PEER

09/01/2026

The Federal Aviation Administration is proposing to waive all major environmental protection requirements for commercial space launches and other activities.

PEER has joined a group of environmental and scientific organizations, represented by Earthjustice, in calling on the FAA to reject this proposal. The group warned that the sweeping waiver would violate federal law and have negative impacts on public health, wildlife, and the safety of the communities living near rocket launch and reentry sites.

“A 21st century gold rush to extract profits from space is arriving at the same time as an all-of-government deregulatory program,” said Tim Whitehouse, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility. “We will continue to insist that the government fulfills its obligations to protect our people, our communities, and our wildlife, and to comply with anti-pollution and wildlife protection laws.”

Link in comments.

08/31/2026

Another ruling that is outrageous on its face but broadly pernicious in that it calls into question the ability of groups and individuals to challenge illegal government actions -- the president's power was just greatly expanded, again.

The decision hands President Donald Trump a major political victory in his controversial bid to oversee the largest addition to the executive mansion in decades.

08/28/2026

Opened 49 years ago, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) has already been operating 19 years past its projected life expectancy. Now the Trump administration wants to renew its right-of-way for another 30 years, and the public only has 15 days to comment.

This short period indicates that the climate and other impacts from continued TAPS operation will not be seriously considered.

The most recent environmental review is over two decades old and didn't examine the climate impact of the extraction and burning of oil moving through the pipeline, or the growing risk of catastrophic oil spills as the permafrost it sits on thaws.

In 2024, PEER and allies petitioned the Secretary of the Interior for a comprehensive new analysis of climate damage and other risks from the continued long-term operation of TAPS — and asked that any renewal be capped at 10 years, not 30.

“Failure to examine these issues is the height of irresponsibility. America’s energy future is not served by burying our heads in the tundra,” says ecologist, former University of Alaska Fairbanks professor, and PEER Board Chair Rick Steiner.

Read more in our latest press release. Link in comments.

08/27/2026

This week is National Park Week — a time to celebrate the places that belong to all of us and to keep fighting for the people who work to protect them.

Unfortunately, our public lands are facing real threats from within: mass firings and reorganizations designed to traumatize federal employees, self-dealing and no-bid contracts redirecting park funds toward vanity projects, and science programs being gutted without warning.

This week, let’s celebrate our national parks and public lands by recommitting to defending these places and the people who help make them special. Read the latest from PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse on how PEER is fighting back against the chaos and mismanagement this administration has created at public lands agencies.

https://ow.ly/UPGC50ZGbMi

Coming together to challenge Interior’s mismanagement of public lands and its mistreatment of public employees is a great way to commemorate National Park Week.

08/26/2026

EPA's proposed voluntary guidance on PFAS in sewage sludge used as fertilizer endangers public health, ignoring both common sense and EPA’s own research.

In its voluntary guidance, EPA failed to issue binding numerical limits on how much PFAS sludge can contain before it's spread on farms, gardens, and lawns nationwide. Today, PEER filed formal comments insisting that EPA set enforceable limits.

The comments also note that EPA recently shelved its January 2025 draft risk assessment on PFOA and PFOS in biosolids — after that assessment found these chemicals pose health risks to farming families. That draft laid the scientific groundwork for EPA to regulate PFOA and PFOS under the Clean Water Act. By sidelining it in favor of non-binding guidance, EPA is attempting to clear itself of that obligation.

“This draft guidance will allow the state-sanctioned distribution of toxic waste into American farms and food,” says Kyla Bennett, PEER’s Science Policy Director.

Read more in our latest press release. Link in comments.

08/22/2026

🚨 ACTION ALERT 🚨
Keep protections in place for America's roadless national forests!

For 25 years, the Roadless Area Conservation Rule has protected national forests from commercial logging and road construction. The Rule protects about a quarter of our 193 million acres of national forest.

Now, the federal government wants to take even that protection away.

If that happens, 45 million acres of protected forest will be vulnerable to logging, drilling, mining, and other destructive industries.

Combined with rollbacks of environmental protections, rescinding the Rule would put already-vulnerable wildlife at even greater risk.

Rescinding the Rule also undermines Forest Service employee expertise and the long-standing scientific research that the Rule was built on.

Now is your chance to stand up for your national forests. The government is accepting public comments until September 21. Visit peer.org to learn how you can submit your comments.

Thank you for using your voice to stand up for your public lands!

08/21/2026

We are living through a period of profound disruption.

(TLDR: we want to hear from you! See our questions at the end of this post.)

Environmental and civil service laws that have existed for decades are being overturned or ignored outright. Experts and scientists that work on issues such as climate change, public health, and ecosystems are being pushed out of government. Independent oversight entities designed to catch waste, fraud, and abuse are being gutted. Corruption is out of control. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is working to strengthen the power of the president.

This isn't the normal ebb and flow of politics. It's a deliberate effort to replace a nonpartisan, expert-driven government with one built on loyalty to the leader above all else.

So, like many groups, we've been asking ourselves some hard questions. How do we adapt? What changes do we need to make?

In this post, we're sharing seven ways we're responding to the moment. More changes to our tactics will come as we grow and adapt to an ever-changing world.

Now we'd love to hear from you. What does this moment look like from where you sit? What do you think of our seven themes? What should we be paying more attention to? Leave us a comment to let us know, and share this post so we can get as many perspectives as possible.

08/19/2026

The Big Bend region has among the lowest levels of unauthorized border crossings along the southern border. Yet the Trump administration has awarded billions of dollars in federal contracts for massive border infrastructure across the region.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection paused the project amid bipartisan backlash. But a pause doesn't answer the fundamental question of why billions of taxpayer dollars are being spent on these projects in the first place.

We're calling on the Department of Homeland Security to launch an investigation into these contracts, which raise serious questions about political favoritism, wasted taxpayer money, and irreversible damage to one of the country’s most unique landscapes.

“Border development in and around Big Bend National Park should not become a blank check for politically connected contractors,” said PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse. “Before another dollar is spent or another acre is disturbed, the administration should explain why taxpayers are paying billions to stop illegal immigration in one of America’s least crossed, most unique landscapes.”

Read more in our press release. Link in comments.

08/18/2026

Doug Burgum isn’t simply shrinking the Department of the Interior. He is actively working to destroy it.

When historians look back at the unraveling of Interior, they'll likely start with the budget and staffing cuts, and Secretary Burgum's endless efforts to please President Trump by spending hundreds of millions of our tax dollars on his vanity projects throughout DC.

But that's only part of the story.

Read more in the latest commentary from PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse. Link in comments.



📸 U.S. Department of the Interior

08/17/2026

Tune in to hear PEER Executive Director Tim Whitehouse discuss our work defending civil servants, exposing government wrongdoing, and fighting for environmental protections on The Great Battlefield podcast.

Tim Whitehouse joins The Great Battlefield podcast to talk about his career and role as Executive Director at Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, where they defend whistleblowers, shine a light on improper government actions and work to improve laws and regulations.