"Oil- and coal-fired power plants would be forced to reduce mercury emissions under a deal that ends a long-standing suit by environmentalists."

"An Environmental Protection Agency proposal that would compel [Great Lakes] vessels to burn cleaner fuel and upgrade their engines has sparked a furious behind-the-scenes lobbying campaign that has come to a head this week, pitting congressional Democrats against a Democratic administration as lawmakers allied with Midwestern and Alaskan shippers pressure the EPA to back down and protect jobs."

"U.S. EPA has proposed withdrawing part of a George W. Bush-era air toxics regulation, saying the rule may not accurately characterize the risk posed by petroleum refinery emissions."

"Michigan’s 19 coal-fired power plants will need to install technology to reduce mercury emissions by 2015, according to new rules finalized this week."

"The Obama administration is cracking down on BP as the oil company overhauls its massive refinery in northwest Indiana, one of the largest sources of air pollution in the Chicago area."

"The port agrees to remove requirements not directly related to the push to allow only newer, less-polluting trucks at the complex, including a demand that trucking firms file financial reports."

"Groups argue over whether benefits of green technology outweigh the possible health effects associated with burning garbage."

"The state is poised to ban the use of mercury-tainted coal fly ash at a Ravena cement plant that is the state's second largest source of airborne mercury pollution."

Cancer stories "are numbingly familiar to people who live in the vicinity of Tonawanda Coke Corp. The coke foundry recently was found by the state Department of Environmental Conservation to be emitting benzene, a carcinogen, up to 75 times higher than recommended guidelines. Those levels were up to 2ù times more than what the company reported to regulators."

"Clean air advocates are girding for a battle over a possible amendment to the annual U.S. EPA spending bill that would weaken the agency's ability to regulate air pollution from oceangoing vessels."

A new generation of urban, blue-collar environmentalists is waging war over "environmental justice" in the dense, polluted Latino neighborhoods of Los Angeles.

"The contested air permit for the Sithe Global Desert Rock coal-fired power plant on the Navajo Reservation in New Mexico today was sent back to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for additional analysis."

"The World Health Organisation (WHO) has drastically cut the maximum amount of radon -- a naturally occurring gas -- that should be permitted in homes because of strong evidence it causes lung cancer."

"Texas' new plan to improve the Houston area's famously dirty air may not meet federal limits for smog."

"The Obama administration signaled Wednesday that it would scrap a controversial Bush-era rule that set stricter limits for smog but fell short of scientific recommendations."