Air

"Lawsuit helped force an update of emissions standards for dangerous chemicals that went unchanged nearly 30 years."

"California is suffering from 'second-hand smog' drifting in from Asia and other places, researchers said on Tuesday, even as the state's prolonged drought has made air quality worse."

"A common pollutant in vehicle exhaust, power plant emissions and cigarette smoke can shrink white matter in fetal brains and cause developmental damage during the toddler years, a new study suggests."

"The Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed closely divided over the fate of one of the Obama administration’s most ambitious environmental initiatives."

"The Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in a case that challenges one of the Obama administration's most significant environmental regulations."

"U.S. EPA has agreed to consider clamping down on corrosive dust after watchdogs complained that the current standards failed to protect rescue workers after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks."

"The 100 global power companies most at risk from growing pressure to shut highly polluting coal plants have been revealed in a new report from Oxford University. Chinese companies dominate the top of the ranking but US companies, including Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, occupy 10 of the top 25 places."

"Cleaner air has for the first time been linked to bigger and stronger lungs among school-age children, according to findings released Wednesday from a two-decade study in Southern California."

"Don’t call Ted Schade a hero — definitely not an environmental one. Even though he’s largely responsible for the cleanup of cancer-causing dust from Southern California’s Owens Lake, something he accomplished by waging a decades-long David vs. Goliath battle against the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power — Schade will tell you: He is not a hero."

"The Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday that it may ease an interim deadline for states to meet tougher carbon emission standards after regulators and electric utilities complained a lack of time may destabilize electricity supplies."