The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has issued its first construction permit for a commercial nuclear reactor in eight years. The commission granted the permit Wednesday for a Bill Gates-backed company to build a sodium-cooled nuclear reactor in western Wyoming. The company filed for the permit in 2024. Construction of the reactor 130 miles northeast of Salt Lake City, Utah, is expected to begin within weeks, with a completion target of 2030. Gates is eyeing next-generation nuclear plants as a power source for the electricity-hungry data centers behind artificial intelligence. He is a founder of and primary investor in TerraPower, the company building the plant.

Federal workplace safety regulators have penalized three businesses over their failure to protect six Colorado dairy workers who were killed by exposure to highly toxic hydrogen sulfide gas after a manure pipe disconnected in an enclosed space. The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration announced the proposed fines Tuesday. Five men and a teenager died Aug. 20, 2025, at an industrial-scale dairy northeast of Denver. Autopsies and toxicology tests indicate they were exposed to hydrogen sulfide gas in a confined space. The hazards of confined spaces on farms and dairies are a well-known and persistent cause of death in agriculture. The proposed fines can be contested.

Some Republican legislators are pushing to limit state environmental regulations. Alabama lawmakers approved legislation Tuesday limiting state agencies from adopting pollution rules stricter than federal standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency. It follows efforts by the Trump administration to roll back rules at the agency. The Alabama measure would allow new state pollution limits only if there is a direct link between exposure and bodily harm. Supporters say the bill reduces regulatory burdens and aligns with President Donald Trump’s deregulatory agenda. Environmental groups and Democrats say the bill prioritizes industry over public health. The bill now goes to Gov. Kay Ivey.

A coalition of health and environmental groups is suing the Environmental Protection Agency, challenging the rescinding of a scientific finding that has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change. A rule finalized by the EPA rescinded a 2009 government declaration known as the endangerment finding that determined that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare. The Obama-era finding is the legal underpinning of nearly all climate regulations under the Clean Air Act for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources that are heating the planet. The lawsuit filed Wednesday calls the EPA's action unlawful and says the finding supported common sense safeguards to cut climate pollution.

The Environmental Protection Agency has revoked a key scientific finding that supported U.S. regulations on greenhouse gas emissions. This decision rescinds a 2009 declaration that carbon dioxide and other gases endanger public health. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the move Thursday, calling it a major deregulatory action. Critics argue it undermines efforts to combat climate change and could lead to more pollution. Environmental groups are certain to challenge the action in court. The EPA also proposes delaying a Biden-era rule on vehicle emissions, which could impact the push for electric vehicles.

The White House says the Trump administration will revoke a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change. The Environmental Protection Agency will issue a final rule Thursday rescinding a 2009 government declaration known as the endangerment finding. The Obama-era policy determined that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. Legal challenges are certain. The White House says the action “will be the largest deregulatory action in American history" and will save as much as $1.3 trillion in avoided regulations. Environmental groups called the shift the single biggest attack in U.S. history on federal efforts to address climate change.