Pollution

"ASHEVILLE, N.C. — Developer Richard Green had nearly everything in place to build upscale homes on the heavily polluted land next to an old electronic components plant in the mountains outside Asheville. All he needed was a permit."

"A federal appeals court today threw out U.S. EPA's decision to extend a compliance deadline for its ozone air standard, as well as the agency's revoking a stringency requirement for transportation projects."

"On Thursday, the Southern Environmental Law Center, representing the Sierra Club, sent notice to Dominion Virginia Power of their intention to bring suit under the Clean Water Act to clean up leaking coal ash pits at the Chesapeake Energy Center (CEC) on the Southern Branch of the Elizabeth River in Chesapeake, Virginia."

"The Environmental Protection Agency on Friday announced the first federal guidelines for disposing of coal ash, instructing power plants to implement safeguards against contaminating nearby water supplies."

"Air pollution should be one of the avoidable heart risk factors - just like smoking and excess fat - that doctors warn patients to steer clear of, according to a new statement from 20 heart experts."

"Women who are exposed to high levels of air pollution during their third trimester of pregnancy may be twice as likely to have an autistic child, a study found."

"Thick tar clogging 350 sq km of delicate mangrove forest and river delta, home to endangered Bengal tigers and rare dolphins."

"AUSTIN — In 2007, Texas regulators quietly relaxed the state’s long-term air pollution guideline for benzene, one of the world’s most toxic and thoroughly studied chemicals. The number they came up with, still in effect, was 40 percent weaker, or less health-protective, than the old one."

"The Obama administration as soon as Wednesday will announce its plans for curbing methane emissions from the oil and gas sector, which the United States must do to meet its 2020 target for cutting greenhouse gas emissions, people familiar with the issue said Tuesday."

"The federal government is about to announce its first rules for the handling and storage of potentially toxic coal ash, months after tons of the waste spilled into a major river in North Carolina."