Air

"Exposure to wildfire smoke -- particularly that from smoldering peat -- can dramatically increase the risk of cardiac and respiratory illness, according to new research led by the Environmental Protection Agency."

"After the Navy complained that cargo ships were traveling through its testing area to avoid pollution regulations closer to shore, the California Air Resources Board votes to extend the clean-fuel zone."

"A new coalition of public health advocates is urging Maine's two U.S. senators to take a stand against what they describe as a full-scale assault on the Clean Air Act by powerful corporate interests."

"The Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday it has extended the comment timeline by 30 days on a draft rule on reducing mercury emissions and other toxic pollution from power plants but left the target for finalization of the rule unchanged."

EPA chief Lisa Jackson told the Senate Environment Committee Wednesday that American Electric Power's recent narrative about job loss resulting from EPA's mercury regulations was were "misleading at best and scare tactics at worst."

"All around the world, women will cook meals for their families today, and as a result, in certain parts of the world, one of them will die every 16 seconds. That statistic is one of the reasons Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had planned a stop in Ethiopia on her current trip through Africa, to highlight an initiative she strongly supports: bringing cleaner cook stove technology to many parts of the developing world."

"Tall smokestacks are one reason that emissions from coal-fired power plants are blown across state lines, making it more difficult for downwind states to clean up their air, a new Government Accountability Office study found."

"The Environmental Protection Agency, facing intense opposition from Congressional Republicans and industry over a broad range of new air quality regulations, said Monday that it was delaying by two months the release of a proposed rule on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants and other major pollution sources."

"Proposed federal clean-air rules could have a profound impact on American Electric Power, leading to an increase in electricity bills, the closing or partial closing of 11 power plants and the loss of 600 jobs, the company said."