"The Trump administration is reopening a loophole to allow more mercury emissions from some coal-fired power plants, provoking swift denunciations from public health advocates who said the rollback will leave children at further risk of exposure to the brain-damaging element."
"Peggy Shepard walked into her living room on Tuesday morning when her husband told her Jesse Jackson, the civil rights titan from South Carolina, had died. “Immediately tears started coming,” said Shepard, co-founder and executive director of WE ACT for Environmental Justice, a New York City-based nonprofit."
"Environmental group Extinction Rebellion said on Wednesday it was under federal US investigation and that some of its members had been visited by FBI agents, including from the agency’s taskforce on extremism, in the last year."
"Ozone and particulate matter air pollutants cause over 100,000 premature deaths per year and affect the health of millions of Americans. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said last month that his agency would stop considering those costs when drafting new regulations."
"The legislation would make oil and gas firms pay for climate damages from burning their products. Trump has referred to such laws as 'extortion.'"
"Polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, haven’t been produced since 1979, after studies found that exposure to them could cause a variety of harmful health effects, including cancer. But they were so widely used before then and so long-lasting that they still impair water quality in much of the tidal Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries."
"California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced this week that state oil and gas regulators have permanently closed one of the most infamous drill sites in Los Angeles, bringing an end to a decades-long community campaign to prevent dangerous gas leaks and spills from rundown extraction equipment."
Reporting on extreme-weather disasters is complicated, challenging work. Besides covering immediate impacts, there’s the broader context to consider, from climate change to social and political dynamics — all while looking out for your personal safety and well-being. Environmental journalist Colleen Hagerty draws on her own and others’ front-line experiences as she shares insights and advice for telling these high-stakes stories.
"When one couple’s water turned toxic, state oil regulators delayed key tests that could find a source of contamination. The state didn’t tell the couple for over a month that tests showed their drinking water was contaminated with high levels of barium, which can cause heart problems."
"Lawyers for residents say that zoning that concentrates pollution in Black districts is a violation of the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery."
