• The Trump administration is running through our constitutional rights like a bull unleashed on the streets of Pamplona. For days now, the high-stakes back-and-forth between the administration, the courts and the Constitution over the wrongful deportation of a Maryland man has dominated headlines. But in the background, the administration is working overtime to dismantle regulations, particularly around the environment. Just since Monday, the administration got the ball rolling on gutting a key part of the Endangered Species Act, stopped construction on a major offshore wind farm, axed a $3 billion program to help farmers adopt climate-friendly practices, and kickstarted a bid to end a Biden-era rule to put conservation on par with things like drilling as a valid public land use. Crooked Climate correspondent Anya Zoledziowski looks at the fallout from an earlier anti-environmental decision from the Trump administration, to drop a Biden-era suit against a petrochemical plant in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley.”
• And in headlines: President Donald Trump met with Italy’s prime minister to talk trade, the Supreme Court said it would hear arguments over Trump’s bid to limit birthright citizenship, and a federal judge said Google has an illegal monopoly over online advertising technology.

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TRANSCRIPT

Erin Ryan: It’s Friday, April 18th. I’m Erin Ryan, in for Jane Coaston, and this is What a Day, the show for people who spent the last hour before bed last night scrolling Zillow listings for K-218b, the faraway exoplanet identified by the James Webb Telescope that scientists say shows signs of life possibly existing on it. So far nothing in my price range, but I’ll keep looking. [music break] On today’s show, President Donald Trump meets with Italy’s Prime Minister to talk over trade and ostensibly kiki over their mutual hatred for migrants. And the Supreme Court says it will hear arguments in Trump’s bid to limit birthright citizenship, a thing that is literally written in our Constitution. And on that note, the Trump administration is running through our constitutional rights like a bull unleashed on the streets of Pamplona. For days now, the high stakes back and forth between the administration, the courts, and the Constitution over the wrongful deportation of a Maryland man has understandably, sucked a lot of the oxygen from the room. Meanwhile, the party in power is working overtime to assure that whatever oxygen is left in said room is pumped full of unregulated chemicals. That was a segue, right? Guys, it’s been a long week. Here’s what’s happened since Monday. The administration got the ball rolling on gutting a key part of the Endangered Species Act, so habitat destruction would no longer qualify as harm to threatened plants and animals. It stopped construction on a major offshore wind farm off the coast of Long Island. Donald Trump famously hates windmills. It canceled a $3 billion program to encourage farmers to adopt climate-friendly practices, and it kickstarted the process of ending a Biden-era rule that aimed to put conservation on par with things like drilling as a valid public land use. Again, that’s just this week. It’s like that early 2000s song by Craig David where he talks about his week of dates with some lady he’s into. My fellow millennials know what I’m talking about. Except for us, it’s a week of compounding environmental horrors. Because Trump is actively pursuing large-scale environmental deregulation, which is putting both the climate and public health at risk. You can already see the human costs. Just last month, his administration pulled a landmark lawsuit launched by former President Joe Biden that was supposed to compel a petrochemical plant in Louisiana to limit emissions that the EPA warns cause cancer. Crooked climate correspondent Anya Zoledziowski has been following the story. She joined us to talk about what’s been happening since the administration dropped the suit. Anya, welcome to What a Day. 

Anya Zoledziowski: Thanks so much for having me. 

Erin Ryan: So tell me a bit more about this suit that was dropped. Who did the Biden administration sue and why? 

Anya Zoledziowski: Yeah. Let me tell you first about this plant. So it’s the Denka plant in LaPlace, Louisiana. It makes a synthetic rubber that is often used in things like wetsuits and laptop cases and it was releasing, or it does release, chloroprene, which is a likely cancer-causing chemical. And this plant is located in this stretch between Baton Rouge and New Orleans in Louisiana. It’s an 85-mile-or-so stretch, home to 200 or so fossil fuel and petrochemical companies. It also happens to have some of the highest rates of cancer in the country. So this area is actually called cancer alley. 

Erin Ryan: Whoa, cancer alley. 

Anya Zoledziowski: Yeah. 

Erin Ryan: That sounds um unpleasant. So let’s talk more about the suit. Um. The suit named the owners and and who are those owners? 

Anya Zoledziowski: So it’s owned by Denka. It’s a Japanese chemical giant, and it bought the company from DuPont in 2015. 

Erin Ryan: So when did the federal government slap a suit on the plant and why? 

Anya Zoledziowski: The suit was slapped in 2023. And so this goes back to chloroprene, the chemical I had mentioned. At the time, EPA said that it found really unsafe levels of chloroprene in the area. And so they were saying that it was being released by this plant. And so they had sued with the intent to compel the plant to lower those emissions. 

