Pollution

"On a sprawling ranch in Pecos County in late July, oil well control specialist Hawk Dunlap used a backhoe to uncover an abandoned or so-called zombie well that had sprung back to life despite being plugged just over a year earlier, hissing gas and bubbling toxic water into the dry Texas dirt."

"A federal appeals court has rejected a lawsuit from petrochemical manufacturers against an EPA rule that targets cancer-causing emissions from chemical plants."

"In Gaza, the sky is full of menace. As well as the missiles that rain down on schools and shelters, the brutal rays of the sun have made the summer unbearable for those struggling to survive in a ravaged landscape of ruins and rubble."

"After Donald Trump asked the oil industry to contribute $1 billion to his presidential campaign in April, oil baron Harold Hamm immediately started working the phones."

"As this year’s temperatures continue to break records, farmworkers who toil in the heat remain one of the groups most vulnerable to heat-related illnesses. But another element of their jobs is making extreme heat even more dangerous: pesticide drift."

"Drought-driven drinking water contamination is disproportionately affecting members of California’s Latino communities, a new study has found."

"After being in place for over six years, a boil water notice for the small West Texas town of Toyah has been lifted."

"Along any busy roadway, the remnants of car exhaust hang in the air, among them nitrogen oxides and ozone. These pollutants, which are also released by many industrial facilities and power plants, float through the air for hours to years. Scientists have long known that these chemicals are harmful to human health. But now, a growing body of evidence suggests that these same pollutants also make life harder for insect pollinators and the plants that rely on them."

"In hundreds of U.S. cities and towns, extreme rainfalls are overwhelming outdated sewer systems, flooding waterways with untreated sewage."

"Tropical Storm Debby brought intense rainfall and flooding threats to North Carolina on Thursday, highlighting the vulnerability of hog lagoons and wastewater treatment plants."