Environmental Health

"The land near Yosemite National Park had been tended by Irene Vasquez’s family for decades. They took care of their seven acres by setting small fires to thin vegetation and help some plants to grow. But the steep, chaparral-studded slopes surrounding the property hadn’t seen fire since Vasquez and fellow members of the Southern Sierra Miwuk Nation were barred from practicing cultural burning on a wider scale some 100 years before."

"A divided Fifth Circuit panel ruling to halt an EPA decision to disapprove key ozone plans in Texas and Louisiana foreshadows similar decisions across regional circuit courts that threaten to upend established precedent."

"Highway and city planners saddled a once-proud Black community with freeways and diesel fumes, while more affluent white neighborhoods were spared the traffic and toxics."

"A fire burned for a third day on Sunday at Shell Plc's chemical plant in the Houston suburb of Deer Park, Texas, a company spokesperson said."

"A West Virginia logging company’s bid to establish a toxic-spewing facility in the picturesque Allegheny Mountains is drawing stiff pushback ahead of a public hearing planned for Thursday evening."

"After residents of America’s “Cancer Alley” in Louisiana put a national spotlight on their fight for a healthy environment, the state’s economic interests and petrochemical giants are backing the creation of a new “sustainability council” to counter grassroots activists, documents show."

"As the Biden administration moves to curb health threats caused by toxic chemicals, the debate hits home for families living near petrochemical plants."

"On a daily basis, water managers in cities across the state move from crisis to crisis hoping to keep the water flowing to residents."

"Officials in Alabama discriminated against Black residents in a rural county by denying them access to adequate sanitation systems, imposing burdensome fines and liens and ignoring the serious health risks plaguing the community, according to a landmark environmental justice agreement announced Thursday by the Biden administration."

"Three months after the devastating East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment, senators are optimistic they can pass a bipartisan rail safety bill to prevent similar disasters."