Today: Environmental Protection Agency teams up with MAHA movement in effort to address consumer concerns about ingesting chemicals; Masdar and TotalEnergies in Asia renewables joint venture; dangerous glacial lakes.

Welcome back: The Environmental Protection Agency said on Thursday it has started a process that could lead to restrictions on microplastics and pharmaceuticals in drinking water down the road.

WSJ Pro Sustainable Business's Clara Hudson reports the EPA proposed adding microplastics, certain pharmaceuticals and other contaminants to a watchlist. The agency aligned the move with the Make America Healthy Again movement, which has at times come to loggerheads with the environmental regulator over chemicals rules.

EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said the move sends “a clear message: we will follow the science, we will pursue answers, and we will hold ourselves to the highest standards to protect the health of every American family.” 

The contaminants list, created under the Safe Drinking Water Act, drives research and funding for public water regulation. The SDWA requires the EPA to publish a list of contaminants every five years that aren’t currently subject to national drinking water rules but might require future regulation.

Publishing the contaminant list is a step that gets the ball rolling for potential restrictions, such as new standards for utilities to filter chemicals. But it doesn’t mean those rules will necessarily be pursued or imposed. The proposed additions to the list include microplastics, pharmaceuticals, PFAS or “forever chemicals” and more.

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TotalEnergies and Abu Dhabi Future Energy Co., also known as Masdar, have formed a $2.2 billion joint venture to combine their onshore renewable activities in nine Asian countries, the Journal's Megan Cheah reports.

The venture will be the two companies’ sole vehicle for developing and operating onshore solar, wind and battery storage projects in markets such as Azerbaijan, South Korea, Indonesia and Japan, they said Thursday.

Each company will hold a 50% stake in the Abu Dhabi-based venture, which will have about 200 employees from both firms. Management will be announced at a later date.

Its portfolio capacity will include 3 gigawatts of operational assets and 6 gigawatts expected to come online by 2030, with each partner contributing assets of similar value. 

As warmer global temperatures melt polar ice, ocean waters are rising, posing a threat to island nations and coastal communities. A parallel danger lurks in the Himalayas and other high mountain areas like the Andes, where melting glaciers have created thousands of new lakes.

The Journal's Tripti Lahiri, Krishna Pokharel and Emma Brown report that between 1990 and 2018, the volume of the world’s glacial lakes expanded by nearly 50%, according to the first global survey of these lakes.

In the 20th century, several catastrophic glacial lake outbursts took place, including a 1941 incident in Peru that killed at least 1,800 people. On October 3, 2023, more than 100 people died in Rangpo Forest Village when nearly 15 million cubic meters of ice and debris collapsed into nearby South Lhonak Lake, causing a 65-foot high wave.

• California has too much dirt and not enough snow in its mountains after an unusually warm winter. (Bloomberg)

• Former BP CEO Bernard Looney is taking on the chief executive role at Prometheus Hyperscale, an AI data-center developer. (WSJ)
   
• Governments from Bangladesh to Zambia are imposing measures to cut fuel demand as Middle East conflict cuts off energy flows. (FT)
   
• The collapse of clean cook stove company Koko Networks has delivered a blow to confidence in the carbon market. (Bloomberg)
   
• West Virginia, with its cheap gas and a new law allowing off-grid data centers, may be the next frontier for Microsoft. (Latitude Media)
   
• Arms race with flesh-eating screwworms heats up on the edge of North America's cattle country. (WSJ)

WSJ Pro Sustainable Business gives you an inside look at how companies are tackling sustainability. Send your comments to editor Perry Cleveland-Peck at perry.cleveland-peck@wsj.com and reporters Clara Hudson at clara.hudson@wsj.com and Yusuf Khan at yusuf.khan@wsj.com. Follow us on LinkedIn at perrycp, clara-hudson and yusuf_khan.