Pollution

"Plastic was the furthest thing from Gregory Wetherbee’s mind when he began analyzing rainwater samples collected from the Rocky Mountains. “I guess I expected to see mostly soil and mineral particles,” said the US Geological Survey researcher. Instead, he found multicolored microscopic plastic fibers."

"New test results indicate that the extent of the lead contamination crisis in Newark, N.J., may be broader than previously thought and the state now says it needs federal help to respond, according to new court filings."

"Over and over, Michigan environmental regulators sounded alarms as they reviewed a proposed large, open-pit ore mine in the Upper Peninsula near the Menominee River, prized for walleye fishing and a major tributary to Lake Michigan. ... Then the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and then-Michigan Department of Environmental Quality approved the mine anyway."

The changing story about an explosion in Russia that released radioactivity looks like "the same parade of misdirection happened during the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in 1986."

The 386-acre property looks like a giant Lego set rising from the banks of the Ohio River. It is one of the largest active construction projects in the United States, employing more than 5,000 people. When completed, the facility will be fed by pipelines stretching hundreds of miles across Appalachia. It will have its own rail system with 3,300 freight cars. And it will produce more than a million tons each year of something that many people argue the world needs less of: plastic."

"The top U.S. auto safety official, a key player in efforts by President Donald Trump’s administration to rollback the nation’s vehicle fuel efficiency requirements, will step down at the end of the month, the Transportation Department announced on Monday."

"The gases heating the planet in 2018 were higher than humans have ever recorded, according to an authoritative new report from the American Meteorological Society and the US government."

"Environmental groups urged Georgia officials to reject plans by Georgia Power to keep coal waste in ponds at several power plants."

"The Environmental Protection Agency told staff scientists that it was no longer opposing a controversial Alaska mining project that could devastate one of the world's most valuable wild salmon fisheries just one day after President Trump met with Alaska's governor, CNN has learned."

"For more than a year, Newark officials denied the city had a widespread lead problem with its drinking water. Then, in an abrupt shift last fall, New Jersey’s largest city began giving out water filters to some residents."