Air

"When you combine Albuquerque's few trees with the city's hot, dry and often windy weather, it could mean big problems for allergy sufferers. This despite a 1994 pollen-control ordinance that bars residents from planting certain types of trees."

"The Environmental Protection Agency has ordered air pollution limits tightened on a Baltimore trash-to-energy incinerator after finding the state improperly relaxed them and did not require adequate monitoring of the plant's toxic emissions."

"The Air Quality Management District is hoping users of traditional gas-powered lawn mowers will help them "mow down air pollution" when, for the eighth year, the air pollution control agency hosts a series of lawn-mower exchanges throughout Southern California. The program allows local residents to trade in a gasoline mower and receive a new electric mower at a reduced price."

"Plumes of toxic, smog-causing chemicals from Barnett Shale natural-gas operations are so common that inspectors find them nearly every time they look, a Dallas Morning News examination of government records shows. What's more, the inspectors have rarely looked."

"When oil prices climbed, more people turned to wood to heat their homes, many using outdoor wood furnaces that to some are air-polluting nuisances. From Vermont to Connecticut to Indiana, some neighbors have complained about smoke from these furnaces drifting into their yards and homes, in some cases triggering asthma attacks and lung problems."

"The EPA  on Wednesday struck down a Texas air-pollution program that has let thousands of companies bypass rigorous reviews under the Clean Air Act."

"MEXICO CITY -- This megalopolis once had the world's worst air, with skies so poisonous that birds dropped dead in flight. Today, efforts to clean the smog are showing visible progress, revealing stunning views of snow-capped volcanoes -- and offering a model for the developing world."

"The International Maritime Organization today finalized plans that would subject ships within a 230-mile buffer zone around the U.S. and Canadian coastlines to stricter air pollution regulations."

"Approximately 87 million Americans who live near major seaports are breathing some of the nation's dirtiest -- and most dangerous -- air, the Environmental Protection Agency says. But help is on the way, thanks to initiatives across the USA to cut pollution coming from ships, vehicles and other sources within the ports themselves."

"California lawmakers approved a groundbreaking smoking ban Monday that, if signed into law, will prohibit smoking at nearly all state beaches and parks."