Air

"Kathy Omachi was eating at McDonald's in Reedley [Calif.] recently, and she counted 51 gravel trucks pass by -- all in the time she finished a hamburger and fruit smoothie. The lifelong resident of this farming town, which is southeast of Fresno and within a few miles of three rock quarries, fears that even more trucks, with their dirty exhaust, will be on the road if nearby mining is expanded."

"AUSTIN, Texas -- A Texas District Court judge Monday issued a letter announcing that he intends to rule against the state environmental agency's air permit for a proposed power plant in Corpus Christi."

"In what the White House calls a milestone in its effort to cut red tape, the Obama administration today said it was overhauling or eliminating five regulations -- including a Clinton-era air-pollution rule -- in an effort to save $6 billion in unnecessary costs over the next five years."

"The Environmental Integrity Project filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit Tuesday seeking details about dozens of White House meetings with interest groups to discuss Environmental Protection Agency regulations. The non-profit group, which advocates for the enforcement of environmental rules, filed the lawsuit after receiving no response from the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to a January FOIA request seeking more details on the meetings."

"Disadvantaged kids not only breathe disproportionate amounts bad air, but they also can be more vulnerable to the ill effects of that bad air."

"Dozens of residents in Prichard’s Eight Mile community [Ala.] have sought medical help due to symptoms they believe are related to exposure to mercaptan, the chemical that Mobile Gas spilled in the neighborhood in 2008."

"WASHINGTON, DC -- Forty-five areas across the country are not meeting the latest government standards for ground-level ozone or smog, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Tuesday."

"Edison International announced Wednesday that Midwest Generation will shutter Chicago's Fisk and Crawford coal plants in September, ahead of schedule and years before a state-imposed deadline to clean up or shut down the plants.

"A decade after landmark toxic-air monitoring prompted a city crackdown on chemical emissions, a new analysis shows significant improvement in some areas — but still cause for concern in neighborhoods near western Louisville’s Rubbertown industries."

"WASHINGTON -- Oil and gas companies will have to capture toxic and climate-altering gases from wells, storage sites and pipelines under new air quality standards issued on Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency. The rule is the first federal effort to address serious air pollution associated with the natural gas drilling process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which releases toxic and cancer-causing chemicals like benzene and hexane, as well as methane, a powerful greenhouse gas."