Wyoming lawmakers pass House Bill 75, reducing the coal severance tax rate from 6.5% to 6%, marking the second consecutive tax cut for coal producers in two years. In 2022, the Legislature reduced the severance tax from 7% to 6.5%, together costing the state approximately $20 million in annual …
Wyoming LegislatureMark GordonBlack Hills EnergyPowder River Basin Coal Producerswyomingcoalfossil-fuelscorporate-welfareregulatory-capture+2 more
On August 8, 2023, massive wildfires rage through Lahaina in West Maui, killing at least 100 people in the deadliest wildfire event in the United States in more than a century. The fires destroy thousands of homes and businesses in the historic town, reducing what was once a vibrant wetland …
Josh GreenWest Maui Land CompanyGlenn TrembleKaleo ManuelCommission on Water Resource Management (CWRM)+2 moreinstitutional-capturesystematic-corruptionindigenous-rightsenvironmental-destructiondisaster-capitalism+2 more
Harvard researchers calculated that Trump’s environmental rollbacks would cause 80,000 excess deaths per decade from increased air pollution, with 18,000 deaths from repealing the Clean Power Plan alone. The administration reversed or weakened over 100 environmental regulations, including …
Donald TrumpEPAScott PruittAndrew WheelerDavid Bernhardt+1 moreenvironmental-destructionpublic-healthclimate-changemass-deathregulatory-capture
On June 19, 2019, EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler signed the Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) Rule, replacing the Obama-era Clean Power Plan with regulations designed to extend the lifetimes of heavily polluting coal-fired power plants. The ACE Rule established no meaningful limits on carbon pollution …
Andrew WheelerEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA)Donald TrumpCoal IndustryScott Pruittclimate-denialeparegulatory-captureenvironmental-destructioncoal-industry+1 more
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt resigned facing at least 14 federal investigations
into corruption, ethics violations, and misuse of taxpayer funds. Scandals included:
spending $43,000 on a soundproof phone booth, first-class travel costing over
$100,000, using staff for personal errands like finding …
Scott PruittDonald TrumpEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA)Andrew Wheelercorruptioneparegulatory-captureethics-violationcabinet-scandal+2 more
President Trump ordered an 85 percent reduction of Bears Ears National Monument from 1.35 million acres to 201,397 acres, the largest rollback of conservation protections in U.S. history. The proclamation split the monument into two noncontiguous units (Indian Creek and Shash Jáa), opening …
Donald TrumpRyan ZinkeBureau of Land ManagementNavajo NationHopi Tribe+3 moreinstitutional-captureextractive-industriesenvironmental-destructionindigenous-rightsregulatory-capture
President Trump announced U.S. withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement, making America the only nation to reject the accord after Syria and Nicaragua joined. Trump falsely claimed the agreement would cost America $3 trillion and 6.5 million jobs while allowing China and India to increase …
Donald TrumpParis AgreementFossil Fuel IndustryUnited StatesScott Pruittclimate-changeparis-agreementenvironmental-destructioninternational-isolationfossil-fuels
The Bush administration’s Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers jointly revise Clean Water Act regulations to classify mining debris and waste rock as “fill material” that can legally be dumped into streams and valleys. The rule change enables the coal …
George W. BushU.S. Environmental Protection AgencyU.S. Army Corps of EngineersCoal Industryenvironmental-destructionregulatory-capturecoal-industryadministrative-corruptionclean-water-act+2 more
On September 3, 1973, a fire destroys the baghouse pollution control system at the Bunker Hill lead smelter in Kellogg, Idaho—then the largest smelting facility in the world. In a secret board meeting, Gulf Resources & Chemical Corp., the facility’s owner, makes a calculated decision to …
Gulf Resources & Chemical Corp.Bunker Hill Mining & Metallurgical ComplexIdaho Department of HealthU.S. Environmental Protection Agencycorporate-crimeenvironmental-destructionmining-industrypublic-healthcorporate-negligence
The Oregon Legislature passes and Governor Tom McCall signs the Oregon Forest Practices Act, the nation’s first comprehensive forest management legislation, which becomes effective in 1972. While portrayed as environmental protection, the Act represents a sophisticated regulatory capture …
Oregon LegislatureTom McCallOregon timber industryOregon Department of Forestryregulatory-captureenvironmental-destructiontimber-industryself-regulationinstitutional-corruption