Entries by Keith Schneider

Opinion: The President’s Plastic Trigger

President Trump delights in alarming opponents and aiding friends in polluting industries

What We’re Reading – February

February 12, 2025  In parts of the United States, there’s no relief from climate change. A fortnight after calamitous wildfire swept across the Los Angeles region, forecasters are warning of four days of terrible flooding in southern and northern California caused by an approaching “atmospheric river.”   The same counties wrecked by flooding in North Carolina […]

Opinion: Halt the Oil Flow Across Straits of Mackinac

Civic opposition and litigation aims to end Line 5 operation.    Keith Schneider, senior editor and chief correspondent at Circle of Blue, launches a new column offering insights and commentary on water-related trends and news. This marks the debut of his bimonthly publication.   By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue  – January 22, 2025 From […]

Regulators Battle Oregon and Washington Farmers Over Limits to Farm Contamination

An effort to extricate Pacific Northwest states from mammoth pollution.    By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue SUNNYSIDE, Washington – Waters from the snowpack of the Cascade Mountains support orchards, vineyards and dairies here in the Yakima Valley of eastern Washington State, boosting a flourishing farm economy and helping to stock store grocery shelves nationwide. […]

Environmental Groups Face Off With EPA to Control Manure Pollution

Ninth Circuit Appellate Court Hears Arguments to Compel Federal Action By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue  September 14, 2024 – updated on October 15, 2024 For the third time in two decades the Environmental Protection Agency appeared in federal Appellate Court this week to defend its admittedly flawed approach to regulating the billions of pounds […]

U.S. Movement to Limit CAFO Pollution Emboldened by Michigan Court Ruling

State Supreme Court strengthens authority to prevent mammoth tide of manure from contaminating water.     By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue – August 13, 2024 A recent state court decision could transform how animal agriculture is regulated in Michigan, and potentially influence how other state and federal regulators oversee the industry’s mammoth waste stream, […]

Cattle Production That Enhances Water and Environmental Quality

Michigan State’s Jason Rowntree is out to prove that ranching is an ecological asset.  By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue – August 8, 2024 LAKE CITY, MI – Two facts about Michigan agriculture are scarcely recognized outside the fences and beyond the drainage ditches of the state’s 45,000 farms. The first: farming is among the […]

In Significant Decision For Michigan’s Waters, State Supreme Court Rules EGLE Has Authority To Do Its Job

Decision sets stage for stemming mammoth tide of farm pollution in Great Lakes State. By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue In a rare rebuke to the industrial farm sector, the Michigan Supreme Court this week ruled that state environmental regulators have full authority to require big livestock and poultry operations to improve their handling of […]