The U.S. freight system delivers significant environmental impacts nationwide, especially in states that host major rail-and-road hubs and seaports. Meanwhile, new federal laws and policies are making it harder to curtail pollution generated by freight trucks, trains and warehouses. Journalist John Lippert looks at how the public, private and nonprofit sectors are rising to this challenge.
"Progress Village was established decades ago to provide affordable housing for Black residents near Tampa. The phosphogypsum stack, containing the toxic waste of fertilizer production, is right next door."
"Nationwide actions seek to counter view that talking about climate crisis distracts from affordability messaging"
"The scope of cyberattacks on U.S. water systems has grown to include at least seven states and may be far wider, officials and experts warned, as the authorities raced to safeguard the nation’s water supply against an assault that increasingly appeared to be the work of Iran."
"The renewable energy industry is turning its attention to state-level races in the run-up to November’s midterm elections."
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A first-of-its-kind U.S. study suggests invasive mold infections may be an underappreciated — and potentially deadly — threat. The researchers detected about 450 cases in Atlanta-area hospitals over five years. About a third of the patients died in the hospital."
"The Trump administration is looking to reopen closed oil refineries, including an embattled one in the Virgin Islands, amid high gasoline prices caused by the Iran war."
"The U.S. Department of Energy is harnessing the artificial intelligence boom in its bid to convert another Cold War-era uranium enrichment site, tapping private equity to fund a $100 billion data center complex that will include its own new natural gas and battery storage power plant in Kentucky."
"Trump’s order keeping an Orlando coal plant online renews environmental justice concerns over who pays AI’s pollution bill." "The fight over Stanton Unit 1 illustrates how America's AI boom could prolong coal pollution that has historically fallen hardest on Black communities."
"A proposed expansion of an Elk Valley Resources’ coal mine in southeast British Columbia is moving through the environmental assessment process despite concerns over pollution. Decades of coal mining in the valley has led to harmful selenium concentrations and loads downstream, in British Columbia and the U.S. states of Montana and Idaho."
