Parts Per Billion

More money is always better, right? Well, not when it comes to redeveloping polluted real estate. On the latest episode of Parts Per Billion, we hear from Bloomberg Environment reporter Sylvia Carignan on why larger redevelopment grants from the EPA may actually hurt small, rural communities. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Many Puerto Ricans are fed up with their government-run electric utility, with sporadic outages still occurring more than eight months after Hurricane Maria. Bloomberg Environment reporter Rebecca Kern just returned from the island, and she found that demand there for residential solar power is through the roof. But, as she tells us in the latest episode of Parts Per Billion, even solar panel installers are saying storm-fatigued residents are raising their hopes too high. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hotel workers have to go into what is essentially someone's bedroom by themselves multiple times a day. How do we keep them safe? Some California legislators think they have the solution: panic buttons. On this episode of Parts Per Billion, we speak with Bloomberg Environment reporter Fatima Hussein about her recent story on a bill in the Golden State that would require all hotels to provide workers with these personal safety devices. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

One of the nice things about bitcoins is that you can mine them almost anywhere—even on a toxic Superfund site. For this week's episode of Parts Per Billion we explain why these unused, and possibly unusable, contaminated industrial sites might be perfect for bitcoin mining operations. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The EPA says it's going to revise the federal fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks, which environmentalists fear could resurrect the gas guzzlers that used to roam the roads decades ago. For this episode of Parts Per Billion, we give the keys to climate reporter Abby Smith, who tries to explain a very complicated and messy regulatory situation. For one, she says, there's the issue of California, which has the power to set its own efficiency standards for cars and is likely not on board with the Trump administration's efforts to roll those standards back. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Sometimes businesses leave toxic waste in their wake when they shut down a factory. What should be done with that contaminated land? That's where the EPA's Superfund program comes in. Its mission is to clean up the land and makes it usable for someone else. But who really wants to buy a Superfund site? For the latest of Parts Per Billion, Bloomberg Environment reporter Sylvia Carignan talks about the agency's efforts to make these rehabilitated properties more attractive to potential buyers and why often times that can be a really difficult task. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey big city dwellers, ever wish you could escape the stress of the concrete jungle and visit something that more resembles an actual jungle? Well now, thanks to something called the "biophilic" movement, your wish may be coming true. On this episode of Parts Per Billion, we head over to Kingman Island--a nature preserve nestled in the heart of Washington's inner city--to learn more about this movement from Bloomberg Environment reporter Adam Allington. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Marijuana is becoming a big business and many are hoping this will eventually drive out the illegal pot farmers and their environmental reckless pest control tactics. However, not everyone is so sure. Legal pot could just create a larger market for the drug, which in turn could make it more lucrative to grow the crop illegally. On this episode of Bloomberg Environment's podcast Parts Per Billion, we speak with reporter Sara Merken about the environmental hazards of growing marijuana and about the future of this crop as it slowly moves out of the shadows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Welcome to 2018! For the latest episode of our podcast, Parts Per Billion, we convene a roundtable discussion among Bloomberg Environment reporters of some of the big policy issues that will be shaping the news in this new year. We touch on everything from energy to chemicals to, of course, climate change. (Note: Due to recording problems, some of the audio in this week's episode is distorted. We apologize for the audio quality.) Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you noticed that Christmas trees are harder to come by this year? There's a reason for that. That reason is nutty, chocolatey and tastes great on toast. It's Nutella. For this week's episode of Parts Per Billion, we speak with global environment reporter Adam Allington about how the soaring popularity of the chocolate spread Nutella, especially in China, is connected in surprising ways to this year's Christmas tree shortage in the U.S. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's been almost three years since the lead contamination crisis in Flint, Mich., and the EPA still hasn't updated its regulations on the toxic heavy metal. Why? Dan Kildee, a Michigan Democrat who represents Flint in Congress, says if it were easy, it would have been done by now. We speak with Kildee about why he thinks water utilities have it too easy under EPA's current regulatory regime. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's pretty clear that the federal government is now out of the business of leading the way on climate change. Can America's CEO's fill this leadership vacuum? We speak with Dean Scott about what companies are doing to become more sustainable and whether you really can "do well by doing good." Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For attorneys, today is like Christmas, July 4th and Super Bowl Sunday all rolled into one. It's the first day of the Supreme Court's new term! To get you prepared for what to expect, we spoke with John Cruden, who was the top environmental attorney in the Obama Department of Justice. Cruden talks with us about the environmental cases (or lack thereof) that the court has agreed to hear and also about how changes among the nine justices could affect the shape of their rulings. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In some ways, things are returning to normal in Houston after Hurricane Harvey. But in other, very important ways, things will never be back to normal there. We speak with Bloomberg BNA Houston correspondent Nushin Huq, a lifelong resident of the city, about how the cleanup is going a month after the storm and about some of the long-term environmental problems that may trouble Houston for years to come. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Congress returns from a month-long vacation today and it definitely has its work cut out for it: by the end of this month, it has to fund the government, raise the debt ceiling, reauthorize the FAA and provide disaster relief for victims of Hurricane Harvey. We speak with Bloomberg BNA's Dean Scott and Brian Dabbs about all the environmental measures that might get tacked on to these "must pass" bills. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

No one's sure who's to blame for the widespread crop damage that was caused by a new weed killer from Monsanto and BASF. Farmers blame the chemical companies, while the chemical companies blame state regulators, and so on and so on. In this episode, we speak with Bloomberg BNA's Tiffany Stecker, who just returned from a visit to the hardest hit area, to sort out what happened here. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The EPA recently disappointed many pot growers in states where the drug has been legalized. It reversed course from the Obama administration and refused to approve any pesticides for use on marijuana plants. Why did Pruitt's EPA change the administration's stance on this issue? Was it because he thinks smoking weed is morally wrong? Not necessarily, says Bloomberg BNA's Tiffany Stecker. She tells us that Pruitt may have also been listening to the agency's lawyers. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Parts Per Billion, we speak with the mayor of a California border town who's struggling with an international pollution problem. After big rain storms, raw sewage can seep into a river in Mexico that flows across the border into his town. Though the mayor is frustrated with his neighbors to the south, he says Donald Trump's harsh rhetoric is making all of these issues harder to solve. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

President Donald Trump blamed Democrats June 5 for “taking forever” to approve his administration’s appointees in a tweet, say that “They are nothing but OBSTRUCTIONISTS!” But, Trump hasn't moved the quickest of the last few presidents on vetting and getting appointees through the confirmation process—in fact, he is the slowest of the last four presidents, according to data collected by the Partnership for Public Service. Of the 559 key positions requiring Senate confirmation, Trump has pushed 40 through the Senate to full confirmation, formally nominated 63 and name dropped 25—however, without a formal nomination. Of the 559 key positions requiring Senate confirmation, Trump has pu So, how can agencies answer to Trump’s calls for deregulation when they have little to no authority or man power to do so? Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this breaking news episode of Parts Per Billion, we speak with international climate reporter Eric J. Lyman about how the major global powers will react to President Trump's decision earlier today to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.