A lot of lead from gasoline, house paint and industrial emissions has ended up in soil, and it poses serious health risks.
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Filtering out PFAS is only the first step. These ‘forever chemicals’ still have to be destroyed, and there are many questions about how to do that safely.
A worker at the National Hurricane Center tracks weather over the Gulf of Mexico.
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Years of research about the people who work in the federal government finds that most of them are devoted civil servants who are committed to civic duty without regard to partisan politics.
Charging bays at the Electrify America indoor electric vehicle charging station in San Francisco.
AP Photo/Eric Risberg
Reducing particle pollution can save thousands of lives, but states need more data to inform better controls. An atmospheric scientist explains what data and actions are needed.
Large industrial facilities like this oil refinery outside Houston are major sources of fine particulate air pollution.
AP Photo/David J. Phillip
On Feb. 7, 2024, the EPA strengthened the federal limit for annual levels of fine particulate air pollution, or PM2.5. Many serious health effects have been linked to PM2.5 exposure.
A worker sorts cardboard at a recycling center in Newark, N.J.
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In Sackett v. EPA, a suit filed by two homeowners who filled in wetlands on their property, the Supreme Court has drastically narrowed the definition of which wetlands qualify for federal protection.
Power plants contribute a quarter of the United States’ climate-warming greenhouse gas emissions.
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Fossil fuel power plants can avoid most emissions by capturing carbon dioxide and pumping it underground. But to be a climate solution, that carbon has to stay stored for thousands of years.
The James H. Miller coal power plant in Alabama emitted as much carbon dioxide in 2021 as 4.6 million cars.
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After the Supreme Court overturned the Obama administration’s strategy for reducing power plant carbon emissions in 2022, the Biden administration is taking a narrower but still ambitious approach.
Natural gas power plants could find a lifeline in carbon capture and storage.
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A new study reveals wide disparities among state-issued Clean Water Act fines, and even among federal fines from regions to region. A law professor explains why it may be illegal.
A new federal regulation will set national limits on two ‘forever chemicals’ widely found in drinking water.
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The Biden administration is finalizing the first federal limits on two compounds, PFOA and PFOS, in drinking water. These so-called ‘forever chemicals’ have been linked to numerous health effects.
Wetlands like this one in California’s Morro Bay Estuary shelter fish, animals and plants and help control flooding.
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In a 6-3 ruling, the Supreme Court held that an Obama administration plan to regulate carbon emissions from power plants exceeded the power that Congress gave to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Large portions of Oklahoma are governed, at least in part, by tribal jurisdiction.
crimsonedge34 via Wikimedia Commons
West Virginia v. EPA could be the opportunity that conservative justices have been seeking to curb federal power.
Soybean plants on an Arkansas farm. Those at left show signs of damage from dicamba; others at right were planted later in the season.
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Farmers are stuck in a chemical war against weeds, which have developed resistance to many widely used herbicides. Seed companies’ answer – using more varied herbicides – is causing new problems.
Chlorpyrifos is widely used on crops, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, corn and soybeans.
AP Photo/John Raoux
Gina Solomon, University of California, San Francisco
What kind of evidence does it require to get a widely used chemical banned? A professor of medicine and former state regulator explains how the case for chlorpyrifos as a threat to public health developed.
Professor of History and Director of the Center for the Study of Inequalities, Social Justice, and Policy, Stony Brook University (The State University of New York)