Erin Ryan: And can you tell us a little bit about chloroprene? Like what does the research say about it? Why is this stuff bad news? 

Anya Zoledziowski: Yeah, so according to the EPA, it is a likely carcinogen because in animal trials, you know being exposed to it has resulted in tumors in the lungs and the liver. So you know animal trials have shown that exposure has caused cancer. 

Erin Ryan: Mm hmm. So those emissions, like how bad were these emissions? 

Anya Zoledziowski: Yeah, we’re talking, you know, according to the EPA presser at the time, we are talking like levels 14 times higher than what the EPA considers a safe lifetime exposure with the risk being especially pronounced for children under the age of 16 and infants. And so I spoke with the former EPA Deputy Assistant Administrator for Environmental Justice, Matthew Tejada, and he says he actually remembers when this was all coming to light.

[clip of Matthew Tejada] I remember when we first mapped it, and it was like a supernova on our map. It was like, whoa, what is that facility? You know because we were first getting in those risk assessments. It was so clear how nobody in their right minds would want to live, much less raise their family, within 50 miles of this facility. 

Erin Ryan: Oh my gosh, that sounds so spooky. That official said nobody should be living within 50 miles, but well, there were people there, hence the suit. So who’s in that area? 

Anya Zoledziowski: Yeah, I think that’s a really great question because it can feel so abstract when you’re not from the area, but we’re talking about predominantly Black neighborhoods, tight-knit. You know, these are not rich neighborhoods. I spoke to someone from the area who, you know, beamed when he was talking with his community. He said they’re close, they’re hard workers. He mentioned the children, you know. The population in the area according to the former EPA presser is 20% like under the age of 18 and there’s actually a school that’s about a quarter mile from the Denka plant. And I want to flag that the school board actually had that school shut down. They didn’t list the plant as the motivator for the decision, but the EPA has long been warning that those students were at higher risk of cancer because of the chloroprene emissions. So we’re talking about, you know, real people, real families and children. 

Erin Ryan: So this suit was filed something like two years ago. How much faith was there that the EPA under Biden could actually help? 

Anya Zoledziowski: Yeah you know so Matthew Tejada did say if there was any criticism, it’s that maybe the EPA could have acted faster, but this was really a big deal because it marked this escalation by the Biden administration in their push to address environmental injustice. So they were really trying to check long-term polluters in poor racialized communities. And so community members really celebrated the move. You know they voiced hope when it came out. 

Erin Ryan: Mm hmm. But the Trump administration just dropped the suit last month. Why?

Anya Zoledziowski: I don’t think it’ll shock you to learn that it’s part of the so-called mandate to end diversity, equity, and inclusion. It is really hard to overstate the racism and the potential cruelty of this decision. You know this isn’t ideology. Like this is fact. It is fact that people of color, low-income neighborhoods, are disproportionately harmed by environmental pollution in the United States and for many in this area now. It’s the sense that they’re losing hope for protection. 

Erin Ryan: So just to be clear, they ended a lawsuit that was aimed at helping people, just people, not any specific group of people, but just people who live there, to address the source of higher rates of cancer because it benefited a disproportionately Black population?

Anya Zoledziowski: Yeah and you know, it’s tricky too, because it really was part of the Biden administration’s push to address the fact that Black and Brown communities are getting harder hit. 

Erin Ryan: Oh my gosh. So how did the people who live there take the suit being stopped? 

Anya Zoledziowski: So I spoke with Robert Taylor. He’s an 84-year-old resident living near the Denka plant. And he’s also the director of Concerned Citizens of St. John. It’s a local advocacy group that had actually asked the EPA to investigate. He’s lived in the area his whole life, and he’s lost several relatives to cancer. Here was his first reaction. 

[clip of Robert Taylor] It was quite disappointing, of course, uh but uh I expected the worst from the Trump administration. Uh. That makes it real difficult for us, but we have to carry on until that’s what we’re doing. 

Erin Ryan: Carry on, oh my goodness. Well, I guess for now that’s what their options are. What else are they doing about this? What are they trying? 

Anya Zoledziowski: Yeah, you know, he really is gonna continue advocating, like the whole group, the neighborhood. But something that’s tangible is the community really wants the tools to be able to measure emissions themselves independently. And right now they don’t they don’t have those tools. 

[clip of Robert Taylor] If the community is going to survive this attack, we are going to have to get up and take care of ourselves and our children and fight for our lives. Because we see that these agencies, their intent is not well when it comes to us. 

