TOP STORIES

In case you missed yesterday’s NTAA Informational Webinar for Tribes on TAS, NTAA’s Ryan Tsinigine hosted an informational webinar for Tribes to learn about TAS that included presentations by:

• • Pat Childers, EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation
  • Brandy Toft, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe Indians
  • Dan Morey of the Monrongo Band of Mission Indians
  • You can view NTAA’s resources on TAS including a recording of the 96 minute webinar here.

U.S. EPA – EPA Announces $4.5 Million in Grants Available for Tribes to Replace Diesel Equipment and Reduce Harmful Emissions: For the first time under this competition, matching funds are not required.

The White House – A Proclamation on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Persons Awareness Day, May 4, 2021

Ambient Air Quality/EPA/NTAA/Tribes

NPR – Senate Votes To Restore Regulations On Climate-Warming Methane Emissions

The Hill – EPA official directs agency to ramp up enforcement in communities hit hard by pollution

Axios – Study: Air pollution disproportionately kills Americans of color

Native News Online – Biden’s First 100 Days: Impact on Indian Country

National Law Review – EPA Will Finalize Rule Imposing Toxics Release Inventory Reporting Requirements on Natural Gas Processing Facilities

Indian Country Today – Interior sets new path through land maze

NBC – Texas enabled the worst carbon monoxide poisoning catastrophe in recent U.S. history

CNN – ‘The honeymoon is over’: Biden faces tougher tasks ahead as progressives demand more

Indian Country Today – Race, sovereignty clash as Congress meddles in tribal enrollment

U.S EPA Region 10 – Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua, and Siuslaw Indians receive EPA approval to administer Clean Water Act programs on reservation and trust lands

EurekAlert! – Air pollution linked to high blood pressure in children; other studies address air quality and the heart

The Guardian – Air pollution spikes may impair older men’s thinking, study finds

Phys.org – Exposure to air pollution can influence investors’ decision making

National Association of Clean Air Agencies – Washington Update

Climate Change/Energy

NY Times – EPA to Sharply Limit Powerful Greenhouse Gases

Axios – NOAA unveils a warmer climate “normal” for the U.S.

Axios – Vast majority of existing coal plants are more costly than wind or solar plants

NY Times – Global Vaccine Crisis Sends Ominous Signal for Fighting Climate Change

Huffpost – How Arizona’s Attorney General Is Weaponizing Climate Fears To Keep Out Immigrants

Star Tribune – In Minnesota, fighting climate change means changing how to heat buildings

The Guardian – Climate crisis: our children face wars over food and water, EU deputy warns

Climate Home News – How youth climate court cases became a global trend

Reuters – Ice melts out at famous Alaska river betting site

Earther – Polar Bear-Grozzly Hybrids, Aka Pizzly Bears, May Be Growing More Common Due to Climate Crisis

Toxics/Mobile Sources

The Hill – Senate Democrats announce $73B clean bus plan

The Hill – Carper asks EPA to require half of new cars to be zero-emissions by 2030

NY Times – To Promote His Infrastructure Plan, Biden Revisits ‘Amtrak Joe’ Days

AP – Public transit hopes to win back riders after crushing year

Bloomberg – Plugging In: The EV Transition Gains Speed

E&E – Biden’s conundrum: Expand EVs without harming the Earth

Indoor Air Quality

CNBC – MIT researchers say time spent indoors increases risk of Covid at 6 feet or 60 feet in new study challenging social distancing policies

Be sure to subscribe to EPA’s IAQ Bulletins

TOP STORIES

@AirNow is Celebrating Air Quality Awareness Week, May 3 – 7, 2021!

We are pleased to offer an Air Quality Awareness Week Social Media Challenge. This exciting challenge encourages people to do things like explore air quality tools online and to get outside and post a photo or video with a caption, ‘Enjoying clean air!’” and “Show us an image of you doing your favorite outdoor activity.”  We’re using the hashtag #AQAW2021 Thank you for supporting this celebration each year.  This year’s theme is, “Healthy Air – Important for Everyone!”  We’ll be supporting that theme with daily topics:

• May 3 – Wildfires and Smoke
• May 4 – Asthma and Your Health
• May 5 – Citizen Science and Air Sensors
• May 6 – Environmental Justice and Air Quality
• May 7 – Air Quality Around the World

The AQAW 2021 website will go live on Monday, May 3^rd – www.airnow.gov/aqaw

Politico – What Regan wants: Inside Michael Regan’s Mind

The Hill – Senate confirms Janet McCabe as deputy EPA chief

Reuters – EXCLUSIVE White House backs 2030 milestone on path to net zero grid

U.S. EPA – EPA Reconsiders Previous Administration’s Withdrawal of California’s Waiver to Enforce Greenhouse Gas Standards for Cars and Light Trucks

Ambient Air Quality/EPA/NTAA/Tribes

The Results Are In – Census Bureau Announces 2020 Apportionment Counts

EPA – EPA Administrator Regan Announces New Initiatives to Support Environmental Justice and Climate Action

Axios – Interior to restore tribal lands and management in rollback of Trump-era actions

AP – Democrats move to reinstate methane rules loosened by Trump

Cronkite News – Tribal officials outline infrastructure gap ‘big as the Grand Canyon’

Indian Country Today – Alaska legislators consider state recognition of tribes

Seattle Times – Washington Legislature approves caps on carbon pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, giving big win to Inslee, environmentalists

Nature Communications – Wildfire smoke impacts respiratory health more than fine particles from other sources: observational evidence from Southern California

National Association of Clean Air Agencies – Washington Update

Climate Change/Energy

NY Times – Halting the Vast Release of Methane Is Critical for Climate, U.N. Says

Reuters – Biden administration offers $8.25 billion in loans for power grid

Grist – AOC’s plan for a 1.5 million-strong Civilian Climate Corps explained

TeenVogue – Climate Change in Florida Is Forcing a Response From Republican Politicians

E&E – Interior to study massive solar project on Nev. Tribal land

The Guardian – ‘Insanely cheap energy’: how solar power continues to shock the world

The Washington Post – Biden closes landmark summit with a message: Climate action equals jobs

The Washington Post – The Technology 202: Researchers warn misinformation on Facebook threatens to undermine Biden’s climate agenda

Washington Examiner – Nickelodeon airs Earth Day segment teaching children about ‘environmental racism’

Toxics/Mobile Sources

Washington Post – EPA moves to give California right to set climate limits on cars, SUVs

U.S. EPA – EPA Administrator Regan Establishes New Council on PFAS

LA Times – Newson bans new California fracking permits starting in 2024

Wall Street Journal – Why New Induction Cooktops Are Safer and Faster Than Gas or Electric

USA Today – Honda to phase out gas cars, aiming for 100% electric vehicles in North America by 2040

Reuters – Supreme Court seeks U.S. government views on VW emissions case

Indoor Air Quality

Climate Control News – Reset IAQ standards

Contracting Business – Fredrich introduces IAQ solutions to combat pathogen and pollutant threats

WTVD-TV – IAQ could be one of the pandemic-inspired changes that sticks around long after COVID-19 is gone

FacilitiesNet – How to Improve IAQ With Effective Air Filtration

Be sure to subscribe to EPA’s IAQ Bulletins