"The influential rightwing lobby group the American Legislative Exchange Council (Alec) is driving a surge in new state laws to block boycotts of the oil industry. The group’s strategy, which aims to protect large oil firms and other conservative-friendly industries, is modelled on legislation to punish divestment from Israel."
"A federal judge on Friday blocked the Biden administration’s attempt to put greater emphasis on potential damage from greenhouse gas emissions when creating rules for polluting industries."
"EPA and indoor air quality experts are pushing ventilation and filtration as a key means to keep kids healthy during the pandemic as other measures to stop the spread of Covid-19 have become increasingly polarized."
"The U.S. Department of the Interior announced the release of nearly $725 million in funding for cleaning up old coal-mining facilities. It’s the first tranche of a record $11.3 billion dedicated to coal cleanup in last year’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, to be disbursed over the next 15 years."
"Highway expansions tend to bring more greenhouse gas emissions. A few states are trying to change that dynamic, but it won’t be easy."
"Nearly $725 million in federal funding is available this fiscal year to 22 states and the Navajo Nation for the reclamation of abandoned coal mines and cleanup of acid mine drainage, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced Monday."
"In a new draft document, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) science advisers recommended that the agency tighten its air quality standards for soot pollution after the Trump administration declined to make such a move.
The new draft that was released Friday by the EPA’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) says “all CASAC members agree that the current level of the annual standard is not sufficiently protective of public health and should be lowered.”
A key federal database on toxic chemicals, kneecapped under the Trump administration, is now back. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox reports that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last week resurfaced the ChemView service, and explains the background law that fuels its data, while offering tips on how to make smart use of the database as it expands in coming years.
"Studies in Kern County, performed by oil industry consultants, cannot answer fundamental safety questions about irrigating crops with “produced water,” the board’s own panel of experts concedes."
"About 86 percent of people living in urban areas worldwide — 2.5 billion people — are being exposed to air pollution levels roughly seven times greater than World Health Organization guidelines, according to new research, led by George Washington University researchers and published in the Lancet Planetary Health journal."
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