Environmental Health

"Three years ago, California Gov. Gavin Newsom promised to safeguard the health and safety of people living near oil and gas operations, but change hasn’t come. Millions still live near noxious oil and gas rigs, many long exempt from air pollution rules, as scientific evidence of their harm mounts."

"Fifth Ward and Kashmere Gardens residents have been fighting for years to get hazardous creosote chemicals cleaned up from the ground and groundwater around their homes. But creosote might not have been the only harmful substance that workers used at the rail yard in the neighborhood, and it might not have been the most dangerous."

"PORT ARTHUR, Tex. — On any given day at the Prince Hall apartment complex, the breeze might carry soot and stink of burning tar. Black smoke might billow overhead as excess gas is burned at one of the refineries directly across the road. The fumes make Ariel Watson’s head ache until she can barely think. Jeremy Roy, 9, closes his windows against air that “stinks like farts.”"

"EPA today proposed designating two per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as the Superfund law. That move would unlock a major tool for regulators seeking to recoup costs from polluters as they progress with cleanup efforts at contaminated sites."

"Environmental groups are suing the Environmental Protection Agency to close a gaping loophole in the agency’s rules regulating the management of coal ash dumps that have leached toxic pollutants into rivers and lakes across the country."

"The Department of the Interior on Thursday announced a $560 million grant to 24 states to start plugging up and reclaiming abandoned oil and gas wells."

"What’s considered officially “dangerous heat” in coming decades will likely hit much of the world at least three times more often as climate change worsens, according to a new study."

"Bird flu has killed hundreds of wild black vultures at a Georgia sanctuary that houses more than 1,500 other animals."

"The Inflation Reduction Act, the tax and climate bill President Biden signed into law last week, could reduce the costs from climate-related damages by up to $1.9 trillion, according to an analysis by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)."

"In July, a 20-year-old man from Rockland County, N.Y., was diagnosed with polio, a disabling and potentially deadly disease that had been considered eliminated in the United States. The infected man was unvaccinated and had not traveled overseas during the period when he could have been exposed to the virus, suggesting he contracted it in this country."