Latest Pollution Headlines

All the headlines from our Pollution Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Trump EPA Saves Coal Plants Millions with Delay on Coal Ash Pond Closures

Oct 20 2020 // The Trump administration will let some leaking or otherwise dangerous coal ash storage ponds stay in operation for years more and some unlined ponds stay open indefinitely under a rule change announced last Friday.The move...

Radiation Near Fracking Sites Poses Potential But Not Extreme Health Risk

Oct 14 2020 // Radiation levels downwind of U.S. hydraulic fracturing drilling sites tend to be significantly higher than background levels, posing a potential health risk to nearby residents, according to a study by Harvard researchers...

Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Jurisdiction Question in Climate Damages Lawsuit

Oct 5 2020 // The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear an appeal by energy companies including BP PLC, Chevron Corp., Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC contesting a lawsuit by the city of Baltimore seeking damages for...

Texas’ Blue Bell Creameries to Pay $17.25M in Criminal Penalties for Listeria Outbreak

Oct 5 2020 // Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries L.P. has been ordered to pay $17.25 million in criminal penalties for shipments of contaminated ice cream products linked to a 2015 listeriosis outbreak, according to the U.S. Justice...

California Governor Planning to Ban Sale of New Gas Vehicles in 15 Years

Oct 5 2020 // California will ban the sale of new gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks in 15 years, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced in late September, establishing a timeline in the nation’s most populous state that could force...

Deadly Microbe Water Warning Lifted for Final Texas City

Sep 29 2020 // Environmental officials in Texas have lifted a warning for a final Houston-area community to stop using tap water because it might be tainted with a deadly brain-eating microbe, but with a warning that the water should be...

Close Call with Laura Renewed Debate over Houston Storm Surge Barrier

Sep 29 2020 // Houston, a Gulf Coast city that barely rises above sea level, has long worried about a worst-case weather scenario — a direct hit from a powerful storm that sends a wall of water barreling into the region’s...

California Ban on Fracking by 2024 Criticized as Too Late

Sep 28 2020 // California Gov. Gavin Newsom moved Wednesday to end issuing new hydraulic fracturing permits by 2024, a delay criticized by many environmental groups but characterized as legally and politically realistic by...

Warning for Deadly Microbes in Water Lifted for All But 1 Texas City

Sep 28 2020 // Texas officials have lifted a warning for all but one Houston-area community to stop using tap water because it might be tainted with a deadly brain-eating microbe.The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality warned the...

California Governor Planning to Ban Sale of New Gas Vehicles in 15 Years

Sep 25 2020 // California will ban the sale of new gasoline-powered passenger cars and trucks in 15 years, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday, establishing a timeline in the nation’s most populous state that could force U.S....

Alabama City Officials Drop Chemical Contamination Lawsuit

Sep 25 2020 // Officials in the northwest Alabama city of Guin have dropped a lawsuit against chemical giant 3M that alleged chemicals from its manufacturing plant had entered a creek that supplies drinking water to the community.The...

New York, California Could be Fastest Growing States for Renewables

Sep 24 2020 // U.S. environmental policies will drive long-term demand for renewable energy, Moody’s Investors Service said in a new report.The report depicts a “a credit positive for renewable energy developers” in the...

South Carolina Wood Pellet Plant Accused of Violating Clean Air Act

Sep 24 2020 // Environmental groups threatened to sue a wood pellet factory on Tuesday, accusing it of releasing more than 100 tons of air pollution a year in violation of the Clean Air Act.A legal notice filed against Jasper Pellets...

Texas’ Blue Bell Creameries to Pay $17.25M in Penalties for Listeria Contamination

Sep 23 2020 // Texas-based Blue Bell Creameries L.P. has been ordered to pay $17.25 million in criminal penalties for shipments of contaminated ice cream products linked to a 2015 listeriosis outbreak, according to the U.S. Justice...

California Burnin’ – a Warning Against One-Party Rule: Opinion

Sep 22 2020 // “California, folks, is America fast forward.” Thus said Governor Gavin Newsom, hoarsely, amid brown smoke at the North Complex Fire on Sept. 11. “What we’re experiencing right here is coming to a...

Lawsuit Claims EPA Has Failed to Enforce Chesapeake Bay Pollution Caps

Sep 16 2020 // The Environmental Protection Agency has failed to ensure that Pennsylvania and New York are doing enough to reduce pollution that flows from farms and cities into the Chesapeake Bay, according to a lawsuit filed on...

Bad Air From Western Wildfires Just Won’t Ease up

Sep 15 2020 // Relief from putrid, dangerous air spewing from massive wildfires across the West won’t come until later in the week or beyond, scientists and forecasters say, and the hazy and gunk-filled skies might stick around for...

Daimler to Pay $2.2 Billion for Clean Air Violations Over Diesel Emissions

Sep 15 2020 // Daimler AG will pay $2.2 billion to resolve a U.S. government diesel emissions cheating investigation and claims from 250,000 U.S. vehicle owners, court documents show.The German automaker and its Mercedes-Benz USA LLC...

Oregon Employers Urged to Protect Workers by Avoiding Outdoor Work

Sep 14 2020 // Oregon workplace and public health officials are urging employers to stop or delay outdoor work activity where they can and take other reasonable steps to protect workers when air quality reaches the...

ESG Industry Booms but Investors Worry Risks Are Piling Up

Sep 10 2020 // LONDON— If fund managers are serious about clean investments, they need to get their hands dirty.That’s the view of Sasja Beslik, head of sustainable finance at Swiss bank J. Safra Sarasin, as demand surges for...