TAG · General
An analysis of state and federal records reveals that approximately half of California's tested waterways are contaminated with pesticides classified as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or Pfas. The review identifies the chemical…
3 MIN READA study published Thursday in Science found that wildfire smoke has reversed decades of progress toward US ozone air quality standards. Ground-level ozone concentrations, which had been declining, began rising after 2015 as increasingly…
3 MIN READPresident Trump will use the Defense Production Act, a Cold War-era statute that grants sweeping wartime powers to accelerate domestic industrial output, to provide $700 million in grants to more than a dozen coal-fired power plants across…
5 MIN READVoters in Monterey Park, California, on Tuesday approved a ballot measure that permanently bans data centers in the city, making it the first US municipality to enact such a ban through a direct vote. With 86.3% of more than 7,000 votes…
3 MIN READSouthern California authorities ordered evacuations extending into the Memorial Day weekend for about 40,000 residents after a chemical tank at a Garden Grove company site overheated and began venting vapors, officials said. Fire officials…
3 MIN READAuthorities in Garden Grove, California, issued evacuation orders for about 40,000 people after a storage tank containing methyl methacrylate overheated and began venting vapors, Orange County fire officials said Friday. Fire officials…
3 MIN READA northwest Oregon town is stepping up testing of the South Yamhill River, which supplies some of its drinking water, following reporting about a local wood-treating facility's years of chemical spills and stormwater releases that state…
3 MIN READThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed rescinding a 2024 rule that required coal-fired power plants to treat toxic heavy metals leaching into groundwater, arguing the regulation is too costly as electricity demand…
3 MIN READThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency moved Thursday to roll back limits that require coal-fired power plants to prevent toxic heavy metals from entering streams and rivers through groundwater. The EPA proposed changing a rule finalized…
3 MIN READCalifornia’s newly finalized rules under a landmark 2022 law require plastic producers to make packaging recyclable or compostable or otherwise comply with stepped goals. The regulations—finalized at the start of the month—have triggered…
3 MIN READVenezuela’s Foreign Ministry warned Saturday that an oil spill originating in Trinidad and Tobago has caused serious environmental damage along the coastlines of at least two Venezuelan states and in the Gulf of Paria, while Trinidad’s…
3 MIN READVenezuela’s Foreign Ministry warned in a letter late Saturday that an oil spill it says originated in Trinidad and Tobago had caused “severe risks” to ecosystems along Venezuela’s coast and in the Gulf of Paria. Trinidad and Tobago…
3 MIN READAuthorities in Southern California ordered evacuations for about 40,000 residents after a chemical storage tank at an aerospace plastics facility in Garden Grove began venting vapors and raised fears it could crack or explode. Officials…
3 MIN READThe Trump administration will soon propose rolling back parts of the first-ever limits on toxic "forever chemicals" in drinking water, an EPA official said, planning to rescind restrictions on several less-common types of PFAS while…
4 MIN READ
A multi-year investigation by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Associated Press and FRONTLINE (PBS) reveals that Georgia environmental regulators knew for nearly two decades that PFAS chemicals from carpet mills were polluting…
5 MIN READGeorgia’s environmental regulators knew for nearly two decades that the carpet industry in the state's northwest corner was discharging dangerous forever chemicals into rivers that provide drinking water for hundreds of thousands of…
3 MIN READThe Trump administration plans to propose softening some Biden-era limits on PFAS “forever chemicals” in drinking water, according to an EPA official. The proposal would delay parts of the rollback but keep strict standards for two common…
3 MIN READGeorgia officials and scientists identified PFAS contamination in drinking-water supplies in northwest Georgia more than a decade before the state began taking new public action, an Associated Press investigation finds. Residents in the…
3 MIN READDebris from the demolition of the White House East Wing that was dumped at a nearby public golf course has tested positive for lead, chromium and other toxic metals, the National Park Service said. An interim report described soil…
3 MIN READIn Kenya’s coastal settlement of Owino Uhuru, residents say they are still coping with lead poisoning linked to a lead-acid battery recycling plant that operated for years and was later shut down. The Associated Press reports that experts…
3 MIN READAfrica’s expanding use of off-grid solar and battery storage is increasing demand for lead-acid battery recycling, experts warn, raising concerns about rising lead exposure in communities. The issue is rooted in how many batteries are…
3 MIN READChile’s Atacama Desert is home to major astronomy projects, but scientists warn the region’s “darkest skies” face growing pressure from development and energy proposals near observatories. An appeal last year helped cancel a green power…
3 MIN READMassachusetts officials are moving forward with a plan that keeps sewage releases into waterways during heavy storms, prompting grassroots groups to push for a full shift to separate sewer systems. In the Boston area, water authority…
