Pollution

"Some 92% of the population live in places where air pollution exceeds WHO limits, which can contribute to lung cancer, heart disease, and strokes."

"House lawmakers on Monday teed up debate on a major waterways bill, which is expected to draw Democratic opposition for not including emergency funding for lead-stricken communities such as Flint, Mich., or a provision related to the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund."

"Toxic algae that first turned up in the York River in 2007 hasn't merely taken hold — its bloom has exploded this summer in the Chesapeake Bay and beyond, expanding farther and lasting longer than scientists have ever seen before."

"The Congressional Black Caucus is berating GOP leaders for not including funding for Flint, Mich., in the latest government spending bill unveiled this week."

"TYLER, Ala. — The hard clay soil in this rural Southern county has twice cursed Dorothy Rudolph. It is good for growing cotton and cucumbers, the crops she worked as a child and hated. And it is bad for burying things — in particular, septic tanks."

"A loose coalition of more than 100 countries, including the US and European nations, is pushing for an early phase-out of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), a powerful greenhouse gas that if left unchecked is set to add a potentially disastrous 0.5C to global temperatures by the end of the century."

"The State Water Control Board unanimously approved a complex and expansive permit Thursday that will allow Dominion Virginia Power to drain millions of gallons of wastewater from the coal ash ponds at its Chesterfield Power Station, the largest fossil fuel plant in Virginia, then treat it and discharge it into the James River."

"Environmentalists are warning the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that its draft plan to continue allowing oil and gas companies to dump unlimited amounts of fracking chemicals and wastewater directly into the Gulf of Mexico is in violation of federal law."

"Colonial Pipeline announced Wednesday that the company has restarted its Line 1, which had been shut down for more than 12 days, causing gasoline shortages and price increases, felt most in places like Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee."

"ExxonMobil Corp. has agreed to pay $12 million to Montana and the U.S. government to restore natural resources damaged or destroyed by a pipeline rupture in 2011 that spilled oil into the Yellowstone River, according to a settlement proposed on Wednesday."