Pollution

"Fossil-fuel companies’ climate messaging may have changed to fit the new century, but the goal is the same the industry has had for  decades: to delay action and protect profits for as long as possible. Even in the face of an increasingly obvious climate emergency, this message still resonates with many people. Maybe that’s because the biggest social media companies help amplify it."

"Despite an injection of funding, the agency still has not recovered from an exodus of scientists and policy experts, both insiders and critics say."

"WASHINGTON — The nation’s top environmental agency is still reeling from the exodus of more than 1,200 scientists and policy experts during the Trump administration. The chemicals chief said her staff can’t keep up with a mounting workload. The enforcement unit is prosecuting fewer polluters than at any time in the past two decades.

"A chaotic start to the new Republican-led House may spell trouble for the 2023 farm bill."

"For centuries, a Native American tribe considered a large swath of land with cliffs jutting out along the Rappahannock River in Virginia’s Northern Neck as their ancestral heart and homelands."

"Turf wars between microbes dictate how much carbon salt marshes store and how much methane they pump into the air."

"The EPA will begin a rulemaking aiming to reduce PFAS in landfill leachate discharges and will expand or begin studies on PFAS pollution from textile manufacturers and sewage treatment plants, the agency said."

"There’s now more than just smoke hanging around the site of an underground landfill fire near Birmingham. In the two days since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency showed up to take control of the scene, the area has been abuzz with EPA trucks, bulldozers and excavators moving in to begin putting out the fire."

"Georgia regulators released detailed plans Thursday for a titanium mine near the fabled Okefenokee swamp, a project that’s drawn the ire of environmental groups and the head of the Interior Department."

"Every year, the night sky grows brighter, and the stars look dimmer. A new study that analyzes data from more than 50,000 amateur stargazers finds that artificial lighting is making the night sky about 10% brighter each year."

"Environmental groups announced Thursday they had reached a settlement with A&G Coal Corporation, a business owned by West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice’s family, over the cleanup of three coal mines in Virginia’s Wise County."