Latest Pollution News
Judge says fire retardant drops are polluting streams but allows use to continue
BILLINGS, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. government can keep using chemical retardant dropped from aircraft to fight wildfires, despite finding that the practice pollutes streams in western states in violation of federal law, a judge ruled Friday. Halting the use of the red slurry material...
Federal appeals court stays EPA's rejection of Arkansas' ozone plan
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — A federal appeals court on Thursday halted the Environmental Protection Agency’s rejection of Arkansas' plan to comply with federal rules designed to assure that the state’s coal-fired power plants and industrial sites don’t pollute the air in other states. ...
Shell agrees to pay $10 million for air pollution at massive new Pennsylvania petrochemical plant
Shell has agreed to pay $10 million to resolve allegations that it polluted the air around its massive new petrochemical refinery in western Pennsylvania, the administration of Gov. Josh Shapiro announced Wednesday. Shell acknowledged that the plant, located along the Ohio River...
Biden administration invests in carbon capture, upping pressure on industry to show results
The Biden administration on Wednesday announced $251 million for carbon capture and storage projects in seven states, aiming to reduce planet-warming pollution from power plants and other industrial facilities. The announcement represents a vote of confidence by the government in the...
EPA rule would force clean-up of toxic coal ash dumped in landfills, ponds near power plants
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is strengthening a rule aimed at controlling and cleaning up toxic waste from coal-fired power plants. A proposal announced Wednesday would for the first time require safe management of so-called coal ash dumped in hundreds of older landfills,...
BP subsidiary agrees to record $40M penalty and pollution-cutting steps at Lake Michigan refinery
TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — A BP subsidiary will pay a $40 million penalty and install technology to control releases of benzene and other contaminants at its Whiting oil refinery on the Indiana shoreline of Lake Michigan, Biden administration officials said Wednesday. ...
New Mexico regulators grilled over oilfield spills, lack of enforcement
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Environmentalists who had praised the approval of rules adopted by New Mexico nearly two years ago to crack down on oilfield spills have alleged the state isn’t doing enough to enforce the provisions. They criticized the Oil Conservation Division during...
Largest US public utility switching from coal to gas, despite proposed EPA carbon pollution limits
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The nation's largest public utility released plans Friday to build a new natural gas plant in Tennessee, largely dismissing renewable energy alternatives one day after the Biden administration proposed strict new limits on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. ...
EPA wants iron miners in Minnesota, Michigan to slash mercury emissions
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) — Federal authorities have proposed new regulations that would force the Minnesota and Michigan iron mining industry to slash its mercury emissions. The rule announced by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week follows two decades of litigation and...
EPA: New pollution limits proposed for US coal, gas power plants reflect 'urgency' of climate crisis
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration proposed new limits Thursday on greenhouse gas emissions from coal- and gas-fired power plants, its most ambitious effort yet to roll back planet-warming pollution from the nation’s second-largest contributor to climate change. A rule...
