"The federal government should ban the use of lead weights, those fingertip-size chunks of metal that balance the tires of cars and trucks, says a petition filed with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week."
"Manufacturers of cans for beverages and foods and some of their biggest customers, including Coca-Cola, are trying to devise a public relations and lobbying strategy to block government bans of a controversial chemical used in the linings of metal cans and lids."
The flame-retardant chemicals known as PBDEs are virtually ubiquitous in U.S. waters. New research shows that when PBDEs are exposed to wastewater treatment, they can generate dioxins.
People in many parts of the U.S. blame gas drilling for causing the water in their wells to go bad. In 2005, the Bush administration got Congress to exempt from the Safe Drinking Water Act a drilling practice called "fracking." Now environmentalists hope to repeal the exemption and the gas industry is mounting a defense.
"Canadian National Railway pleaded guilty on Monday to polluting Canada's wilderness in two train derailments, one of them resulting in the largest inland oil spill in Canada's history."
Scientists in the Houston area are focusing research on the flare stacks at its hundreds of petrochemical plants -- which may be a major overlooked cause of smog.
Despite having been banned in most uses for years, carbon tetrachloride, a probable carcinogen, persists in the environment. USA TODAY found it outside 70 of 95 schools in 30 states.
"Railroad companies are pressing federal regulators to cut back on trains carrying hazardous materials through urban areas, saying they fear a catastrophic release of toxic chemicals in a large city."