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News Articles: air pollution

The Los Angeles skyline is seen above the Union Pacific LATC Intermodal Terminal on Tuesday.

Tagged as: 

  • Climate

California becomes the first state to adopt emission rules for trains

California approved a rule limiting rail pollution to aggressively cut greenhouse gas emissions in the state's latest move to establish itself as a global leader in the fight against climate change.

April 27, 2023
|
By:
  • The Associated Press
A smokestack stands at a coal plant on June 22, 2022, in Delta, Utah. The Environmental Protection Agency issued a final rule Wednesday to restrict smokestack emissions from power plants and other industrial sources that burden downwind areas with smog-causing pollution they can't control. (

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

The EPA's new 'good neighbor' rule targets downwind pollution by power plants

Nearly two-dozen states will have to cut harmful industrial emissions of nitrogen oxide and other pollutants, improving air quality for millions of people living in downwind communities.

March 15, 2023
|
By:
  • The Associated Press
A line of petrochemical facilities in St. Charles Parish, La., in 2018. Many people who live near industrial sites, and who are exposed to dangerous pollution, fear that the Inflation Reduction Act will deepen existing environmental inequalities.

Tagged as: 

  • Climate

The spending bill will cut emissions, but marginalized groups feel they were sold out

The Inflation Reduction Act is the biggest ever investment to tackle climate change. But there are signs that it could reinforce existing environmental inequalities.

August 17, 2022
|
By:
  • Rebecca Hersher
Traffic on a hazy evening in Fresno, Calif. A new study estimates that about 50,000 lives could be saved each year if the U.S. eliminated small particles of pollution that are released from the tailpipes of cars and trucks, among other sources.

Tagged as: 

  • Climate

Eliminating fossil fuel air pollution would save about 50,000 lives, study finds

Burning oil, coal and other fossil fuels releases plumes of tiny, dangerous particles. A new study estimates that eliminating that pollution would save about 50,000 lives in the U.S. each year.

May 17, 2022
|
By:
  • Rebecca Hersher
A recent study by the American Lung Association found that more Americans are living in areas with increased levels of air pollution. Los Angeles has recorded the worst levels of ozone for all but one of the past 23 years.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

More than 137 million Americans live in areas with poor air quality, report finds

The rising number of fires hamper decades of environmental efforts, and over 40% of Americans — more than 137 million people — live in places with poor air quality, a new report says.

April 21, 2022
|
By:
  • Dustin Jones
Interstate 405 cuts through neighborhoods near the Los Angeles International Airport, seen here in 2017. A new study found links between modern urban air pollution and historical redlining at the national level.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Even many decades later, redlined areas see higher levels of air pollution

"We see a really clear association between how these maps were drawn in the '30s and the air pollution disparities today," says an author of a study on the effects of the discriminatory policy.

March 10, 2022
|
By:
  • Laurel Wamsley
A woman cycles along a street during a sandstorm in Beijing on Monday.

Tagged as: 

  • Asia

Desert Dust Sweeps Into Beijing, Causing China's Worst Sandstorm In 10 Years

Residents in the capital woke up to a choking orange hue in the air on Monday, as airborne dust from the Gobi Desert sent the air-quality index to hazardous levels and forced flight cancelations.

March 15, 2021
|
By:
  • Scott Neuman
In early September 2020, Seattle, Wash., had some of the worst air quality in the world because of wildfire smoke. The city was among the first to create smoke shelters for the most vulnerable.

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Study Finds Wildfire Smoke More Harmful To Humans Than Pollution From Cars

In Southern California, pollutants from wildfire smoke caused up to a 10% increase in hospital admissions. Researchers say there's a need for better air monitoring and public health programs.

March 05, 2021
|
By:
  • Nathan Rott
Protesters attempt to block the delivery of toxic PCB waste to a landfill in Warren County, N.C., in 1982. It was in response to the state's decision to locate a hazardous waste landfill in a low-income, predominantly Black area of Warren County that the term "environmental racism" was first used by the Rev. Ben Chavis.

Tagged as: 

  • Science

Hope And Skepticism As Biden Promises To Address Environmental Racism

People of color experience more air and water pollution than white people and suffer the health impacts. It has long been an underaddressed issue in the federal government.

January 30, 2021
|
By:
  • Rebecca Hersher
A new EPA rule will make it more difficult for the regulators to use some scientific studies about the connection between pollution and health.

Tagged as: 

  • Science

Trump EPA Erects New Barriers To Crucial Science

Studies based on private health data are crucial to understanding dangers posed by pollution. A new rule makes it harder for the EPA to consider many studies when setting safeguards.

January 05, 2021
|
By:
  • Rebecca Hersher
The fireworks of Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, add smoke to the already polluted skies — and raise concerns about the impact of all that pollution on coronavirus cases. Here, a celebration takes place last year in Ahmedabad, India.

Tagged as: 

  • Global Health

Fireworks Of Diwali Spark Worries About Pollution ... And Coronavirus Cases

Air quality is awful in New Delhi in winter. Smoke from the fireworks of the Hindu festival of lights adds to the problem. That's a cause for concern during a pandemic caused by a respiratory virus.

November 13, 2020
|
By:
  • Sushmita Pathak
Hurricane Laura caused a fire at a chemical plant owned by BioLab in Westlake, La. The plant manufactures chemicals for swimming pools.

Tagged as: 

  • Science

Millions Of Pounds Of Extra Pollution Were Released Before Hurricane Laura's Landfall

Hurricane Laura hit an area known for its refineries and chemical plants. They released millions of pounds of air pollution when they shut down, and many air monitors are not functioning.

August 28, 2020
|
By:
  • Rebecca Hersher
Air pollution is a persistent problem in California's Central Valley. A new study finds that the places that were most polluted nearly 40 years ago generally remain the most polluted today.

Tagged as: 

  • Science

Air Quality Disparities Persist Despite Overall Gains

A new study finds that the U.S. places with the most polluted air in the 1980s remain the most polluted today. Poor people and people of color are more likely to live in places with dirty air.

July 31, 2020
|
By:
  • Rebecca Hersher
A Nissan Leaf charges at an electric vehicle charging station in Portland, Oregon.

Tagged as: 

  • Economy

Addition Of Electric Vehicles To City Fleet Helps Push 'Savannah Forward'

Transportation — trucks, trains, planes and automobiles — is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. Electric vehicles offer a less...

July 08, 2019
|
By:
  • Emilia Brock and
  • Virginia Prescott

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