Air Pollution

The Sun Sets on Human Possibilities on This 55th Anniversary of Earth Day

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The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – It is a sad time for Planet Earth, maybe the saddest of times since the first Earth Day 55 years ago today. By the 20th anniversary in 1990, after news organizations developed specialty beats to cover “pollution” of the natural environment in the United States and around…

Biden-Harris Administration Announces New $80 Million Investment in Clean Ports

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Staff Report – The Biden-Harris administration continues to announce the spending of billions of dollars to rebuild America’s infrastructure even as the nation focuses on the election next week. But news about these investments seems to generate very little in the way of press coverage, media conversation or attention from the public on social media.…

Biden Administration Releases Stronger Clean Air Rules for Chemical Plants and New Standards for Regulating Chemicals in Drinking Water

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By Glynn Wilson –  WASHINGTON, D.C. — For 25 years since I was first hired by newspapers to cover the environment as a news beat activists have begged, pleaded and prodded the federal government to pass and enforce laws and regulations to force polluting industries to do more to protect public health. Progress had been…

Biden Administration Proposes Tough New Pollution Standards for Cars and Trucks

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Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Biden administration announced the most ambitious federal vehicle emissions standards ever on Wednesday that will accelerate the ongoing transition to a clean vehicles future by requiring that two-thirds of new passenger cars and a quarter of new heavy trucks sold in the United States are all-electric by 2032.…

Biden Administration Proposes Stronger Mercury and Air Toxic Standards for Power Plants

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New standards would reduce hazardous air pollutants from coal-fired power plants, further protect public health and advance environmental justice – Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Biden administration released a set of proposed new pollution standards on Wednesday to update the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for coal-fired power plants, advancing tougher requirements to…

Norfolk Southern Policy Lets Officials Order Crews to Ignore Safety Alerts

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By Topher Sanders and Dan Schwartz – ProPublica – ProPublica learned of the policy after reviewing the rules of the company, which is engulfed in controversy after one of its trains derailed this month, releasing toxic flammable gas over East Palestine, Ohio. The policy applies specifically to the company’s Wayside Detector Help Desk, which monitors…

Biden Administration Announces Details of Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund

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Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Biden administration announced guidelines for the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund program this week created under the Inflation Reduction Act, which will dole out $27 billion in federal spending over the next few years to mobilize billions more in private capital to reduce pollution and improve public health, lower…

Biden Administration Announces Tough New Pollution Standards for Trucks

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Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Biden Administration announced the strongest-ever national clean air standards to cut emissions from trucks, vans and buses beginning with model year 2027, the first update to clean air standards for trucks in more than 20 years. According to the announcement from the Environmental Protection Agency, the new standards…

Biden Administration Launches New National EPA Office to Advance Environmental Justice

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Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. – With less than six weeks to go before the critical midterm elections, the Biden administration and the Environmental Protection Agency have announced the establishment of a new national office charged with advancing environmental justice and civil rights to deliver on President Biden’s commitment to elevate these critical issues to…

Biden Administration Launches Major Funding Effort to Create More Outdoor Recreation Opportunities Across America

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The FICOR Program Will Also Help Prepare the Country for the Worst Impacts of Climate Change – By Glynn Wilson – ANALYSIS – If you are a long-time nature lover who understands the environmental, biological, economic, psychological and sociological needs to protect and expand green spaces across the country, or a new convert who discovered…

Biden Administration Announces New Vehicle Fuel Economy Standards to Require 49 MPG by 2026

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Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Spurred on by high gas prices and increasing evidence of climate change due to global warming from the burning of fossil fuels for transportation as well as energy, the Biden Administration moved quickly and aggressively to reverse Trump administration rollbacks in new car fuel economy standards and announced much…

Louisiana Company and President Plead Guilty to Clean Air Act Violations for Tampering with Truck Emissions

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PPEI and President Kory Willis Plead Guilty and Agree to Pay $3.1 Million in Criminal Fines and Civil Penalties for the Manufacture and Sale of Illegal Delete Devices and Tunes for Diesel Trucks By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – People concerned about the environment often wonder why companies, presidents and owners are rarely held…

Biden Administration’s EPA Announces ‘Bold Actions’ to Protect Poor, Minority Communities in the South from Pollution

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Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following through on his commitment to action during his Journey to Justice Tour, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael S. Regan announced the first in a series of actions on Wednesday responding directly to concerns of communities historically and disproportionately impacted by pollution in the South, including “Cancer Alley”…

How America’s Complicated History With Toxic Exposure and Environmental Racism is Impacting Vulnerable Communities

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Guest Column – By Jonathan Sharp – Environmental racism is a kind of racial inequality prevalent in the United States of America and around the world. Environmentally toxic plants, dumping grounds and similar sites are often located in low-income areas populated by people of color. Exposure to materials in and around these sites often lead…

Biden Administration Announces Plan to Cut Methane Pollution that Threatens the Climate and Public Health

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Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Biden administration says the United States will for the first time heavily regulate the potent greenhouse gas methane, which leaks from oil and natural gas platforms and is a significant source of air pollution that is contributing to warming the atmosphere 80 times as fast as carbon dioxide,…

Biden EPA Issues Authoritative Report on Global Warming and Climate Change

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By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – What a difference a respect for science makes. After four years of being gutted and corrupted by the influence of polluting industry insiders with their heads all stuck up the hole in Donald Trump’s cult of personality backside, the Environmental Protection Agency is back in the Biden administration.…

The American Public’s Concern for the Environment is A Cause for Worry

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Water Pollution Remains the Top Environmental Concern in the U.S. – Public Opinion Analysis – By Glynn Wilson – The American public is not worried enough about the state of the natural environment to save themselves or the world. That’s not the headline on the latest Gallup poll reporting concern for environmental issues in the…

Toxic Coal Ash is Back on the Agenda as an Environmental Issue of Our Time

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Editor’s Note: For the past five years, while the New American Journal has continued to keep up with some major stories related to the natural environment such as the latest news on global warming and climate change, our priorities have tended to focus largely on coverage of national science and public affairs, and some state…

Scientists Project Active, Deadly 2020 Hurricane Season

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But is data missing from computer models on ocean temperatures due to the coronavirus? – By Glynn Wilson – As if the world were not under assault from enough disasters, scientists recently released the projections for hurricane season 2020 and the forecast is not reassuring, in spite of global cooling due to reduced carbon emissions…