"The creation of synthetic fertilizers in the early 20th century was a turning point in human history, enabling an increase in crop yields and causing a population boom. But the overuse of nitrogen and phosphorus from those fertilizers is causing an environmental crisis, as algae blooms and oceanic “dead zones” grow in scale and frequency."
"The World Health Organization has cut its recommended limits for air pollution and urged nations to tackle dirty air and save millions of lives. In the first update for 16 years, the guideline limit for the most damaging pollution – tiny particles from burning fossil fuels – has been halved."
"The Biden administration will finalize its first new climate rule Thursday, slashing the use of greenhouse gases warming the planet at a rate hundreds to thousands of times higher than carbon dioxide."
"As climate change amplifies the health risks of extreme heat and pollution from wildfires, researchers scramble to protect farmworkers."
"Oil and gas companies have a century-old bad habit of drilling wells and ditching them. And while Congress finally has a plan to plug some abandoned wells, new proposals effectively pass the fossil fuel industry’s cleanup costs on to taxpayers and may even enable more drilling."
In a few weeks, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will officially release the latest year’s Toxics Release Inventory. But as Reporter’s Toolbox explains, you can get ahead of the data — and possibly generate some scoops. That’s because EPA quietly releases incomplete preliminary data months earlier. Top tips on making sense of the early data, along with nine smart story leads.
"The EPA is revoking fast-tracked guidance clarifying Trump-era Clean Water Act permitting requirements for indirect water pollution, according to an agency memorandum posted online Thursday."
"Los Angeles County supervisors voted unanimously Wednesday to phase out oil and gas drilling and ban new drill sites in the unincorporated areas of the nation’s most populous county."
"The hole in the ozone layer that develops annually is “rather larger than usual” and is currently bigger than Antartica, say the scientists responsible for monitoring it."
"The developer of an oil refinery near Theodore Roosevelt National Park will keep its construction permit active, even after it has faced delays and received two extensions."
