Michael Phillis

Associated Press
Latest in Economics
A shopper pushes a cart loaded with paper goods through the parking lot of a Costco warehouse, Aug. 12, 2025, Colorado Springs, Colo.
U.S. Supply Chain Prices Unexpectedly Fell 0.1% in August
September 10, 2025
President Trump in the Rose Garden of the White House, Sept. 5, 2025.
Trump's Job Market Promises Fall Flat as Hiring Collapses and Inflation Ticks Up
September 8, 2025
President Trump speaks during an event to announce new tariffs in the Rose Garden at the White House, April 2, 2025.
If Tariffs Get Thrown Out, Companies Could Get a Refund — but Consumers Won't
September 5, 2025
A construction worker carries steel decking at a construction site, Portland, Maine, July 31, 2025.
Hiring Stalls as Companies Reluctant to Expand in Uncertain Landscape
September 5, 2025
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More from Michael Phillis
Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin speaks, Feb 3, 2025, in East Palestine, Ohio.
Laws & Regulations
EPA Offers Industrial Polluters Way to Avoid Rules on Mercury, Arsenic, Other Toxic Chemicals
Environmental groups called the offer a "polluters' portal."
March 27, 2025
President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House, Jan. 20, 2025, in Washington.
Laws & Regulations
What to Know About Trump's First Executive Actions on Climate and Environment
From oil and gas expansion to revoking EV goals.
January 27, 2025
A copper water supply line, left, is shown connected to a water main after being installed for lead pipe, right, July 20, 2018, in Flint, Mich.
Laws & Regulations
Biden Sets 10-Year Deadline for U.S. Cities to Replace Lead Pipes
The mandate would finalize an effort to ensure the safety of the nation's drinking water.
October 8, 2024
The Denka Performance Elastomer Plant sits at sunset in Reserve, La., on Sept. 23, 2022.
Laws & Regulations
New EPA Rule Says 200 U.S. Chemical Plants Must Reduce Toxic Emissions
The action updates several regulations that have not been tightened in nearly two decades.
April 9, 2024
Lead water pipes pulled from underneath the street are seen in Newark, N.J., Oct. 21, 2021.
Laws & Regulations
Cities Must Replace Harmful Lead Pipes under New Biden Administration Plan
Most cities would have 10 years to replace the pipes.
December 1, 2023
President Joe Biden speaks to members of the media before boarding Air Force One in Norfolk, Va., Nov. 19, 2023.
Safety
Biden Declares Emergency Over Lead in Water in U.S. Virgin Islands
Officials told residents to stop using their taps and began distributing vouchers for bottled water.
November 23, 2023
Nicholas Hartnett, owner of Pure Power Solar, carries a panel as he and Brian Hoeppner, right, install a solar array on the roof of a home in Frankfort, Ky., Monday, July 17, 2023.
Laws & Regulations
U.S. Climate Law is Already Turbocharging Clean Energy Technology
The law passed one year ago.
July 24, 2023
A road bisects a wetland on June 20, 2019, near Kulm, N.D. The Supreme Court has made it harder for the federal government to police water pollution. The decision from the court on Thursday, May 25, 2023, strips protections from wetlands that are isolated from larger bodies of water. It’s the second ruling in as many years in which a conservative majority has narrowed the reach of environmental regulations.
Energy
SCOTUS Limits Law Intended to Protect Wetlands
Industry and farm groups praised the ruling.
May 26, 2023
Cooling towers release heat generated by boiling water reactors at Xcel Energy's Nuclear Generating Plant on Oct. 2, 2019, in Monticello, Minn.
Energy
Regulators: Nuclear Plant Leak Didn't Require Public Notice
Regulators knew four months ago that radioactive waste had leaked.
March 20, 2023
Michael Regan, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, announces the Biden administration is launching a broad strategy to regulate toxic industrial compounds associated with serious health conditions that are used in products ranging from cookware to carpets and firefighting foams during an event at N.C. State University, Oct. 18, 2021, in Raleigh, N.C. The EPA on Tuesday, March 14, 2023, proposed limiting the amount of harmful “forever chemicals” in drinking water to the lowest level that tests can detect.
Laws & Regulations
EPA to Limit 'Forever Chemicals' in Drinking Water
It's the first time the EPA has proposed regulating a toxic group of compounds that are widespread, dangerous and expensive to remove from water.
March 14, 2023
Toney Lewis shows a bottle of tap water he saved, before his neighborhood was recently switched to the current Ferriday, La. water system, in Ridgecrest, La., Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022.
Safety
When Destitute Small Towns Mean Dangerous Tap Water
Federal law allows authorities to force changes on water utilities, but they rarely do.
November 4, 2022
A towboat and its barges are shown in the channel at lock and dam 25 at Winfield, Mo., on Aug. 19, 2005. The U.S. Army Corps will spend $732 million to expand the congested lock and dam in Missouri. Federal officials said adding a second lock in Winfield will reduce travel time for barges and allow for two-way traffic. Funding for the lock's construction was part of a broader Biden administration announcement Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022, to provide the Army Corps with $14 billon for infrastructure and environmental restoration projects.
Supply Chain
Army Corps to Spend $732M on Mississippi River Lock Upgrade
The project is fully funded and will take roughly five to seven years to complete.
January 20, 2022
Workers use equipment to remove a section of roof left on a heavily damaged Amazon fulfillment center on Dec. 11, 2021 in Edwardsville, IL.
Safety
OSHA Begins Reviewing Collapse of Amazon Warehouse Hit by Deadly Tornado
The Friday night twister left six people dead at the facility and another hospitalized.
December 14, 2021
Volunteers prepare bottled water to be distributed to residents at the local high school parking lot Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021, in Benton Harbor, Mich. The water system in Benton Harbor has tested for elevated levels of lead for three consecutive years. In response, residents have been told to drink and cook with bottled water and the state has promised to spend millions replacing lead service lines.
Laws & Regulations
Michigan's Lead Water Crisis Persists
Free water distribution sites are a fixture of life in a city where almost half of residents live below the poverty line.
November 5, 2021