Pollution

A new study says that U.S. emissions of the greenhouse gas methane, often emitted by farm and energy operations, are much larger than previously estimated.

"Scio Township resident Roger Rayle is beginning his 21st year as a citizen volunteer watching over the issue of the expanding Pall-Gelman 1,4-dioxane plume."

"Only about half of the prescription drugs and other newly emerging contaminants in sewage are removed by treatment plants."

"Nitrous oxide (N20) emissions could almost double by 2050 if more aggressive action is not taken, undermining global efforts to curb climate change, the United Nations' Environment Programme (UNEP) said on Thursday."

"Shell plans to drill five wells over several years at its Burger prospect in the Chukchi Sea, according to a revised exploration plan filed Nov. 6 and posted online by the U.S. Bureau of Ocean Energy Management."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency plans to study whether plastic pollution on a small island in the Pacific Ocean is severe enough to warrant listing it as a Superfund clean-up site. Tern Island, a 25-acre strip of land about 500 miles northwest of the Hawaiian island Oahu, is home to millions of seabirds, sea turtles, and the endangered Hawaiian monk seal. "

Yale Environment 360 had the story November 19, 2013.

"More than four years after Maryland first moved to regulate its largest poultry and livestock farms, nearly 30 percent, or 169 operations, still do not have required state permits mandating measures to control polluted runoff from their chicken houses or feedlots."

"State health officials rolled out groundbreaking rules for the oil and gas industry Monday to address worsening air pollution, including a requirement that companies control emissions of the greenhouse gas methane, linked to climate change."