Pollution

"North Carolina is one of the country's largest poultry producers — and getting bigger. Large-scale chicken farms are spreading across the state. Government regulations have allowed these farms to get much closer to where people live. That's not just a nuisance. Neighbors say it's also a potential health hazard."

"HOOSICK FALLS, N.Y. — After his factory worker father died a painful death from kidney cancer at age 68 in 2013, Michael Hickey made it his mission to find out why so many people in his hometown along the Hoosic River were getting sick."

"A German newspaper has reported that the use of "defeat device" software to cheat on U.S. emissions laws was widespread knowledge within the diesel-engine group at Volkswagen headquarters in Wolfsburg, Germany."

"Regional air quality regulators in California voted on Saturday to require the utility responsible for a ruptured underground pipeline in the Los Angeles area to underwrite an independent study on the health effects of a huge methane leak from the site."

"FLINT, Mich. — Standing at a microphone in September holding up a baby bottle, Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, a local pediatrician, said she was deeply worried about the water. The number of Flint children with elevated levels of lead in their blood had risen alarmingly since the city changed its water supply the previous year, her analysis showed."

"CHESAPEAKE, Va. -- High levels of contaminants from a firefighting foam that was used for decades at Fentress Naval Auxiliary Landing Field were found in its well water during a recent laboratory test, leading Navy officials Wednesday to tell workers to drink only bottled water until a permanent solution is available."

"Long before a natural gas storage well sprung a disastrous leak near Los Angeles, California, utilities and national industry groups were raising alarms about the danger of aging underground storage infrastructure."

"Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) on Wednesday released a trove of emails related to the Flint water crisis, something Snyder promised during his State of the State address."

"Pennsylvania will take new steps to cut methane emissions from natural gas wells and pipelines, and fill gaps in state policies that have allowed many sources in the sector to release the potent greenhouse gas without mandatory controls, Gov. Tom Wolf announced today."

"Gov. Rick Snyder of Michigan issued a sweeping apology on Tuesday to the residents of Flint for a contaminated water supply. He pledged to promptly release his emails about the issue, and laid out more specifics than had previously been known about the state’s handling of the matter."