Daniel Salzler No. 1350
EnviroInsight.org Five Items March 20, 2026
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1. Movement Toward Clean Air and Clean Water Now Up To The Courts. Trump signed into effect a Free Pass to at least 546 polluters to contaminate our air and water as much as they want. While most of the facilities are located on the East Coast and South, Arizona is not immune to a few of these dirty dogs.
The orange circle shows facilities that have already been granted an exemption, and the yellow circle shows those that are still eligible for exemptions and may receive them in the future. The pink outline shows the facilities that are clustered within two or fewer miles of each other.
Around each facility is a two-mile buffer showing the communities that may be affected the most by these exemptions. The color of the buffer shows the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Environmental Justice Index and Climate Burden score. This shows the estimated cumulative burden of pollution, climate, health, and social stressors that communities around the facility face.
Phoenix Area – Stryker Sustainability Solutions is located in Phoenix, AZ and is regulated under the Sterilizer Rule*. Of the roughly 45,958 people that live within two miles of the facility, approximately 55.6% identify as non-White, 27.9% have low income, and 2.1% do not speak English as a first language. There are 28 schools and childcare centers reported in this area.
In the two miles surrounding the facility, the Environmental Justice Index and Climate Burden score is 0.43. This means that this area has an elevated cumulative burden of environmental, health, social, and climate stressors compared to the rest of the US. Cancer risks attributable to toxic air pollution around this facility are higher than 58% of areas across the entire US.
This site is in congressional district AZ4.
Orange, East of Phoenix. – Freeport Mcmoran – Miami Smelter is located in Miami, AZ and is regulated under the Copper Rule. Of the roughly 1,848 people that live within two miles of the facility, approximately 64.1% identify as non-White, 34.7% have low income, and 0.4% do not speak English as a first language. There are 8 schools and childcare centers reported in this area.
In the two miles surrounding the facility, the Environmental Justice Index and Climate Burden score is 0.93. This means that this area has an extreme cumulative burden of environmental, health, social, and climate stressors compared to the rest of the US.
This site is in congressional district AZ2
Orange Southeast of Tucson – Apache Station is located in Cochise, AZ and is regulated under the MATS Rule**. Of the roughly 47 people that live within two miles of the facility, approximately 19.5% identify as non-White, 28.0% have low income, and 13.0% do not speak English as a first language. There are 0 schools and childcare centers reported in this area.
In the two miles surrounding the facility, the Environmental Justice Index and Climate Burden score is 0.76. This means that this area has an extreme cumulative burden of environmental, health, social, and climate stressors compared to the rest of the US.
This site is in congressional district AZ6.
Yellow Proposed, Southeast of Phoenix – Asarco – Hayden Smelter is located in Hayden, AZ and is regulated under the Copper Rule***. Of the roughly 536 people that live within two miles of the facility, approximately 55.9% identify as non-White, 56.6% have low income, and 0.0% do not speak English as a first language. There are 4 schools and childcare centers reported in this area.
In the two miles surrounding the facility, the Environmental Justice Index and Climate Burden score is 0.88. This means that this area has an extreme cumulative burden of environmental, health, social, and climate stressors compared to the rest of the US.
This site is in congressional district AZ2.
Yellow Proposed Saint Johns, AZ and is regulated under the MATS Rule. Of the roughly 26 people that live within two miles of the facility, approximately 21.5% identify as non-White, 26.7% have low income, and 0.0% do not speak English as a first language. There are 0 schools and childcare centers reported in this area.
In the two miles surrounding the facility, the Environmental Justice Index and Climate Burden score is 0.57. This means that this area has a high cumulative burden of environmental, health, social, and climate stressors compared to the rest of the US.
This site is in congressional district AZ2
Yellow Proposed Springerville – Regulated under the MATS Rule. Of the roughly 32 people that live within two miles of the facility, approximately 40.4% identify as non-White, 23.8% have low income, and 1.9% do not speak English as a first language. There are 0 schools and childcare centers reported in this area.
In the two miles surrounding the facility, the Environmental Justice Index and Climate Burden score is 0.94. This means that this area has an extreme cumulative burden of environmental, health, social, and climate stressors compared to the rest of the US.
This site is in congressional district AZ2.
Yellow Proposed Peach Springs – Lhoist North America is located in Peach Springs, AZ and is regulated under the Lime Rule****. Of the roughly 9 people that live within two miles of the facility, approximately 40.8% identify as non-White, 55.2% have low income, and 0.1% do not speak English as a first language. There are 0 schools and childcare centers reported in this area.
In the two miles surrounding the facility, the Environmental Justice Index and Climate Burden score is 0.80. This means that this area has an extreme cumulative burden of environmental, health, social, and climate stressors compared to the rest of the US.
This site is in congressional district AZ2*
- Sterilizer Rule ie Ethylene Oxide releases
** MATS Rule – Mercury and Air Toxics Standards- Coal- and Oil-Fired Electric Utility Steam
Generating Units (EGUs)
*** Copper Rule – The Lead and Copper Rule (LCR) is a regulation set by the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to limit the levels of lead and copper in drinking water.
