Latest Pollution News

FILE - In this March 23, 2017, file photo President Donald Trump honks the horn of an 18-wheeler truck while meeting with truckers and CEOs regarding healthcare on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. Trump publicly acknowledged that humans bear some blame for climate change, but scientists say the president still isn't dealing with the reality of our primary role. Trump said Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2020, that humans — their tailpipe exhaust, oil and gas production, and smokestack fumes — are just one of many culprits for the weather-disrupting deterioration of Earth’s atmosphere. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Getting warmer: Trump concedes human role in climate change

Sep. 30, 2020 6:26 PM EDT

President Donald Trump publicly acknowledged that humans bear some blame for climate change, but scientists say the president still isn't dealing with the reality of our primary role. Pressed repeatedly in Tuesday night's debate, Trump gave one of his fullest accountings yet of what scientists say is an...

Chemical company to pay $11M for cleanup of toxic site

Sep. 30, 2020 6:05 PM EDT

A chemical production company will pay $11.3 million for the cleanup of a Superfund site in Gloucester County, New Jersey, under a consent decree reached in federal court with the state and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Hercules Inc. will implement a 2018 EPA plan to excavate four feet (1.2 meters) of...

FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2010 file photo, a horse makes his way through the early morning fog at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans. Federal prosecutors say the owners of the horse racing track in New Orleans have agreed to pay a $2.8 million penalty for letting horse manure and urine into the city’s drainage system for at least six years and to spend twice that on ending the discharges. The U.S. Justice Department described the fine to be paid by Churchill Downs Inc. as the largest ever paid by a “concentrated animal feeding” operation under the Clean Water Act, news outlets reported. (AP Photo/Alexander Barkoff, File)

Race track settles with feds for manure, urine discharges

Sep. 30, 2020 1:32 PM EDT

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The owners of the horse racing track in New Orleans have agreed to pay a $2.8 million penalty for letting horse manure and urine into the city’s drainage system for at least six years and to spend twice that on ending the discharges, federal prosecutors say. The U.S. Justice...

People celebrate in front of the Sendai High Court after the court's ruling on the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant disaster in Sendai, northern Japan, Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2020. The court on Wednesday found negligence by the government and the operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant in failing to take tsunami measures to prevent the 2011 nuclear disaster, ordering them to jointly pay some 1 billion yen ($9.5 million) in damages to thousands of residents for their lost livelihoods. (Yusuke Ogata/Kyodo News via AP)

Japan court orders gov't, TEPCO to pay in Fukushima disaster

Sep. 30, 2020 11:23 AM EDT

TOKYO (AP) — A Japanese court on Wednesday found the government and the operator of the wrecked Fukushima nuclear plant negligent for failing to take measures to prevent the 2011 nuclear disaster, ordering them to pay some 1 billion yen ($9.5 million) in damages to thousands of residents for their lost...

FILE - In this Nov. 28, 2019 file photo, smoke and steam rise from a coal processing plant in Hejin in central China's Shanxi Province. Chinese President Xi Jinping says his country will aim to stop pumping additional carbon dioxide, the main global warming gas, into the atmosphere by 2060. Xi's announcement during a speech Tuesday, Sept. 22, 2020, to the U.N. General Assembly is a significant step for the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases and was immediately cheered by climate campaigners. (AP Photo/Sam McNeil, File)

Germany welcomes China climate goals, wants more EU action

Sep. 30, 2020 11:03 AM EDT

BERLIN (AP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel has welcomed China's plan to be carbon-neutral by 2060, contrasting it with the U.S. failure to abide by the goals of the landmark 2015 Paris climate accord. In a speech Wednesday to Germany's parliament, Merkel stressed the significance of Chinese President Xi...

Rupert Stadler, the long-time head of Audi, who is accused of fraud, among other things, at the Munich Regional Court, Munich, Germany, Wednesday, Sept.30, 2020. Five years after the VW diesel scandal was uncovered, the first German criminal trial in this matter is now beginning. With the former Chairman of the Board of Management of Audi AG Stadler and the former member of the Board of Management of Porsche Hatz, two former leading Audi engineers are also accused. The trial is taking place under difficult conditions in a large hall at the Munich-Stadelheim prison on account of Corona. (Peter Kneffel/dpa via AP)

Former Audi chief on trial in VW diesel emissions scandal

Sep. 30, 2020 8:32 AM EDT

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The former head of Volkswagen's Audi luxury car division and three others went on trial Wednesday on charges related to the company's cheating on diesel car emissions tests. The proceedings represent the first criminal trial in Germany over the scandal that erupted five years ago...

FILE - In this Saturday, July 31, 2010, file photo, a ribbon of oil lines the bottom stalks of marsh grass at low tide in a cove in Barataria Bay on the coast of Louisiana. The April 20, 2010, explosion at the BP Deepwater Horizon offshore platform killed 11 men, and the subsequent leak released an estimated 172 million gallons of petroleum into the Gulf of Mexico. Louisiana will get nearly $215 million in BP oil spill money for two projects that will restore more than 4,600 acres of marsh and other habitat in the New Orleans area. Gov. John Bel Edwards says work on the projects should begin in 2021. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

$215M in BP oil spill money to restore Louisiana marshes

Sep. 30, 2020 1:39 AM EDT

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana will get nearly $215 million in BP oil spill money for two projects planned to restore more than 4,600 acres of marsh and other habitat in the New Orleans area, Gov. John Bel Edwards said. Work should begin next year on the projects, Edwards said in a news release...

Large fire in yard of Albuquerque recycling plant contained

Sep. 29, 2020 8:05 PM EDT

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A large fire in the yard of an Albuquerque recycling plant on Tuesday has been contained with no reported injuries, authorities said. Bernalillo County Fire Department officials said they used thousands of gallons of foam to contain the Tuesday afternoon fire that was fueled mostly...

2 wells for drinking water near Naval base contaminated

Sep. 29, 2020 4:59 PM EDT

BREMERTON, Wash. (AP) — Two wells bordering Naval Base Kitsap’s southern edge have been found to have potentially harmful levels of contamination caused by a firefighting foam used on the base. The Navy is expanding testing this fall to examine a larger area for its presence, the Kitsap Sun...

University engineers working on $3M natural gas project

Sep. 29, 2020 4:42 PM EDT

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy has awarded $3 million to a couple of West Virginia University engineers for a project to develop a low-cost process to convert natural gas commonly flared at industrial sites, the university said. Engineers John Hu and Xingbo Liu at the Staler College...

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