WV Leaders Fight Pollution Standards Amid Health Risks From Coal Plants
"Asthma and low life expectancy are highly prevalent in communities around West Virginia’s coal-fired power plants, federal data show."
Anything related to air quality, air pollution, or the atmosphere
"Asthma and low life expectancy are highly prevalent in communities around West Virginia’s coal-fired power plants, federal data show."
"Two years ago, we got a chance to assure parents and teachers, in any future epidemic, that the air in classrooms was safer, making it easier for children to attend school in person and avoid learning loss and isolation."
"The Edison Electric Institute, which represents investor-owned utilities, said in formal comments Tuesday that the Environmental Protection Agency's proposed limits on greenhouse gas emissions from coal and gas-fired power plants are too strict, and said power plant owners need more flexibility, including more time to install pollution controls."
"A developer has big ideas to turn tires, plastic and electronic waste into energy at 30 locations, starting with a tire-to-gas plant next to the jail and student housing in the heart of what was once Ohio’s Steel Valley."
Whether marginalized communities suffering from asthma or cities cloaked in smoke from far-away wildfires, journalists looking to connect public health and environmental concerns around air pollution will find much of the data they need via the Centers for Disease Control’s asthma surveillance data. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox outlines the source and smart ways to use it.
"The EPA’s Denver regional office is once again blocking a renewed state air pollution permit for the Suncor refinery in Commerce City, agreeing to objections from environmental groups that Colorado should crack down harder on carbon monoxide dangers and past plant modifications."
"Southeast Asian nations are gearing up to tackle the threat of a tougher-than-usual "haze" season together, as the El Nino climate phenomenon raises the risk of soaring temperatures."
"California is poised to become the first state in the country to adopt special measures to protect workers who make kitchen and bathroom countertops out of a popular kind of artificial stone known as "quartz.""
Journalists who lack a strong science background can find themselves in deep water when reporting environmental stories. How do you avoid over- or understating research findings? What’s the difference between observational and experimental studies? And what about those pesky percentages? Former Washington Post science reporter Rick Weiss and his SciLine colleagues have some answers.
"When large ships use scrubbers to meet international air pollution limits, the treated fuel exhaust gets dumped into the sea along with other contaminants. Researchers say the discharges are packed with metals and organic compounds that threaten marine environments."