Latest Pollution News

India's capital chokes as air pollution levels hit 50 times the safe limit

Nov. 18, 2024 05:25 AM EST

NEW DELHI (AP) — Authorities in India’s capital shut schools, halted construction and banned non-essential trucks from entering the city on Monday after air pollution shot up to its worst level this season. Residents of New Delhi woke up to thick, toxic smog enveloping the city...

Park regulars in New Delhi's Lodhi Garden say toxic pollution levels won't force them out

Nov. 16, 2024 21:32 PM EST

NEW DELHI (AP) — For many in New Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities, Lodhi Garden is an escape in the heart of India’s capital. Park regulars say they won’t let rising pollution levels deter them — even if they have to tweak their routine because of the smog. ...

An environmental group files intent to sue a salmon farmer for pollution off Maine's coast

Nov. 16, 2024 12:34 PM EST

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — An environmental organization has served a notice of intent to sue one of the world's largest aquaculture companies for violations of the Clean Water Act in Maine — allegations the fish farmer ardently denies. Conservation Law Foundation contends Cooke...

New York judge rejects state efforts to shutter bitcoin mine over climate concerns

Nov. 15, 2024 15:50 PM EST

NEW YORK (AP) — A cryptocurrency plant in central New York can continue operating after a court rejected the state’s effort to shutter the facility over concerns about its climate impact. The decision was hailed as a victory by Greenidge Generation, a large-scale crypto mine in...

Pakistani province declares health emergency due to smog and locks down two cities

Nov. 15, 2024 14:37 PM EST

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — A Pakistani province declared a health emergency Friday due to smog and imposed a shutdown in two major cities. Smog has choked Punjab for weeks, sickening nearly 2 million people and shrouding vast swathes of the province in a toxic haze. A...

AP PHOTOS: Thick smog shrouds Asian cities

Nov. 14, 2024 08:58 AM EST

NEW DELHI (AP) — Thick smog shrouded New Delhi and other cities around South and Southeast Asia as air pollution levels soared Thursday. Air pollution in the region worsens particularly in winter when the burning of crop residue in agricultural areas coincides with cooler...

Pakistan employs new measures to deal with nearly 70,000 people affected daily by hazardous smog

Nov. 13, 2024 12:40 PM EST

MULTAN, Pakistan (AP) — Pakistani authorities introduced mobile clinics and added more beds in hospitals to treat the nearly 70,000 patients received daily with respiratory-related diseases as hazardous smog continued to shroud the country's east, officials said Wednesday. Punjab,...

Amid Earth's heat records, scientists report another bump upward in annual carbon emissions

Nov. 12, 2024 19:08 PM EST

BAKU, Azerbaijan (AP) — Even as Earth sets new heat records, humanity this year is pumping 330 million tons (300 million metric tons) more carbon dioxide into the air by burning fossil fuels than it did last year. This year the world is on track to put 41.2 billion tons (37.4...

Biden EPA to charge first-ever ‘methane fee’ for emissions waste by oil and gas companies

Nov. 12, 2024 10:28 AM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — Oil and natural gas companies for the first time will have to pay a federal fee if they emit dangerous methane above certain levels under a final rule announced Tuesday by the Biden administration. The Environmental Protection Agency rule follows through on a...

Growing pollution in Pakistan's Punjab province has sickened 1.8M people in a month, officials say

Nov. 12, 2024 07:52 AM EST

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Worsening air pollution sickened an estimated 1.8 million people in Pakistan's eastern Punjab province in the past month, health officials said Tuesday, as schools across the province were ordered to close for five days to protect children's health. Punjab...