Environmental Health

"A bankruptcy court ruled Friday that Exide Technologies may abandon its shuttered battery recycling plant in Vernon, leaving a massive cleanup of lead and other toxic pollutants at the site and in surrounding neighborhoods to California taxpayers."

"The yellow Townsend Warbler lay lifeless on the gravel ground near Grant county, New Mexico, the eyes in its yellow-striped head closed, its black feathery underbelly exposed."

"Wildfires churning out dense plumes of smoke as they scorch huge swaths of the U.S. West Coast have exposed millions of people to hazardous pollution levels, causing emergency room visits to spike and potentially thousands of deaths among the elderly and infirm, according to an Associated Press analysis of pollution data and interviews with physicians, health authorities and researchers."

"Scientists studying climate change say that the re-election of Donald Trump could make it "impossible" to keep global temperatures in check."

"The oil and natural gas industry has a clear favorite in the 2020 presidential election: Republican Donald Trump."

"Wildfires leave behind more than scorched earth and destroyed homes: Rising smoke plumes can contain chemicals that disperse not only into the air but in soil, water, indoor dust, and even wildlife."

"A shuffle to the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) independent board of science advisers will add a longtime consultant who has worked for the tobacco and chemicals industries while promoting a member listed as someone “not to pick” by the Union of Concerned Scientists to be the panel's chair."

"Newly unsealed court documents provide additional evidence that chemical giant Union Carbide Corp. failed to report the presence of a toxic dumping site in South Charleston that has been leaking hazardous substances into nearby Davis Creek."

"Decades ago several bird species in the Great Lakes—including the iconic bald eagle—faced an uncertain future because toxic chemicals were threatening their populations. While several bans and policies have offered some protection, the same chemicals threatening these birds 60 years ago continue to accumulate in their bodies—and new chemical threats are adding to their toxic burdens, according to two new studies."

"Supreme Court nominee Amy Coney Barrett called climate change 'a contentious matter' and declined to acknowledge the existence of the scientifically established phenomenon during the third day of her confirmation hearing."