John Flesher

AP Environmental Writer
Latest in Regulation
Bringing the Power of Video AI Tools to the Plant Floor
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Bringing the Power of Video AI Tools to the Plant Floor
June 5, 2026
A scientist prepares samples while doing research on PFAS at a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lab. Understanding of chemicals’ risks has been built on IRIS assessments.
What Happens When the EPA Sidelines Its Independent Chemical Referee
May 20, 2026
Environmental Protection Agency administrator Lee Zeldin, testifies to the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Interior, Environment and related agencies on the budget request for the EPA, on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in Washington.
EPA Aims to Roll Back Limits on Toxic Wastewater from Coal-Fired Power Plants
May 15, 2026
A SpaceX Falcon9 rocket, with the Crew Dragon capsule attached, lifts off from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39-A on Nov. 15, 2020, in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Elon Musk Gets Apology from California Regulators
April 30, 2026
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Synergy Brands distributed food and beauty products to retailers nationwide and distributed baking products through its Loretta Baking Mix Products Ltd. subsidiary, according to prosecutors. Its former CEO was convicted in charges relating to a massive check kiting scheme.
Operations
Former Synergy CEO Facing 5 Years for Fraud
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Regulation
Gun Restrictions May Help Reduce Gun Deaths
Amarin, the maker of a prescription fish-oil drug, said Tuesday, March 8, 2016, it has reached a legal settlement with the FDA that will allow it to promote unapproved uses of its drug for lowering fat levels. An FDA spokeswoman could not immediately comment.
Regulation
FDA Settles with Fish-Oil Drugmaker
Building Your Multi-Mode Freight Strategy
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Building Your Multi-Mode Freight Strategy
More from John Flesher
Fixing Congested/Underutilized Loading Docks
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Fixing Congested/Underutilized Loading Docks
Carriers are not the main cause of this problem. Here’s what’s really happening.
June 10, 2026
Two rowers paddle along the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland on July 12, 2011. Tuesday, Oct. 18, 2022, is the 50th anniversary of Congress passing the Clean Water Act to protect U.S. waterways from abuses like the oily industrial pollution that caused Ohio's Cuyahoga River to catch on fire in 1969.
Regulation
Clean Water Act at 50
Environmental gains, challenges unmet.
October 17, 2022
A Toyota Motor Corp.'s new hydrogen fuel cell vehicle Mirai arrives at a charge station near Toyota's showroom on Nov. 17, 2014, in Tokyo.
Product Development
7 States Back Hydrogen as Clean Energy Source
The Midwest wants to accelerate the development of hydrogen as a clean-energy alternative for automobiles and factories.
September 20, 2022
Debris rests at the spillway of the Sanford Dam in downtown Sanford, Mich., Thursday, July 30, 2020. The failure of two Michigan dams that forced evacuation of 10,000 people and destroyed 150 homes was “foreseeable and preventable,” resulting from errors and miscalculations over nearly a century, an expert panel said Wednesday, May 4, 2022.
Safety
Report: Michigan Dam Failures Were 'Preventable'
Two dams failed, forced an evacuation of 10,000 people and destroyed 150 homes.
May 5, 2022
In this Sept. 21, 2017 file photo, the BP Whiting refinery in East Chicago, Ind., is shown on Sept. 21, 2017. Oil giant BP agreed Thursday, Dec. 2, 2021, to pay a $512,450 penalty and reduce soot emissions from its Whiting refinery in Indiana under an agreement with regulators and activists who accused the company of violating an earlier deal.
Regulation
BP Agrees to $500K Penalty, Soot Limits at Indiana Refinery
The refinery converts around 440,000 barrels of crude oil into gasoline every day.
December 3, 2021
In this April 6, 2017 file photo, strong winds send huge waves at the Lake Michigan shoreline at South Haven Michigan. A decade-old program that has pumped $2.7 billion into healing long-term injuries to the Great Lakes environment has received authorization from Congress to continue another five years. The U.S. Senate voted unanimously Sunday, Dec. 20, 2020, to extend the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which the House did earlier this year.
Regulation
Congress OKs 5-year Extension of Great Lakes Cleanup Program
It has supported nearly 5,500 projects targeting some of the most longstanding ecological problems plaguing the lakes.
December 22, 2020
This June 2020 file photo, shot from a television screen provided by the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy shows damage to anchor support EP-17-1 on the east leg of the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline within the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan. Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer criticized Enbridge Inc. on Wednesday, July 22, 2020 for what she described as the company's refusal to make an airtight pledge that it would pay for any damages caused by an oil spill from its pipeline beneath a Great Lakes waterway.
Operations
Governor Says Enbridge Dodging Potential Spill Responsibility
"When I was a kid, my parents taught me: 'You break it, you pay for it.'"
July 23, 2020
In this June 8, 2017 file photo, fresh nuts, bolts and fittings are ready to be added to the east leg of the pipeline near St. Ignace as Enbridge prepares to test the east and west sides of the Line 5 pipeline under the Straits of Mackinac in Mackinaw City, Mich.
Regulation
Enbridge Seeks Great Lakes Oil Tunnel Permits
The Canadian company wants to build a 4-mile-long tunnel.
April 9, 2020
In this June 8, 2017, file photo, fresh nuts, bolts and fittings are ready to be added to the east leg of the pipeline near St. Ignace, Michigan.
Operations
Enbridge Hires to Build Great Lakes Tunnel
The company is moving forward despite pending legal challenges.
March 6, 2020
In this Oct. 31, 2018, photo, manure is injected into a field on the Gary Sovereign farm, in Lawler, Iowa. Farmers say they're trying to reduce the smells. 'I've never lived on a farm that didn't have nature's fragrances on it,' said Sovereign, a fifth-generation swine producer in Iowa's Howard County.
Food & Beverage
Factory Farms Provide Abundant Food
But the environment suffers.
February 7, 2020
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Operations
Company Needs New Nuke Waste Site
The company was going to bury waste from its nuclear plants on the Canadian shore of Lake Huron.
February 6, 2020
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Operations
Court Rejects Nestle Bottled Water Plan
The company needs a pumping facility for a significant expansion.
December 5, 2019
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Regulation
Dow Agrees to $77M Environmental Settlement
The funds will compensate for decades of pollution by its plant in Midland.
November 11, 2019
In this file photo, a city worker uses a power washer to clean the sidewalk by a tent city along Division Street in San Francisco..
Safety
Trump Administration Accuses California of Water Pollution
The EPA outlined a series of alleged deficiencies in California's compliance with federal clean water laws.
September 27, 2019
Dairy farmer Fred Stone walks to his baling machine at his dairy farm in Arundel, Maine.
Food & Beverage
Tainted Sewage Spread on Croplands
While the sludge offers farmers a cheap source of fertilizer, there long have been concerns about contaminants in the material.
September 12, 2019