Reports

Following years of rollbacks, President Joe Biden began his term nearly a year ago amidst unprecedented environmental and public health challenges. Despite these obstacles, his administration has made significant strides toward restoring lost environmental protections and confronting daunting threats to our climate and public health, according to a new report by Environment America Research & Policy Center and U.S. PIRG Education Fund. 

A recession across the oil, gas, and petrochemical industries caused in part by the COVID19 pandemic led to a decline in production. This pandemic-driven slowdown in production caused a drop in unauthorized emissions in 2020, according to a report by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.  Preliminary 2021 industry emissions reports indicate that the pollution drop is likely to be short lived unless state and federal regulators ramp up environmental enforcement and eliminate pollution loopholes.