The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released its long-awaited report on children’s health and the environment, ("America’s Children and the Environment: Measures of Contaminants, Body Burdens, and Illnesses"), finding that mercury emissions pose an increasing threat to children.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved a final rule February 28 establishing air toxics limits for the brick and clay industry that does not include controversial provisions exempting lower-risk facilities from control.

EPA has significantly weakened a rule to address wastewater from facilities that manufacture, rebuild or maintain metal parts, products, or machines, covering only 2,400 facilities rather than the 89,000 covered by the original Clinton-era proposal. The rule, signed by EPA Administrator Christie Whitman on February 14, lays out narrow standards that apply only to facilities that generate oily wastewater, one of eight industry subcategories included in the original proposal.

The Environmental Protection Agency published a weak final rule on February 12 to limit runoff from livestock waste, requiring about 15,500 concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) to obtain permits under the Clean Water Act. The rule, originally announced in December, waters down an earlier proposal by the Clinton administration, cutting the number of affected operations by more than half. The Clean Water Network provides a side-by-side comparison of the new rule with the Clinton proposal, as well as a fact sheet describing the administration’s plan.