"General Motors will pay nearly $146 million in penalties to the federal government because 5.9 million of its older vehicles do not comply with emissions and fuel economy standards."
"Allegations of possible payments to help secure votes. Claims of abuse of agency funds by top diplomats. A possible job offer to entice a candidate to withdraw from a race. These are not the shenanigans of a corrupt election in an unstable country. Rather, they are efforts in the seemingly genteel parlors of a United Nations-affiliated agency, meant to sway decisions related to the start of seabed mining of the metals used in electric vehicles."
"A single line included in the proposed annual appropriations bill for the U.S. Department of Labor and other agencies could — if adopted by congress later this year — halt the implementation of a newly finalized rule limiting the amount of silica dust miners are exposed to while working underground."
Pesticides are a major environmental and public health issue — harming vulnerable human populations, as well as contributing to declines in insect populations and even the birds that feed on them. The latest Reporter’s Toolbox explores an invaluable government database that reports estimates of county-level use of a wide array of these chemicals, but which recently faced severe cutbacks. Read more about the Pesticide National Synthesis Project.
"Google’s emissions rose 13 percent last year despite the tech giant’s goals to become net-zero by the end of the decade as artificial intelligence (AI) drives an increase in energy consumption."
"The world’s biggest banks and investors are continuing to funnel billions of dollars to carbon-intensive industrial livestock companies, undermining their own pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions and fueling an ongoing boom in meat and milk production that threatens global climate goals."
"Azerbaijan, host of this year's United Nations COP29 climate summit, will upgrade its national emissions-cutting target ahead of the November event, a senior official said on Tuesday."
"Flowing down the Mississippi River, the excess fertilizer that washes off vast swaths of farmland fuels a persistent “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico and threatens drinking water supplies upstream. Yet despite more than a quarter-century of federal effort and billions spent on potential solutions, experts say the watershed is “not even close” to its targets for fixing the problem."
"The oil industry withdrew its $40 million campaign to kill a historic law to protect neighborhoods from oil drilling’s toxic effects, but is threatening to challenge the measure in court."
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