Air

The release of a white, powdery catalyst from a Chalmette refinery that blanketed areas southeast of New Orleans on Monday has prompted a class action suit.

"Duke Energy said Wednesday it might close seven coal-fired units at its Carolinas power plants within five years as environmental regulations intensify."

"It's been the hottest summer on record in many cities on the East Coast. And with that blistering weather has come a lot of days of unhealthy air."

"U.S. EPA won't meet its goal of releasing new nationwide standards for ground-level ozone this month, the agency told a federal court Friday."

"American farmers have been ridiculing a proposal by U.S. regulators to reduce the amount of dust floating in rural air."

"The Obama administration has decided to spend $1 billion in Recovery Act funds to build FutureGen 2.0, a clean coal repowering program and carbon dioxide storage network, in Illinois."

"For 40 days, flares burned 500,000 pounds of toxic chemicals over BP's Texas City refinery. Yet residents didn't know until weeks later that the flare released 17,000 pounds of cancer-causing benzene."

"The Obama administration is preparing to issue new fuel economy standards and the first-ever greenhouse gas limits for large trucks and buses."

"Utilities across the country are building dozens of old-style coal plants that will cement the industry's standing as the largest industrial source of climate-changing gases for years to come."

"Recently retired Environmental Protection Agency environmental engineer Weston Wilson is best known for criticizing his employer’s 2004 finding that hydraulic fracturing poses little or no risk to domestic groundwater. Now, the Denver EPA whistleblower is encouraged by the agency’s interest in studying the natural gas development procedure’s potential impacts on air quality as well."