Air

Air pollution is worsened in Chicago by the Fisk coal-burning power plant built in 1903. It is grandfathered against Clean Air Act requirements for modern pollution controls. Will EPA cave in to Republican pressure to let its pollution keep harming health of Chicagoans?

"Faced with a lawsuit from environmentalists, U.S. EPA has changed course and rejected Alabama's plan to change how the state decides whether industrial plants are releasing too much soot from their smokestacks."

"The depletion of the ozone layer shielding Earth from damaging ultraviolet rays has reached an unprecedented low over the Arctic this spring because of harmful chemicals and a cold winter, the U.N. weather agency said Tuesday."

"A new report is suggesting the air at many Quebec construction sites contains levels of asbestos at or above provincial norms, raising fresh questions about whether the substance can be handled safely in Canada."

"A federal appeals court rejected a shipping industry challenge Monday to California's offshore air pollution rules requiring vessels to use low-sulfur fuel within 24 miles of the coast, standards that the court said would save about 3,500 lives over six years while modestly increasing shipping costs."

"With birds chirping and temperatures warming , spring is finally in the air. But for University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) environmental chemist Torsten Meyer, springtime has a dark side."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has agreed to grant a petition by three nonprofit organizations to withdraw its approval for the potent greenhouse gas HFC-134a to be used in new automobile air conditioning systems."

"With more trash coming into Keystone Sanitary Landfill in Dunmore, dangerous air emissions are on the rise, a Sunday Times analysis of state records found. The review also found the state Department of Environmental Protection relies upon the landfills to monitor air quality and report problems."

"That it would take more than 20 years for federal regulators to finally propose toxic emissions standards for the power industry is testament to both the slow wheels of bureaucracy and the clout of the nation’s utility and coal interests, which bitterly — and for years, successfully — fought the controls, even as other industries bowed under."

"A U.S. EPA report suggesting that Americans have significantly higher cancer risks because of toxic emissions from motor vehicles has reopened the debate over dangers posed by outdated diesel engines."