air pollution

The Environmental Protection Agency unveiled new (and long-overdue) regulations today to rein in mercury and other toxic pollutants from coal and oil-fired power plants. The new mercury rules, designed to save lives and protect children from the potent neurotoxin, are likely to trigger the closure of many of America's oldest, dirtiest...[read more]

The hotly debated Air Toxics Rule and Cross State Air Pollution Rule now slated for enactment in three years by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency are destined to close at least 32 coal-fired power plants throughout the U.S. each with an average age of 51 years. This according to a survey of 55 power plant operators and EPA data by...[read more]

My wife and I have no car, no TV, and a no-screens policy around our 8-month-old. We carry him around in an organic cotton wrap. His favorite toys are wood, his baby soap is plant-based, his only pacifier is his left thumb. He has yet to taste baby formula, food from a jar, or anything heated in a microwave. His bottles are BPA-free, and...[read more]

We know that the regulation leads to a safer society and that regulatory paths toward reducing pollution loads leads to a healthier society. These are simply facts. Those facts, however, can be difficult to translate from larger statistics to our personal lives. A new research paper from Nicholas J. Sanders and Charles F. Stoecker provides something that any American young man might wish to consider.[read more]

Today, I will be testifying a House oversight subcommittee hearing of the House Oversight and Investigations Committee chaired by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA). The topic is the historic agreement that President Obama announced on July 30th to strengthen new passenger vehicle pollution and fuel efficiency standards to deliver 54.5 mpg by...[read more]

Aerosols affect climate more than satellite estimates predict: Penner and her colleagues found faults in the techniques that satellite estimates use to find the difference between cloud drop concentrations today and before the Industrial Revolution. “We found that using satellite data to try to infer how much radiation is reflected today...[read more]

Today, the LA Times reported on a lawsuit filed by health, environmental and environmental justice groups filed yesterday in the Los Angeles region.  Later in the day, LA Times reporter Paul Whitefield took to the Opinion LA blog analyzing the comments received about that article and litigation effort, including opining...[read more]

Jake Schmidt, International Climate Policy Director, Washington, DC The Australian government has just unveiled details of its new mandatory program to reduce carbon pollution from major polluters.  This is another sign that countries are moving forward with actions to address global warming by taking the necessary steps at home to...[read more]

The following Victoria Day weekend guest post is by Gideon Forman, executive director of the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. The Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment (CAPE) – along with nurses and leading health charities – is running an advertising campaign to support renewable power and the...[read more]

The good pranksters behind the CoalCares.org  site not only had the moxy to add a â„¢ symbol to their site name, they even have the bravado to use the (genuinely) registered trademark of Peabody Energy. Not only content to spoof the coal industries attempts at better Community Relations, they even link back to Peabody...[read more]

… We find robust evidence that ozone levels well below federal air quality standards have a significant impact on productivity:  a 10 ppb decrease in ozone concentrations increases worker productivity by 4.2 percent…. Importantly, this environmental productivity effect suggests that common characterizations of environmental...[read more]