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document December 20, 2024

Motion to Intervene: National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for Lead and Copper: Improvements

Motion of Newburgh Clean Water Project, Natural Resources Defense Council, and Sierra Club to intervene in support of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the challenge to the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations for Lead and Copper: Improvements.

A cut lead pipe is pulled from a dig site for testing at a home in Royal Oak, Mich., on Nov. 16, 2021. (Carlos Osorio / AP)
Press Release December 20, 2024

Groups Seek to Defend Lead Pipe Rule Challenged by Water Utilities

Lead service lines contaminate drinking water across the country and must be replaced now

Press Release December 16, 2024

Earthjustice Marks 50th Anniversary of the Safe Drinking Water Act with Urgent Call for Reform

Political inaction, underfunding, and loopholes undermined the early success of our biggest drinking water protection law.

A bald eagle. (Shutterstock)
Press Release December 12, 2024

Conservation Groups Reach Settlement Over Lead Ammunition in West Virginia Wildlife Refuge

U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will revisit lead ammunition decision in Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge

document December 11, 2024

WV Lead Ammunition Settlement Agreement

Local and national conservation groups announced an agreement with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that will result in the Service revisiting an earlier decision to cancel a phase out of lead ammunition on Canaan Valley National Wildlife Refuge in West Virginia.

The U.S. EPA’s flag flies outside the Federal Triangle complex in Washington, D.C. (Aidan Wakely Mulroney / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
From the Experts November 26, 2024

Just More of the Same in Trump’s Tired Anti-Environmental Agenda

Republicans take power with an agenda that will benefit polluters big time at the expense of communities and weakened protections for air and water.

In the News: The New York Times October 24, 2024

E.P.A. Toughens Requirements to Remove Lead Paint Dust Around Children

Patrice Simms, VP of Litigation, Earthjustice: “This long-overdue action is a game changer in the fight against lead exposure, a silent threat that endangers lives at even the smallest trace.”

Press Release: Victory October 24, 2024

Cualquier Cantidad de Polvo con Plomo en Hogares, Escuelas y Guarderías es Peligrosa, Anunció EPA

La norma final de la agencia establece requisitos más estrictos para identificar y limpiar la pintura con plomo

A bungalow classroom door at Walter Reed Middle School in North Hollywood has a red tape sign indicating a presence of lead in the paint. As a result, this room and others were sealed off until they can be fixed.  (Boris Yaro / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Press Release: Victory October 24, 2024

EPA Announces Any Lead Dust in Homes, Schools, and Daycares is Hazardous

Agency’s final rule places stronger requirements for identifying and cleaning up lead paint

Lead-based paint disintegrates over time and contaminates dust throughout homes or schools; lead in soil around these buildings also leads to children’s exposure. (M.R. / CC BY-ND 2.0)
Update October 24, 2024

EPA Adopts New Rule That Will Help Protect Kids from Lead Dust

After a decades-long battle, the EPA has adopted a rule that would deem any amount of lead dust found in schools, daycares, and homes to be a “lead hazard.”

Children in Flint, Michigan, have been poisoned by lead in the city's tap water.
(Ceyhun (Jay) Isik/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
case October 15, 2024

Lead and Copper Rule: Protecting Communities from Lead in Drinking Water

The Lead and Copper Rule Improvements rule requires the proactive replacement of most lead service lines nationwide within the next 10 years, improves sampling methods to more accurately measure lead levels, and will force more water systems to take immediate action to address lead contamination.

Workmen prepare to replace old water pipes with new copper pipes in Newark, New Jersey in 2021. The city replaced nearly all of its 23,000 lead service lines with new copper pipes. (Seth Wenig / AP)
Article October 9, 2024

Toxic Lead Is Still Contaminating Our Drinking Water, But Change Is Coming

After years of advocacy by Earthjustice and our partners, a newly updated EPA rule requires almost all lead pipes in the U.S. to be replaced within a decade.

(Peter Cade / Getty Images)
Press Release: Victory October 8, 2024

EPA Revela Histórica Norma para Eliminar el Plomo del Agua Potable

Las Mejoras en el Plomo y Cobre exigen que las líneas de servicio se reemplacen por completo en un plazo de 10 años

A child fills a drinking glass with water from the faucet. (Cavan Images)
Press Release: Victory October 8, 2024

Updated EPA Rule Requires Replacement of Lead Service Lines in 10 Years

Lead and Copper Rule improvements are a critical tool for safeguarding our drinking water

Louie Wagner Jr. casts for ooligan on the Unuk River, as his family has for generations. (Sonia Luokkala / SEITC)
Article September 18, 2024

Rampant Gold Mining in British Columbia Threatens Salmon and Indigenous Rights

Toxic gold mining along rivers crossing the British Columbia-Alaska border threatens critical ecosystems and the sovereign rights of Alaska Native communities.

The EES Coke Battery facility on Zug Island in River Rouge, Michigan. The plant is owned by DTE Vantage, a subsidiary of DTE Energy. The EES Coke facility releases thousands of tons of sulfur dioxide in the overburdened River Rouge community and near the state’s most polluted zip code, 48217. (Ted Auch / FracTracker Alliance)
Press Release September 4, 2024

Community Groups Challenge EPA’s Weak Coke Ovens Rule in Court

The agency’s final coke ovens rule does not reduce enough toxic air pollution to protect nearby communities

A fireball rises above the 36th Explosive Ordnance Disposal Tarague range seconds after the detonation of an M117 bomb, as a part of the flight's training, on Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. (A1C Joshua P. Strang / USAF)
Press Release August 20, 2024

U.S. EPA and Guam EPA Express Grave Concerns Over Open Detonation at Andersen AFB, Find Permit Renewal Application Deficient

Open detonation releases toxic chemicals into environment and threatens human health

In the News: Public Health Watch July 29, 2024

Long-Delayed Permit for LA-Area Lead Smelter Will Tighten Enforcement, Regulators Say. Plant Neighbors Aren’t So Sure.

Angela Johnson Meszaros, Managing Attorney, Community Partnerships Program: “We’ve been working with them eight years, and the community learns about it by reading the notice in the newspaper. Really? People are literally breathing hazardous materials and they are in their homes and yards and schools and bodies. And they just deserve better.”