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US: Rolling Back Coal Ash Rules Threatens Health

EPA Proposal Effectively Subsidizes Coal Plants

(Washington, DC)—The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s proposal to significantly weaken rules governing coal ash, a toxic byproduct of burning coal, poses a serious threat to public health and will make air and water…
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News

Arsenic and Lead in Tap Water

What Trump's Deregulation Crusade Really Means for Mining Communities

As a candidate, Donald Trump promised that he'd shake up the economy to benefit "the forgotten man." But his economic policies have included deregulation in ways that can harm the very people he promised to help. The repeal on September 12 of a…
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News

Who Will Pay to Clean Up US Coal Ash Pollution?

Environmental Protection Agency’s Proposal Risks Serious Harm

A proposed new rule by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) could mean that coal ash pollution – a byproduct of burning coal for electricity – won’t be properly cleaned up and that even if it is, the public will foot…
Coal ash swirls on the surface of the Dan River in Danville, Virginia
News

Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OLEM-2019-0085 - Human Rights Watch Comment to EPA Regarding Financial Responsibility Requirements under CERCLA Section 108(b)

The EPA should reverse its proposed rule and require financial assurances for the electric power generation, transmission, and distribution industry

To Whom It May Concern,   We are writing to urge the Environmental Protection Agency to reverse its position and mandate financial assurances for the electric power industry in the proposed rule regarding Financial Responsibility…
News

Why Did Interior Department Halt a Coalfields Health Study?

The House Natural Resources Committee has a new item on its oversight agenda. On Feb. 12, it asked the Interior Department to hand over all documents relating to its decision to cancel a half-completed study examining the potential…
Mountaintop removal mine on Coal Mountain in Wyoming County, West Virginia
Video

The Coal Mine Next Door: The Deregulation of Mountaintop Removal

The Trump administration and United States Congress have endangered public health by ending measures, including defunding a scientific study, that address the human and environmental risks of mountaintop removal, a form of surface coal mining prevalent in…
Report

The Coal Mine Next Door

  Summary For 20 years, coal companies blasted off the mountaintops around the house of Rick Bradford, a retired teacher in Edwight, West Virginia, to excavate thin coal seams buried hundreds of feet deep. After detonating millions of pounds…
News

US: Deregulating Mountaintop Removal Threatens Drinking Water and Public Health

Canceling rule, study endangers Appalachian coal communities

  (Washington, DC)—The Trump administration and United States Congress have endangered public health by ending measures, including defunding a scientific study, that address the human and environmental risks of mountaintop removal…
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News

The EPA is Wrong to Weaken Coal-Ash Rules

The new acting administrator of the EPA—and former coal lobbyist—is easing rules that protect people who live near coal plants from toxic ash

Andrew Wheeler, the former coal lobbyist who became acting administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) after Scott Pruitt resigned, is weakening rules that protect people who live near coal-fired plants from the toxic ash left from…
TVA Kingston Fossil Plant fly ash spill
News

Standing Rock’s Next Stand

Fight to Protect Indigenous People’s Rights in The US Continues

On the afternoon of February 23, about 200 police officers entered the Oceti Sakowin camp near Cannon Ball, North Dakota. They arrived in armored cars, carrying weapons, and arrested about 46 people – the last remaining protestors from an 11-month…
A Native American man leads a protest march with veterans and activists outside the Oceti Sakowin camp at the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, near Cannon Ball, North Dakota, U.S., December 5, 2016.
News

US: Don’t Suspend Conflict Minerals Rule

Reversing Dodd-Frank Rule Could Enrich Abusive Armed Groups

(Washington, DC, February 10, 2017) – A move reportedly under consideration by the Trump administration to suspend a rule requiring companies to disclose their source for gold and other potential “conflict minerals” could enrich abusive armed groups in…
A child digs for gold in the Democratic Republic of Congo's Ituri District
News

US: Don’t Cancel Oil Transparency Rule

Congressional Resolution Would Help Shield Corruption

Republicans introduced joint resolutions in the United States Senate and House of Representatives today that would gut efforts to carry out a key law for fighting corruption in resource-rich countries, Human Rights Watch said today. Senator Jim Inhofe of…
Oil pump California
News

Dakota Access Pipeline Protests Put Right to Water at Center Stage

US Should Address Issues in North Dakota, Flint, and Beyond

Since August, over 400 people have been arrested protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline – 140 in the last week alone. This after the tribe sued the federal government in July, stating that they were not properly consulted about the construction project.…
Dakota Access Pipeline protesters square off against police near the Standing Rock Reservation and the pipeline route outside the little town of Saint Anthony, North Dakota, U.S., October 5, 2016.
News

Time to Get Children Out Of the Hazardous Supply Chain

Many multinational companies now ban children from working in their operations, but child labor is still a central issue for them. In the globalized economy, products have long and complex supply chains, often reaching down to a multitude of small, local…
News

Mercury Treaty: Last Chance to Address Health Effects

In Final Talks, Western Governments Should Agree to Include Prevention, Treatment

A proposed international treaty to address the damaging effects of mercury should include specific provisions to protect the health of children and other vulnerable populations, Human Rights Watch said today. Governments are to meet in Geneva beginning…
News

Corporate Crime and Punishment

Should corporations have immunity for human rights abuses? On February 28, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that will decide whether corporations will be exempted from a crucial law that allows foreign victims of serious human rights abuses…
News

United States: Act Swiftly on Equatorial Guinea Corruption Probe

US Seeks to Claim Over $70 million in Items Owned by President Obiang’s Son

(Washington, DC) – United States authorities should move quickly on an investigation of suspected corruption and money-laundering by the eldest son of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo of Equatorial Guinea, Human Rights Watch said today. On October…