Erin Ryan: How did the plant owner take the news about the suit being pulled? A random guess here, but they probably weren’t too upset about it. 

Anya Zoledziowski: You’re right. So we did reach out to the company and we didn’t hear back. Lawyers defending the Denka plant issued a statement saying that they’re extremely pleased with the outcome and referred to the lawsuit as scientifically flawed. A company spokesperson had also issued a statement thanking the the Trump administration and for years the company has maintained that it voluntarily spent millions to offset emissions and that they drastically reduced the amount of chloroprene to historically low levels. I also want to just flag Louisiana’s officials, top Louisiana officials including the governor have praised the facility for its economic benefits and they’ve said that concerns around pollution are overblown. 

Erin Ryan: People may have heard about cancer alley before and they might suspect that the government is on the fence about stopping pollution. There are jobs in those plants, people wanna protect those too, but zooming out, why should people who live way outside of cancer alley pay attention to one lawsuit that’s gone by the wayside? 

Anya Zoledziowski: Because this is just the tip of the iceberg. The DOJ just dropped a settlement last week that would have helped a poor Black county in Alabama address wastewater problems. So we’re already seeing more things come out. And experts warn that this doesn’t stop here. Like even if you live in an affluent neighborhood, you’re not immune. And so this is actually what Tejada said. 

[clip of Matthew Tejada] This is coming for everyone. If you wanna drink safe water in this country, good luck. Just as we were starting to make progress on getting lead out of people’s drinking water, on getting forever chemicals out of people’s drink water, good luck. It’s coming back for you. Just as were really starting to think that we were secure in not breathing noxious diesel particulate matter from old dirty engines or not having to worry about mercury coming out of the smokestacks of coal plants. Good luck. It’s coming back. 

Erin Ryan: This is a lot to take in. The government sues a big plan to protect residents, but then, voila, new president. It’s not a priority anymore for the worst possible reasons. Um. And this is when the administration’s aiming to cut regulations across the board, too. And yet, if this situation in cancer alley ever turns around, where would that need to start? 

Anya Zoledziowski: There is still a lot that can be done. You know, lots of work is happening locally at the state level. You know, people, of course, can also call their representatives, get to know what your potential risks in your neighborhood are. Knowledge is power here and voters still do have power. 

Erin Ryan: Yeah, so pay attention to what’s happening in your local community where you have the most likelihood of being able to make change. 

Anya Zoledziowski: Totally, totally. 

Erin Ryan: Anya, thank you so much for being here. 

Anya Zoledziowski: Thank you so for having me. 

Erin Ryan: That was my conversation with Crooked Climate Correspondent Anya Zoledziowski. This segment was supported by our non-profit partner, Crooked Ideas. We’ll get to more of the news in a moment, but if you like the show, make sure to subscribe, leave a five-star review on Apple Podcasts, Watch us on YouTube and share with your friends. More to come after some ads. [music break]

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Erin Ryan: Here’s what else we’re following today. 

[sung] Headlines. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] Tariffs are making us rich. We were losing a lot of money under Biden. 

Erin Ryan: A low-energy President Trump says he’s in no rush to announce a trade deal with Italy, even though the Prime Minister of Italy, Giorgia Meloni, visited him at the White House Thursday to talk about trade deals. He also insisted there absolutely would be a trade deal with the European Union by the end of his 90-day pause on most global tariffs. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] Oh, there’ll be a trade deal, 100%. Oh. 

[clip of unknown speaker] Mr. President. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] Well, you think there won’t be? Of course there’ll a trade deal very much. They want to make one very, very much, and we’re going to make a trade deal like fully expected, but it’ll be a fair deal. 

[clip of unknown speaker] Are they on your priority list? 

[clip of President Donald Trump] Everybody’s on my priority list. 

Erin Ryan: If everybody is on the priority list, isn’t isn’t it kind of like nobody’s on the priority list? Well, everybody might be on his priority list. But the EU has kind of been on his shit list. Still, Trump said he likes Prime Minister Meloni quote, “very much.” I’m sure that makes Meloni feel great. Meloni offered to keep channels open between Trump and the EU. 

[clip of Giorgia Meloni] I want to thank President Trump for having accepted an invitation to pay an official visit to Rome in the near future and consider the possibility in that occasion to meet also with Europe. Uh. The goal for me is to make the West great again, and I think we can do it together. 

