Air

"The Trump administration has illegally delayed rules limiting the discharge of climate-changing methane gas from landfills around the United States and must act on plans for California and several other states by September, a federal judge ruled Monday.

The EPA was to approve or disapprove the state plans by Sept. 30, 2017, and to prepare its own solution two months later for states without an approved plan.

"Two environmental organizations filed a federal lawsuit in Pittsburgh Monday alleging that U.S. Steel Corp.’s illegal operation of its three Mon Valley facilities following a Dec. 24, 2018 fire, that knocked out pollution controls at its Clairton Coke Works, damaged the health of nearby residents."

"The U.S. Justice Department has opened a criminal investigation into Ford Motor Co’s emissions certification process in the United States, the automaker disclosed on Friday, saying it was cooperating fully with the probe and still conducting its own internal review."

"California's reign as the U.S. state with the worst air pollution continues, with Los Angeles again the nation's smoggiest metro area, according to a new report released Wednesday."

"Americans burned a record amount of energy in 2018, with a 10% jump in consumption from booming natural gas helping to lead the way, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says."

"Six-year-old Madelina DeLuca was diagnosed with leukemia when she was just 23 months old."

"The Trump administration on Wednesday issued a regulation it said would impose new restrictions on asbestos, a deadly substance once commonly found in insulation materials. The final Environmental Protection Agency rule goes somewhat further than the initial version the agency had proposed, but public health advocates said it still fell short of the protections needed."

"A prominent environmental group announced new evidence Thursday that methane emissions in New Mexico are climbing amid a surge in oil and natural gas production in the Permian Basin drilling zone that straddles the state boundary with Texas."

"Major cities across the United States are facing increasingly clogged roads and have had frustratingly little success in dealing with them. But now that New York has adopted congestion pricing in Manhattan, the rest of the country is far more likely to seriously consider embracing such a policy — even though it was once considered politically toxic, according to municipal officials and transportation analysts."