Latest Pollution News

EPA approves California rules phasing out diesel trucks

Mar. 31, 2023 16:49 PM EDT

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — The Biden administration cleared the way Friday for California's plan to phase out a wide range of diesel-powered trucks, part of the state's efforts to drastically cut planet-warming emissions and improve air quality in heavy-traffic areas like ports along the coast. ...

Australia makes biggest carbon polluters curb emissions

Mar. 30, 2023 01:28 AM EDT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The Australian Parliament created landmark new laws Thursday that will make the nation’s biggest greenhouse gas polluters reduce their emissions or pay for carbon credits. The center-left Labor Party administration said the so-called Safeguard Mechanism...

EPA cites 2 oil and gas firms over Permian Basin pollution

Mar. 28, 2023 16:27 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two Texas companies have resolved Clean Air Act violations with the Environmental Protection Agency by agreeing to reduce emissions of planet-warming methane and other harmful pollutants wafting from the nation's largest oil and gas producing region. EPA announced...

US lawsuit seeks to protect habitat of endangered corals

Mar. 27, 2023 13:54 PM EDT

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — An environmental group filed a lawsuit Monday accusing the U.S. government of failing to protect 12 endangered coral species across the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean that have been decimated by warming waters, pollution and overfishing. The...

Australia steps toward making big polluters reduce emissions

Mar. 27, 2023 01:17 AM EDT

CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The Australian government took a major step toward implementing a key climate policy that would force chief greenhouse gas polluters to reduce emissions, with the minor Greens party pledging their support Monday. The center-left Labor Party administration...

Water contamination in Oregon could prompt EPA to step in

Mar. 23, 2023 15:31 PM EDT

BOARDMAN, Ore. (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is urging Oregon to clean up water contamination from nitrates in the eastern part of the state, warning it could step in under the Safe Drinking Water Act in the absence of sufficient local action. It's been three decades...

Residents sue Louisiana parish to halt polluting plants

Mar. 21, 2023 21:06 PM EDT

Residents of a Louisiana parish located in the heart of a cluster of polluting petrochemical factories filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday raising allegations of civil rights, environmental justice and religious liberty violations. The lawsuit names St. James Parish as the defendant and...

Nuclear contamination testing planned at St. Louis-area park

Mar. 21, 2023 12:43 PM EDT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to test for radioactive contamination at a suburban St. Louis park that sits along a notoriously toxic creek, a Corps official said Tuesday. The Corps of Engineers is seeking permission from St. Louis County to test soil and...

EPA 'neighbor' rule cuts downwind pollution by power plants

Mar. 15, 2023 16:48 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A new “good neighbor” rule issued by the Environmental Protection Agency will restrict smokestack emissions from power plants and other industrial sources that burden downwind areas with smog-causing pollution they can’t control. Nearly two dozen states will have to cut...

EPA to limit toxic 'forever chemicals' in drinking water

Mar. 14, 2023 14:30 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed the first federal limits on harmful “forever chemicals” in drinking water, a long-awaited protection the agency said will save thousands of lives and prevent serious illnesses, including cancer. The plan...