**** Lime Rule regulates HCL,Hg, Organic HAP ( an aggregated emission limit for
formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, toluene, benzene, xylenes (mixed isomer), styrene, ethyl
benzene, and naphthalene as a surrogate for total organic HAP), Dioxin/Furan
Source: Union of Concerned Scientists and NRDC
See https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/51e4a83b9ae1453397dc2217bc551f47
2. Judge Strikes Down Kennedy’s Vaccine Policies. Ruling on a lawsuit brought by several prominent medical organizations, a district court said the federal government had not based its decisions on science in limiting Covid shots and revising the childhood immunization schedule.
In a severe blow to the Trump administration’s health agenda, a federal judge in Massachusetts on Monday blocked the government from implementing a series of decisions on vaccines made over the last year by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The ruling also reversed, at least for the time being, all decisions made by the panelists that Mr. Kennedy appointed to the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, which makes recommendations on which vaccines Americans should take. The court decision will prevent the committee from meeting later this week, as it was scheduled to do.
The judge’s ruling brought an abrupt halt to the major changes that Mr. Kennedy, who has long been skeptical of vaccines, had set in motion, upending national vaccine policy and making sweeping revisions to the recommendations for what shots are given and when. Those included cutting down the number of diseases covered by routine immunization, and restricting access to Covid vaccines, two pillars of Mr. Kennedy’s vaccine agenda.
In his decision, Judge Brian Murphy, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts, noted that the vaccine committee has historically made decisions through careful review of scientific evidence, “a method scientific in nature and codified into law through procedural requirements.” But, he added “unfortunately, the government has disregarded those methods and thereby undermined the integrity of its actions.” Source: NY Times,. March 16, 2026.
3. Arizona’s Republicans Had Three Chances To Pass Legislation To Hold Data Centers, Corporate Homebuyers, And Greedy Health Insurers Accountable For Raising Your Costs. Every Arizona House MAGA Republican voted no on lowering your costs.
Here’s what they voted NO on:
Representative Kevin Volk’s bill amendment to make data centers pay their fair share in electricity costs to lower your energy bill.
Representative Stephanie Simacek’s bill amendment to stop health insurers from denying valid claims.
Representative Oscar De Los Santos’ bill amendment to stop corporate homebuyers from raising housing costs by capping the number of single-family homes they can buy in a year in Arizona.
Despite MAGA Republicans claiming they are focused on “affordability”, they voted against bills to lower the cost of housing, electricity, and healthcare. Source: Opportunity Arizona, March 16, 2026
4. Chandler Expanding Well System Amid Regionwide Water Drought. The city Chandler is expanding its well system with the help of a $1 million federal grant. City leaders say it will help them diversify their water portfolio as the Colorado River gets less reliable.
Arizona water leaders have stressed the need for resilient water systems that draw from multiple sources. Those calls have come into focus in recent months, as proposed federal plans for managing the Colorado River could deal significant cutbacks to Arizona’s share of Colorado River water. Water leaders said those cuts would be “devastating.” Chandler only gets 6% of its water from underground but says its 32 active wells provide an important addition to water from the Colorado and Salt River systems, especially during periods of high demand in the summertime. Source: KJZZ
5. Earth’s Days Are Getting Longer At Unprecedented Rate Not Seen In 3.6 Million Years – Here’s Why. In theory, it takes 24 hours for Earth to complete one rotation. In reality, a day can run a little long or a little short, nudged by the gravitational pull of the Moon and several geophysical processes playing out deep within Earth’s interior, at its surface, and high in the atmosphere. This is precisely what happened in July and August 2025 when the proximity of the Moon caused Earth’s days to be just over 1 millisecond slower than average.
However, a much larger trend is also afoot. Human-driven climate change is warming the planet and melting its ice sheets, unlocking water that has been frozen for millennia. As that water thaws into liquid and spreads across the globe in the form of rising seas, it redistributes Earth’s mass. In doing so, it’s gradually putting the brakes on its spin, lengthening the days by milliseconds.
It’s similar to the way a figure skater will spin more slowly when they extend their arms outwards. When ice sits atop polar landmasses, it is concentrated near the axis around which Earth spins. As it melts and flows into the oceans, that mass spreads outward toward the equator, moving further from Earth’s rotational axis.
In a new study, scientists from the University of Vienna and ETH Zurich set out to determine just how unusual this slowdown is by looking at millions of years of Earth’s history since the Late Pliocene.We’ve warmed the planet. Now we’re slowing it down.
The team concluded that Earth’s day is currently lengthening at about 1.33 milliseconds per century, primarily due to sea-level rise from melting ice redistributing mass and slowing Earth’s rotation.
This, they found, was happening at an unprecedented rate compared to any other time over the past 3.6 million years. And it’s unlikely to be the end of the story. With further warming and ice sheet melting expected in the decades ahead, the effect is only set to grow.
“This rapid increase in day length implies that the rate of modern climate change has been unprecedented at least since the late Pliocene, 3.6 million years ago. The current rapid rise in day length can thus be attributed primarily to human influences. The new study is published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth
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