4 MIN READThe U.S. Department of Justice has filed a complaint in federal court against Washington, D.C., and DC Water seeking financial penalties over a Potomac River sewage leak, the Justice Department said. The complaint stems from a January…
3 MIN READMillions around the world are set to mark Earth Day on Wednesday, a holiday that grew out of a U.S. “teach-in” focused on pollution in 1970. The annual observance is not a federal holiday, but it has inspired volunteer cleanups and helped…
3 MIN READSAN DIEGO, California — Residents along the Tijuana River say untreated sewage and industrial wastewater produce a strong odor and health symptoms, including congestion, coughing, headaches and breathing trouble. Researchers documented…
3 MIN READThe Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy is changing how the state issues air quality alerts as wildfire smoke season approaches, including when conditions reach the federal Air Quality Index range labeled “unhealthy…
3 MIN READThe Environmental Protection Agency is considering reclassifying chemical plastic recycling facilities as manufacturers rather than incinerators under the Clean Air Act, a move environmental advocates say would immediately eliminate…
5 MIN READResidents on the North Shore of O‘ahu cleaned up flood-mud after late-February storms that authorities say are being linked to pesticide and bacterial contamination questions. State health officials have detected pathogens in mud and water…
4 MIN READThe Trump administration has proposed weakening federal rules for handling coal-plant ash that can contain hazardous heavy metals and contaminate groundwater, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. The proposal would ease…
4 MIN READBefore and during his second term, President Donald Trump has pushed to keep coal plants operating, using emergency authorities and other government powers to delay retirements that utilities had planned under Biden-era climate rules,…
3 MIN READA town near Japan’s Mount Fuji says “tourism pollution” has worsened as social media drives more visitors to see cherry blossoms and the mountain’s iconic views. In Fujiyoshida, officials canceled the annual cherry blossom festival this…
3 MIN READActivists say Poland’s flagship “Clean Air” program to curb household smog-linked heating demand has lost momentum, threatening both public health progress and the country’s energy security. The government points to a mid-program reform…
3 MIN READSwedish authorities released the EU-sanctioned tanker Flora 1 after concluding they lacked sufficient evidence that the ship caused a Baltic Sea oil spill, the Swedish Coast Guard said. The spill was discovered Thursday and the vessel was…
3 MIN READSwedish authorities released a tanker that had been detained for suspected involvement in a Baltic Sea oil spill after investigators found insufficient evidence the vessel was at fault, according to the Swedish Coast Guard. The ship had…
3 MIN READSweden’s Coast Guard released the EU-sanctioned tanker Flora 1 after investigators said they found no sufficient evidence that the vessel caused an oil spill in the Baltic Sea. The ship had been boarded and detained after a spill was…
3 MIN READSweden’s Coast Guard said it boarded a tanker suspected of causing a 12-kilometer (8-mile) oil spill in the Baltic Sea after the vessel left a Russian port. The Coast Guard said the ship is under European Union sanctions tied to the…
3 MIN READThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed for the first time to include microplastics and pharmaceuticals on a federal list of contaminants in drinking water, a step that could lead to new limits for water utilities. EPA…
4 MIN READWarm winter weather linked to human-caused climate change can make nitrate pollution reach drinking-water sources more often, experts say. In Iowa, Des Moines Water Works spent about $16,000 a day in January and February filtering nitrates…
3 MIN READMexico’s government has denied accusations by environmental groups that it lied about where a massive oil spill off Veracruz in the Gulf of Mexico began, after the spill spread into protected nature reserves and coastal areas. Mexico’s…
4 MIN READVERACRUZ, Mexico — A large oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has stretched more than 373 miles and seeped into seven nature reserves, damaging coastal fishing along Mexico’s Gulf states as Holy Week nears, the Associated Press reported March…
3 MIN READMexico’s navy secretary said a Gulf of Mexico oil spill that began in early March spread more than 600 kilometers (373 miles) and reached seven nature reserves along parts of Veracruz and Tabasco, with contaminants also tied to natural oil…
4 MIN READMichigan’s Air Pollution Control Exemption, designed to reward pollution-reduction equipment, has cost local governments billions in property-tax revenue over the last decade with limited state follow-up, an investigation found. The…
3 MIN READMichigan’s Air Pollution Control Exemption law has provided long-running property and sales tax breaks for pollution control equipment, a system that leaves many local governments with little information about costs and limited say over…
4 MIN READFive southern European nations urged the European Commission on March 18 to activate the bloc’s civil protection mechanism to address an unmanned Russian tanker, the Arctic Metagaz, drifting in the Mediterranean amid fears of an…
3 MIN READWisconsin lawmakers sent a $133 million package to tackle PFAS contamination, often called “forever chemicals,” to Gov. Tony Evers for his approval Tuesday. The Wisconsin Senate approved the bills as a rare bipartisan compromise after…
3 MIN READ
