Air

"As nearly 300,000 fans prepare to arrive in Los Angeles for the men’s World Cup soccer championship in mid-June, the international soccer federation is coming under fire for what climate scientists and advocates are calling the most polluting World Cup in history."

"Across a quiet Oklahoma town, a mysterious black dust has appeared throughout neighborhoods. As residents search for answers, many say this triggers memories from decades before."

"In rural Jasper County, two defining energy trends of the Trump era — reviving coal and building gas-powered data centers — are converging."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed a delay in enforcement of a regulation requiring ‌significant cuts in air pollution from vehicles."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency moved Thursday to roll back limits that require coal-fired power plants to prevent the release of toxic heavy metals into streams and rivers through polluted groundwater, saying a three-year-old rule is unduly costly for the energy industry at a time when energy demand is spiking."

"xAI has added 19 natural gas turbines to its second data center campus in Southhaven, Mississippi, over the past two months, according to internal emails seen by WIRED. The additions come as xAI is fighting a lawsuit from the NAACP and several environmental groups, alleging that the company is violating the Clean Air Act by operating more than two dozen natural gas turbines at the site without appropriate air permits."

"Coal-fired power plants across the country released more mercury last year as power demand surged, reversing a yearslong downward trend in the emissions of a toxic metal that impairs brain development."

"Blue Hill is the nation’s oldest continually operating weather observatory, according to executive director Alex Evans. Since 1885, staff and volunteers have relied on many of the same instruments, including mercury and alcohol thermometers, hygrometers that use human hair to measure moisture in the air, and that glass sphere on the roof tracking the hours of bright sunshine."

"The world’s maritime nations preserved a plan to adopt the first global carbon fee on shipping, as they agreed to keep working on it in the fall and adjourned their meeting Friday. However, they also agreed to continue discussing alternative proposals and entertain new ones, which could change the plan substantially."

"The Trump administration says the cities shouldn’t be penalized for unhealthy air because pollution can blow in from abroad. Some experts say that’s preposterous."