Latest Pollution News

Michigan will implement ambitious clean energy mandates with goal of carbon-free electricity by 2040

Nov. 28, 2023 14:48 PM EST

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan is implementing one of the nation’s most ambitious clean energy mandates, aiming to be carbon-free by 2040 in what is a pivotal test of the Democrats’ environmental goals in a state with a long-standing manufacturing legacy. Michigan will join...

'Adopt an axolotl' campaign launches in Mexico to save iconic species from pollution and trout

Nov. 24, 2023 18:22 PM EST

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Ecologists from Mexico's National Autonomous university on Friday relaunched a fundraising campaign to bolster conservation efforts for axolotls, an iconic, endangered fish-like type of salamander. The campaign, called "Adoptaxolotl,” asks people for as little...

Biden declares emergency over lead in water in US Virgin Islands

Nov. 22, 2023 12:55 PM EST

President Joe Biden declared an emergency over lead-in-water contamination in the U.S. Virgin Islands earlier this week after tests on St. Croix revealed levels more than 100 times the limits set by the Environmental Protection Agency – among the worst results a U.S. community has seen in...

EPA offers $2B to clean up pollution, develop clean energy in poor and minority communities

Nov. 21, 2023 17:31 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration is making $2 billion available to community groups, states and tribes to clean up pollution and develop clean energy in disadvantaged communities in what officials called the largest-ever investment in environmental justice. Environmental...

New Jersey banning sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035

Nov. 21, 2023 14:07 PM EST

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey will prohibit the sale of new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2035 as part of an effort to improve air quality and reduce planet-warming pollutants, officials announced Tuesday. A rule that will take effect Jan. 1 commits the state to an eventual move...

Kansas oil refinery agrees to $23 million in penalties for violating federal air pollution law

Nov. 20, 2023 17:07 PM EST

COFFEYVILLE, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas refinery has agreed to pay more than $23 million for violating the federal Clean Air Act and breaching a 2012 settlement for earlier pollution problems, the U.S. Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday. The federal...

At talks on cutting plastics pollution, plastic credits are on the table. What are they?

Nov. 17, 2023 21:34 PM EST

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Two groups that want reduced plastics production published a report Friday highly critical of plastic credits, calling them a flawed tool that won't help with worldwide pollution from the material. The groups — Break Free From Plastic and the Global Alliance...

Talks on a landmark treaty to end global plastic pollution are advancing in Kenya's capital

Nov. 13, 2023 19:54 PM EST

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Efforts to create a landmark treaty to end global plastic pollution advanced Monday in Kenya's capital as nations, plus petrochemical companies, environmentalists and others affected by the pollution gathered to discuss draft language for the first time. The...

Millions of Indians set a world record celebrating Diwali as worries about air pollution rise

Nov. 12, 2023 20:22 PM EST

LUCKNOW, India (AP) — Millions of Indians celebrated Diwali on Sunday with a Guinness World Record number of bright earthen oil lamps as concerns about air pollution soared in the South Asian country. Across the country, dazzling multi-colored lights decked homes and streets as...

Toxic heavy smog in eastern Pakistan makes tens of thousands sick

Nov. 09, 2023 20:09 PM EST

LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) — Toxic gray smog has sickened tens of thousands of people in Pakistan’s cultural capital of Lahore, forcing authorities to shut schools, markets and parks for four days, officials said Thursday. The decision came after the country's second-largest city,...