Pollution

"Get ready for a surge of lawsuits over the Trump administration's decision to walk back Obama-era protections for wetlands and streams."

"Opponents of the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine urged the Minnesota Court of Appeals on Wednesday to cancel two of the project’s most important permits and order further proceedings to determine whether the mine’s environmental and financial safeguards are adequate."

"The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday rolled out a five-year plan for funding a popular program for restoring the Great Lakes, even though in the not-so-distant past the Trump administration tried to ax the environmental initiative almost entirely."

"The National Wildlife Federation, Natural Resources Defense Council, and nine other groups sued Oct. 23 in the U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina, accusing the federal government of breaking the law in its rollback of the 2015 Clean Water Rule."

"New data may signal a deadly change in America’s environmental health."

"After years of decline, a spike in air pollution may have taken the lives of almost 10,000 additional Americans over two years.

Following a 24% drop between 2009 and 2016, particulate matter air pollution in the U.S. increased 5.5% in 2017 and 2018, according to a new analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data by two Carnegie Mellon economists.

The working paper published this week by the National Bureau of Economic Research may signal a deadly change in U.S. environmental health.

"Thanks to unusually warm temperatures high above Antarctica this month, the ozone hole shrank to its smallest size on record, scientists reported Monday."

"For decades, Coca-Cola has burnished its public image as an environmentally caring company with donations to recycling nonprofits. Meanwhile, as one of the world’s most polluting brands, Coke has quietly fought efforts to hold the company accountable for plastic waste."

"When leaders from Exxon Mobil and BP gathered last month with other fossil-fuel executives to declare they were serious about climate change, they cited progress in curbing an energy-wasting practice called flaring — the intentional burning of natural gas as companies drill faster than pipelines can move the energy away. But in recent years, some of these same companies have significantly increased their flaring ... ."

"The Pentagon’s inspector general is examining the military’s use of a dangerous but ubiquitous class of man-made chemicals that has leached into the drinking water of millions of Americans, including many living near military bases across the country."