Erin Ryan: But despite the fake-sounding optimism, little progress has been made in easing the ballooning trade war that Trump started for reasons that make sense to him and him alone. The Supreme Court said Thursday it will hear arguments over President Trump’s executive order to restrict birthright citizenship. Trump issued that order just after his inauguration. It would bar citizenship for children born to the undocumented immigrants in the U.S. Naturally, three district courts around the country hit the pause button for reasons like birthright citizenship is literally guaranteed in the Constitution. The Supreme Court sped up the schedule to hear arguments next month. But for now, the executive order remains on hold. The news on Trump and immigration keeps churning though. A federal appeals court agreed with a lower court judge that the Trump administration must provide details on how it’s facilitating the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. That’s the Maryland man we’ve been talking about who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador last month. The government admitted to the quote, “administrative error,” but claims it can’t bring him back because he’s no longer in US custody, even though we are paying to keep him in a notorious Salvadoran mega-prison. The three-judge panel slammed the administration for its continuous defiance, writing, quote, “this should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear.” 

[clip of President Donald Trump] I think Harvard’s a disgrace. I think what they did was a disgrace, they’re obviously anti-Semitic. 

Erin Ryan: Is anybody else starting to wonder if a certain somebody’s kid didn’t get into Harvard? Just putting it out there. Trump’s unprecedented threats to Harvard University just keep coming. The Department of Homeland Security announced Wednesday that it cut nearly $3 million in grants to the university and threatened the school’s ability to enroll international students. It’s the latest effort by the White House to punish Harvard over its refusal to meet Trump’s demands, aimed at ending diversity efforts, and rooting out what his administration says is rampant anti-semitism on campus. The day prior, the administration reportedly directed the IRS to revoke Harvard’s tax-exempt status. Trump seemed to hint that this is a tool his administration might use more, while he was taking questions from reporters Wednesday at the White House. 

[clip of President Donald Trump] Tax-exempt status, I mean, it’s a privilege. It’s really a privilege, and it’s been abused by a lot more than Harvard, too. By a lot than Harvard. So we’ll see how that all works out. 

Erin Ryan: In a statement earlier in the day, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem ordered Harvard to hand over, quote, “detailed records on Harvard’s foreign student visa holders’ illegal and violent activities.” If it doesn’t, Harvard risks losing its ability to enroll international students altogether. Noem says Harvard has until the end of the month to comply. The secretary notably didn’t give any examples of anti-Semitism on Harvard’s campus in her statement, just that quote, “pro-Hamas and anti-American ideology have run rampant at the university.” That might be because the White House maybe, just maybe, doesn’t have any proof. The Washington Post reported Thursday that the Trump administration didn’t provide any evidence of wrongdoing when it froze another $2 billion in grants to Harvard earlier this week. It just skipped over those requirements set out in civil rights laws. The administration also seems to have sidestepped a requirement to notify Congress of said violations and wait 30 days before applying any penalties. Oops. Never ones to be left out, though, congressional Republicans are also jumping into the fight against Harvard. On Wednesday, two top House Republicans announced a separate investigation into Harvard over alleged civil rights violations. In other court news, the Department of Justice won a major antitrust case against Google. In a suit filed under the Biden administration, the government accused Google of operating an illegal monopoly in online advertising technology. The suit targeted three specific markets, the tools used by online publishers to host ads, the tools advertisers use to buy that ad space, and the software that makes those purchases happen. In a Thursday decision, a federal judge in Virginia sided with the DOJ, ruling that Google, quote, “willfully engaged in a series of anti-competitive acts to acquire and maintain a monopoly in two of those markets, publisher tools and the software for ad transactions.” Judges hate this one weird trick. The judge dismissed the DOJ’s argument that Google monopolized tools for advertisers, but the federal government came out on top overall. This is the second major antitrust ruling to hit Google in less than a year. In August, another federal judge found Google held a monopoly over online search. Google said it plans to appeal Thursday’s ruling. TechGiants Vice President of Regulatory Affairs told The Verge, quote, “we won half of this case and will appeal the other half.” Last I checked, one third isn’t equal to one half. Google it. And that’s the news. [music break]

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Erin Ryan: That’s all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, fantasize about living on an exoplanet, and tell your friends to listen. And if you’re into reading and not just the extra zeros at the end of the price of heavily tariffed Hermes handbags like me, What a Day is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com/subscribe. I’m Erin Ryan and a handbag should not cost more than a year of college with or without tariffs. [music break]

Jane Coaston: What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It’s recorded and mixed by Desmond Taylor. Our associate producers are Raven Yamamoto and Emily Fohr. Our producer is Michell Eloy. We had production help today from Shauna Lee, Johanna Case, Joseph Dutra, and Greg Walters. Our senior producer is Erica Morrison, and our executive producer is Adriene Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the Writers Guild of America East. [music break]

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