Watchdog faults rushed EPA rulemaking on glider trucks

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration rushed to exempt a type of super-polluting cargo truck from clean air rules without conducting a federally mandated study on how it would impact public health, the Environmental Protection Agency’s inspector-general said Thursday. Agency officials at the...

US feels the heat as Trump pulls out of global climate pact

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is aiming to make the annual U.N.-sponsored climate talks underway in Madrid the last ones for full participation by the United States, which is the world's No. 1 economy and the second-biggest carbon emitter. Trump dismisses climate change and he thumbed his nose...

Correction: Climate Talks-Goodbye US? story

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a story December 4, 2019, about the Trump administration's role in the Madrid climate conference, The Associated Press erroneously reported the details of a poll measuring public opinion on the Paris climate agreement.

UN climate talks aim to pave way for global carbon market

BERLIN (AP) — On a cold afternoon in late November, Jan Gerrit Otterpohl eyes the chimneys of Berlin’s Heizkraftwerk Mitte, a state-of-the-art power plant that supplies the city with heat and electricity. It’s not the billowing steam he’s interested in, but the largely invisible carbon...

German farmers won’t appeal climate lawsuit defeat

BERLIN (AP) — Three German farming families say they won’t appeal a court’s decision to dismiss their climate change lawsuit against Chancellor Angela Merkel's government. The families, who were backed by environmental group Greenpeace, said Thursday that the ruling in October had set an...

German authorities search Volkswagen offices in diesel probe

BERLIN (AP) — German authorities have searched Volkswagen offices as part of their investigation into the automaker’s manipulation of diesel emission tests to defeat environmental regulations. The dpa news agency reported Tuesday that the Braunschweig prosecutor’s office confirmed it led the...

Science warnings, US retreat add urgency to UN climate talks

MADRID (AP) — Mass protests, a last-minute venue change and talk of climate tipping points are adding some unplanned drama to this year’s international talks on tackling global warming. Delegates from almost 200 countries had hoped to put the finishing touches to the rules governing the 2015 Paris...

German court issues split rulings over VW diesel cheating

BERLIN (AP) — A German appeals court has ruled in several lawsuits against automaker Volkswagen, saying consumers who unknowingly bought cars with software installed to cheat diesel emissions tests deserve compensation but those who purchased them later don’t. The Stuttgart appeals court ruled...

Monsanto pleads guilty to illegal pesticide use in Hawaii

HONOLULU (AP) — Agrochemicals company Monsanto on Thursday pleaded guilty to spraying a banned pesticide on research crops on the Hawaii island of Maui in 2014, prosecutors said. Monsanto, now owned by the pharmaceutical company Bayer of Germany, has also agreed to pay $10 million for charges it unlawfully...

Restaurant group sues over Berkeley’s natural gas ban

BERKELEY, Calif. (AP) — Berkeley’s first-in-the-nation ban on natural gas in new construction may end up eroding the region’s reputation for fine and creative dining, according to a California trade association suing the city on behalf of restaurants. In its lawsuit filed Thursday in U.S....