Sean Reilly

Washington, D.C.

Air Quality and Science Reporter at E&E News

Air quality and science reporter at E&E News, now part of Politico. Feedback, tips, etc.? Text me at 202-316-4596, or email [email protected].

Articles

China's Anti‑Foreign Sanctions Law Gets Teeth: Understanding The 2025 Implementation Regulations

1 week ago | mondaq.com | Jiaxing Hao |Michael A. DeBernardis |Michael H. Huneke |Sean Reilly

April 14, 2025 – On March 23, China'sState Council issued the Regulations on the Implementation of theAnti-Foreign Sanctions Law (Regulations), effective immediately. These Regulations clarify the 2021 Anti-Foreign Sanctions Law(AFSL) and expand China's legal tool kit to counter foreignsanctions it deems discriminatory or harmful to its sovereignty,security or development interests.
Trump's Latest Executive Orders Aim to Bolster Coal Power and Mining and Allow More Pollution

2 weeks ago | scientificamerican.com | Peter Behr |Hannah Northey |Sean Reilly

CLIMATEWIRE | President Donald Trump on Tuesday made an unprecedented peacetime intervention in the electricity sector, using executive orders to force aging coal-burning plants to stay open and feed soaring energy demand from American tech companies. At a White House signing ceremony that resembled a campaign-style rally, Trump signed orders squarely aimed at reviving coal mining and coal power, which have both been in decline for more than a decade.
DC Circuit rejects EPA bid to freeze case challenging carcinogen regs

1 month ago | ourcommunitynow.com | Sean Reilly

Share Federal judges have nixed EPA’s bid to freeze proceedings in high-stakes litigation over strengthened regulations on releases of a potent carcinogen. In a brief order issued Tuesday afternoon, a divided three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit denied the agency’s motion for a 60-day pause in the competing legal challenges to the updated rules for dozens of plants that use ethylene oxide to sterilize medical equipment.
EPA fires science advisers

2 months ago | politico.com | Sean Reilly

The move echoes an approach taken under former President Joe Biden. EPA's acting administration has dismissed members of two science advisory panels. | Pablo Martinez Monsivais/AP Acting EPA Administrator James Payne has ousted all members of two of the agency’s most influential science advisory panels, giving President Donald Trump’s administration the opportunity to reshape them with its own appointees.
EPA poised to confront Supreme Court concerns over smog plan

Nov 27, 2024 | ourcommunitynow.com | Sean Reilly

Share EPA is set to release a reworked justification for its “good neighbor” smog control plan aimed at addressing objections that led to a Supreme Court stay. The White House regulations office Tuesday completed a routine review of what EPA has elsewhere dubbed a “supplemental final action,” according to a notice posted on a government tracking website. An agency spokesperson had no immediate information Wednesday on when the supplement will be made public.
Judges take aim at time limits in ‘Cancer Alley’ civil rights rematch

Oct 8, 2024 | ourcommunitynow.com | Sean Reilly

ShareA landmark environmental racism case that will impact “Cancer Alley” residents and potentially the Biden administration’s environmental justice agenda may hinge on a legal rigidity: the statute of limitations. “It’s a hefty case” with “very interesting” issues, Judge Carl Stewart of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Monday as the oral arguments ended after about 50 minutes.
Watchdog hits EPA air chief over ethics breaches

Aug 29, 2024 | capito.senate.gov | Sean Reilly

EPA air chief Joe Goffman repeatedly ran afoul of federal ethics requirements by wading into regulatory matters affecting companies in which he had a financial stake, the agency’s inspector general concludes in a newly released report. In several separate proceedings, Goffman “failed to assess whether specific parties or industries that were involved posed a potential financial conflict-of-interest,” the report says.
Chemical Safety Board probing Louisiana toxic air releases - E&E News by POLITICO

Apr 13, 2024 | eenews.net | Sean Reilly

The federal board is looking into two 2023 releases, one at a Honeywell facility and another at a Dow Chemical site.
Biden admin tackles cancer-causing air pollution

Apr 9, 2024 | hechoencalifornia1010.com | Sean Reilly

The Biden administration is reining in releases of cancer-causing compounds and other hazardous pollutants in a crackdown that targets petrochemical plants clustered in areas like Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley.”Under a final package of regulations unveiled Tuesday morning over stiff industry opposition, almost 220 plants that make synthetic organic chemicals and other products will face more stringent curbs on emissions of ethylene oxide, a potent carcinogen, and other air toxics.
After protests, U.S. agency drops plan to limit pesticide use report

Mar 1, 2024 | science.org | Virginia Gewin |Sean Reilly

After protests from hundreds of scientists, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is dropping plans to scale back reporting to a widely used database that tracks the use of approximately 400 agricultural chemicals in the United States. Researchers are welcoming the agency’s decision, announced this week, to reverse moves to reduce the number of chemicals tracked by the database and to release updates less frequently.