Pollution

"U.S. EPA is reducing its efforts to address water pollution from livestock operations."

The fracking industry loves to argue that there's no proof its gas-extraction methods cause pollution. One reason they succeed because they settle lawsuits claiming pollution damages by obligating the plaintiffs to remain silent.

"U.S. regulators are giving the oil industry and other stakeholders more time to weigh in on a controversial proposal to stiffen standards for wells drilled on federal lands, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell pledged Thursday."

A series of oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico, damaged during a September 2004 hurricane, are still leaking in a "chronic" oil spill. SkyTruth brought the pollution to light using satellite imagery, aerial photography, and publicly available government data. The slicks are bigger than the company responsible is reporting.

"Federal environmental officials have completed part of a massive cleanup of lead from Omaha properties that began 15 years ago."

"No bases visited, no vets interviewed for Pentagon probe into dioxin in Okinawa."

"On the coastal plain of eastern North Carolina, families in certain rural communities daily must deal with the piercing, acrid odor of hog manure—reminiscent of rotten eggs and ammonia—wafting from nearby industrial hog farms. On bad days, the odor invades homes, and people are often forced to cover their mouths and noses when stepping outside. Sometimes, residents say, a fine mist of manure sprinkles nearby homes, cars, and even laundry left on the line to dry."

"GE Energy Services' coal-fired power plant in Homer City will be required to meet federal standards for emissions of sulfur dioxide that are more protective of human health."

"The Houston area produces about a quarter of the nation's gasoline, and about a third of the plastics that are in our cars, cupboards and just about everywhere else. So it is no surprise that this heavily industrial area has a problem with air pollution. But in the past decade, Houston's air has improved dramatically."