Pollution

"Blazes at the imperiled hazardous waste sites could release toxins ranging from acid mine drainage to radioactive smoke."

"As the mother of five asthmatic children, Charday Urey knows the drill. When an EPA air quality index tips into the "unhealthy" zone, she closes the windows, turns on the air conditioner and keeps her kids indoors."

"State prosecutors have announced they will not pursue felony charges against two New Orleans environmental activists who left plastic pellets on the doorstep of a chemical industry lobbyist."

"Ohio lawmakers faced fierce blowback last winter over a bill that would escalate criminal charges on fossil fuel protesters and threaten religious organizations or nonprofits that support such demonstrations with crushing fines."

"Some Hopi families don’t have running water. Many others have water tainted with arsenic. Steps toward fixes are finally taking shape."

"MISHONGNOVI — At the end of a dusty road, beside two water tanks in the desert shrubs, a windmill spins in the breeze.

From a spigot, water flows through a blue hose and gushes into a bucket.

When the water reaches the brim, Kayla Johnson heaves the bucket into the back of her family’s car. Her younger brother, Terron, holds the hose and keeps the stream running into a 5-gallon jug.

"For the first time in three decades, the federal government on Tuesday overhauled a rule aimed at reducing lead in drinking water across the country — a long-standing scourge made worse by the nation’s weathered and crumbling infrastructure." "But the government is allowing many of the nation’s 6 million lead water pipes to remain in service, and health advocates say risks remain".

"The Hawaii county Civil Defense Agency (COH) has asked residents to stay indoors after the Kilauea volcano erupted following a series of earthquakes."

"An ambitious plan by Eastern states for a regional cap-and-trade program to curb greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks got off to a slow start Monday after just three states — Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island — plus Washington, D.C., formally agreed to adopt it."

"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) warned that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) rationale for freezing air quality regulations was “not scientifically defensible” before the agency finalized the rule earlier this month."