rendering facilities can make water unsafe for drinking, unfit for outdoor recreation, and uninhabitable for aquatic life, posing serious risks to human health and the environment, especially in vulnerable and under-resourced communities. After more than two decades, EPA finally has begun the process of strengthening water pollution control standards for these facilities, and the Agency now proposes to adopt the weakest of three regulatory options. EPA’s preferred option is inconsistent with the CWA and other federal laws.