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The U.S. would have imported about 20 percent less foreign oil in 2005 if automakers met federal fuel efficiency or miles per gallon (MPG) standards based on real world driving conditions. That reduction is equivalent to more than 1.3 times the amount of oil imported from Saudi Arabia in 2005, or about two million barrels of oil per day. For consumers this translates into 33 billion gallons of

An Environmental Working Group investigation of government and industry data shows that EPA has failed to require public disclosure of pollution data under the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) for at least 10 industrial chemicals that meet EPA's own criteria for classification as persistent bioaccumulative toxic (PBT) chemicals, a category reserved for chemicals that present the greatest threats to

A little-known provision in the current House budget reconciliation could precipitate one of the largest land giveaways in American history. The provision, spearheaded by Rep. Richard Pombo of California, would put up for sale millions of acres of public land where companies have staked mining claims, including land inside or adjacent to national parks, wilderness areas and other natural treasures

Drivers in sprawling southern cities with few transportation options are forced to send more of their gasoline dollars abroad, including to Middle East oil producers where an unknown amount of oil money flows to anti-American extremists. Amid rising gas prices and calls for energy independence, an original Environmental Working Group analysis of oil dependence by metro area underscores the urgent

Despite Teflon maker DuPont's longstanding claim that there are 'no known health effects' associated with its Teflon chemical PFOA, the company today announced that in a recently-completed worker study it found that PFOA exposures among Teflon plant workers were correlated with a 10 per cent increase in cholesterol.

In the first nationwide tests for brominated fire retardants in house dust, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found unexpectedly high levels of these neurotoxic chemicals in every home sampled. The average level of brominated fire retardants measured in dust from nine homes was more than 4,600 parts per billion (ppb). A tenth sample, collected in a home where products with fire retardants were

A new investigation by Environmental Working Group (EWG) and the National Black Farmers' Association (NBFA) finds that the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) willfully obstructed justice by deliberately undermining the terms of a 1999 landmark civil rights settlement with African American farmers. As a result, the vast majority of African American farmers have been denied compensation

Refineries, power plants and other large industrial facilities in California that violate clean air laws typically pay penalties lower than what an SUV driver may legally be fined for a smog violation, according to an investigation of enforcement records by Environmental Working Group (EWG).

In the first-ever tests of perchlorate in supermarket produce, 18 percent of lettuce samples contained detectable levels of perchlorate, and an average serving of these contaminated samples contained 4 times more than the EPA says is safe in drinking water. EWG estimates that by eating lettuce, 1.6 million American women of childbearing age are exposed daily during the winter months to more

Consumers instantly recognize them as household miracles of modern chemistry, a family of substances that keeps food from sticking to pots and pans, repels stains on furniture and rugs, and makes the rain roll off raincoats. But in the past 5 years, the multi-billion dollar “perfluorochemical” industry has emerged as a regulatory priority for scientists and officials at the U.S. Environmental

A review of federal and industry science on the toxic industrial chemical commonly called C8 (perflouroctanoic acid, used to make Teflon) reveals that water pollution policy by the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is far less protective than previous industry standards.

The House Republican leadership is considering legislation to strictly limit oil company liability for contaminating groundwater in at least 28 states with the toxic gasoline additive MTBE, or methyl tertiary butyl ether. The oil industry and its friends in Congress say it's only fair to shield MTBE makers from lawsuits, since, they claim, it was the government that mandated oil companies to

Claims that corn ethanol is making a major contribution to America's security and energy independence by reducing oil imports are wildly exaggerated, an analysis by Environmental Working Group (EWG) shows. Between 2005 and 2009, taxpayers spent a whopping $17 billion to subsidize ethanol. In return, they got a reduction in overall oil consumption equal to an unimpressive 1.1 mile-per-gallon

The wood in most playground sets, picnic tables and decks contains potentially hazardous levels of the same poison at the center of the debate over the safety of America's drinking water: arsenic. An Environmental Working Group analysis finds that even if the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency keeps its promise to lower permissible levels of arsenic in drinking water, it will not be able to

In the final weeks of the election season, competing philosophies about pollution control have come to the fore in presidential politics. A new computer investigation by the Environmental Working Group indicates that Gov. George W. Bush's approach to pollution control has been a major factor in making Houston the nation's smoggiest city and Texas our smoggiest state. Because states play a decisive

After six months of stone-walling, ABC News confirmed an Environmental Working Group (EWG) allegation that the network did not conduct pesticide tests for a special 20/20 investigation by correspondent John Stossel that was harshly critical of organic food. ABC has announced that the producer will be suspended for a month and Stossel 'reprimanded.'

Taxpayers may not realize it, but the money they send to Washington is hastening the demise of family farms through the agricultural subsidy pro- grams that purport to save them.

Everyone knows that women eat – and often crave – different foods when they're pregnant. But an Environmental Working Group (EWG) analysis of government data shows that some of the things they eat more of give their babies an extra dose of toxic pollutants at the most delicate stage of life.

At the heart of the nation's Clean Water Act is a system of permits that determines how much pollution every factory, machine shop, electric utility, sewage treatment plant or other polluter can dump into the nation's waters. These permits, which set the terms for all of the nation's water pollution, are tailored to the size of the polluter, the toxicity or threat of the pollution, the technology

The tap water of about 1 million Californians, mostly in the San Joaquin Valley, is contaminated with a long-banned pesticide that is one of the most potent carcinogens known, according to an Environmental Working Group (EWG) analysis of state data. Yet California's current drinking water standards for the compound allow exposure to 100 times the "safe" adult dose and almost 300 times the "safe"

Scientists and government officials, including a blue ribbon panel of the National Academy of Sciences, are growing increasingly concerned about the health threat that mercury contamination of commonly eaten fish may pose to the delicate, rapidly developing nervous systems of fetuses, infants and young children.

Across Ohio, small and large businesses have polluted public drinking water supplies with impunity. An Environmental Working Group analysis of Ohio EPA data and an internal, unpublished report from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA) shows that industries have contaminated at least 54 public water supplies, but have been held responsible for contributing toward cleanup in only

Most Washington insiders are familiar with the concept of the revolving door— former government officials leave their respective agencies to work as lawyers, lobbyists and consultants, offering easy access to the government process and insider knowhow to clients. The problem is so pervasive that one of President Clinton's first presidential acts was to establish rules dictating how long former

Every day, nine out of ten American children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years are exposed to combinations of 13 different neurotoxic insecticides in the foods they eat. While the amounts consumed rarely cause acute illness, these "organophosphate" insecticides (OPs) have the potential to cause long term damage to the brain and the nervous system, which are rapidly growing and extremely