Pollution

"NEWARK — In the year after receiving test results showing alarming levels of lead in this city’s drinking water, Mayor Ras Baraka of Newark made a number of unexpected decisions."

"Federal prosecutors in Brazil said on Thursday they will investigate a spike in deforestation and wildfires raging in the Amazon state of Pará to determine whether there has been reduced monitoring and enforcement of environmental protections."

"New York sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday, accusing the agency of prematurely allowing General Electric Co to stop clearing the Hudson River of PCB contamination before the cleanup was finished."

"Three Lake Michigan beaches remain closed after a northwest Indiana steel mill dumped toxic chemicals into a tributary earlier this week, an incident that was not reported to the public until hundreds of dead fish began floating past boaters."

"Last year, a backyard in Butte, Mont., collapsed without warning. No one was hurt, but a 30-foot sinkhole yawned where a children's wading pool once sat. At the bottom was a century-old mine shaft that had never made the state's list of abandoned mines needing attention."

"“It’s really a complete myth when people say that we’re recycling our plastics,” says Jim Puckett, the executive director of the Seattle-based Basel Action Network, which campaigns against the illegal waste trade."

"EPA scientists wanted their agency to ask for a new environmental review of the proposed Pebble mine project but were overridden by political staffers, according to several sources and a key document obtained by E&E News."

"Federal regulators have found unsafe construction practices at work sites on the Atlantic Coast pipeline, spelling more trouble for a project that's already facing setbacks in court."

"High lead levels have been found in drinking water of all five Vermont schools tested so far in a new state program."

"Environmental officials say heavy metals from coal ash have seeped into groundwater at a Duke Energy complex along Florida’s Gulf Coast."