Surprisingly, the federal website for the United States Environmental Protection Agency still says "The mission of EPA is to protect human health and the environment."  (My apologies if reading that caused you to spew coffee, a soft drink, or something stronger through your nose.  If we couldn't laugh, we would cry.)  But, after over a year of bad news, things got much worse last week for anyone not spending their days in the boardroom of a major oil company.

On February 12, President Trump and US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the Trump administration was officially rescinding the 2009 "Endangerment Finding," which had given US  agencies authority for over 16 years to regulate six greenhouse gases (including CO2) as harmful pollutants that endanger American health and wellbeing.  This action removes the legal basis by which the EPA has regulated fuel efficiency and tailpipe emissions standards.  It also paves the way for repealing rules that restrict pollution from power plants and oil and gas operations.

In announcing the change, President Trump claimed "this has nothing to do with public health," adding "This was all a scam, a giant scam."  Neither of those statements could be farther from the truth.

This time of year, thoughts turn naturally to what to make of the new year ahead.  But perhaps I'm not the only one still struggling with what to make of the year just passed?  Has it really even passed?

It's been a tough 12 months for those of us committed to forging concern about the climate crisis into productive climate action.  It's not that we aren't making progress -- the trend lines and momentum on the clean energy transition are extremely positive.  But across the climate movement, we've been buffeted and battered by political headwinds emanating from Washington, DC, making every ounce of progress hard-earned.

Yet, I have faith the market advantages of clean energy (faster & cheaper than fossil fuels) and electric vehicles (beloved by their owners) will prevail.  Where our future feels less certain and our anxiety most intense is locally -- where a proliferation of data center projects stand poised to erase much of the progress our state and local community have made on improving air quality, reducing climate pollution, conserving water, and controlling growth.  The energy, water, and land demands of explosive AI data center growth are one of the biggest issues of our time, and we can't simply turn the page to a clean start.  Indeed, we've spent the closing days of 2025 joining other concerned organizations to inject some reasonableness into data center plans, while our Environmental Hazards Committee is working to surface all of the potential projects and assess the community risks of each.

All of this has me thinking not about new resolutions for 2026, but instead about an old resolution adopted -- but never fully operationalized -- by the Covington City Council for Earth Day in April of 2020.  First a little background, and then I'll explain the connection to our current data center crossroads in Covington and Newton County...

We added a new word to our vocabulary in 2019 -- more accurately, an acronym.  That acronym was "EtO," short for ethylene oxide. 

This was an unfamiliar term for nearly everyone in Newton County, but news coverage of releases of this known carcinogen from the Becton Dickinson (BD) facility in Covington soon had everyone talking and local governments pressed to act.  In October, we commended the Covington Mayor and City Council for their response to the situation.

Much has happened since, with BD eventually resuming operations at their Industrial Boulevard facility with new air quality testing in place.  However, in late December, BD was again cited by the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) for not reporting the existence and release of EtO at a warehouse in Covington's Lochridge Business Park.

My resolutions for the new year focus on two areas:  food and transportation.  The first is a common theme for nearly everyone come January 1.  The latter carries over something I started this year.  Let's tackle that one first...

Transportation:  More Miles and Smiles per Gallon

In mid-December, circumstances put me in the market for a new car for the first time in 22 years. I was keenly interested in an all-electric vehicle (EV) to cut my carbon emissions to zero, so I talked with friends who'd made the transition with great results.  But, I wasn't sure I could live within the mileage range most EVs provide between charges.  With more time to investigate, I'm confident we could have made it work.  But, needing a new car quickly, I compromised by choosing a hybrid.

By Theodosia Wade, Sustainable Newton Vice President

I am so proud of our community!  Monday night’s meeting of the Covington City Council was a great example of how government should work for and with the people.  Because Mayor Ronnie Johnston and the city council pursued independent ethylene oxide (EtO) air testing in our community, we could get facts without relying on self-reported data from Becton Dickinson (BD).  The test results came back showing EtO levels much higher than that deemed safe by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  So, once again, the mayor and council stepped up and made the difficult decision to ask BD to temporarily cease operations.