Pollution

"A senior executive at the Russian nuclear processing plant suspected of being behind a spike of radioactivity over Europe this fall admitted Wednesday that the isotope recorded does emerge as part of the plant’s production cycle but said its levels are negligible."

"U.S. Steel failed to test a Lake Michigan tributary for highly toxic hexavalent chromium after blue liquid "with visible solids" poured out of one of the company's northwest Indiana plants in late October, according to documents posted online Tuesday by state regulators."

"The man President Trump picked to regulate coal believes that mining is simply 'accelerated erosion.'"

"The Environmental Protection Agency released a list of Superfund sites around the country Friday that it said regulators will target 'for immediate and intense attention.'"

"It’s one of the dirtiest places in America. Former residents of Tar Creek, Oklahoma, want to know why Trump’s EPA chief didn’t prosecute allegations of wrongdoing during a federal buyout program."

"U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is instructing agency officials to effectively drop enforcement of one key facet of the New Source Review program, in what could be a prelude to broad changes in the handling of air permits for both new plants and expansions of existing facilities."

"The head of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is seeking a 30-day extension in the agency’s timeline to consider a proposal to prop up coal and nuclear power plants."

"Fourteen states and the District of Columbia announced Thursday that they are suing the Trump administration over what they say is a failure to enforce smog standards."

"A top Volkswagen official in the United States was sentenced on Wednesday to seven years in prison for his role in the German automaker’s decade-long scheme to cheat on diesel emissions tests."