Pollution

"A new World Health Organization analysis suggests cholera is surging worldwide, with the number of cholera cases doubling from 2021 to 2022."

"A string of unexpected impediments could delay the administration’s timeline on an issue that is central to its effort to address racial disparities."

"Five people were killed in a multi-vehicle crash that included a tanker truck carrying a toxic chemical that spilled Friday night, triggering a large temporary evacuation near downstate Effingham. The truck was holding 7,500 gallons of anhydrous ammonia, of which about 4,000 gallons spilled, according to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency."

"With a little art, a little science, and a lot of luck, the niche well-plugging industry is hoping to pick up steam."

"A warming planet is creating a booming and loosely-regulated disaster restoration industry fueled by immigrant labor. Without protection, workers are exposed to lethal toxins making them sick long after the cleanup."

"One of the most complicated wildfire cleanup missions in recent memory is now underway on the Hawaiian island of Maui, where fleets of workers and equipment are being shipped to the island while officials plot how to carefully but quickly remove hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic debris."

"The Biden administration is charting plans to sell offshore oil-drilling rights in the Gulf of Mexico over the next five years, while trimming the program to its smallest level ever.

The oil leasing plan being released by the Interior Department on Friday will contain only a low number of sales, according to people familiar with the deliberations who declined to be named because the blueprint isn’t yet public. That’s far from the 11 sales the agency proposed last year, and it would be the lowest in history.

"While the health impacts of toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals, or PFAS, are well known in humans, a new study reports how they affect a wide range of wildlife species."