"The U.S. Senate voted on Thursday 49-47 to confirm a top air quality official at the Environmental Protection Agency, despite concerns raised by lawmakers over his industry ties."

"U.S. EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is again signaling his determination to slow-walk key compliance decisions for the agency's 2015 ground-level ozone standard, raising the odds that only a prolonged court battle will settle the issue."

"California’s top water regulators adopted an agreement that commits the state to following through on plans of building wetlands and controlling dust around the shrinking Salton Sea over the next 10 years."

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) won’t yet say which areas of the country do not meet the Obama administration’s 2015 regulation on ozone."

"Robert Phalen, an air pollution researcher just named to a key U.S. EPA advisory committee, is defending earlier comments that the air can be 'a little too clean' for children's health as grounded in the broader field of pulmonary medicine."

"A newly appointed member to a top U.S. EPA advisory panel suggested in 2012 that children need exposure to contaminated air to help their lungs ward off pollutants, according to a profile by a leading scientific organization."

"House Republicans proposed eliminating a $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit that automakers have depended on to prop up early sales."

"The ozone hole over Antarctica shrank to its smallest peak since 1988, NASA said Thursday."

"Nancy Johnson has lived near the Salton Sea her entire life. Her grandparents originally moved to the area at the behest of their doctors, who said the hot, dry desert was the perfect antidote for their emphysema."

"The Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to repeal tighter emissions standards for truck components, a rule adopted in the final months of the Obama administration aimed at controlling traditional air pollutants as well as greenhouse-gas emissions linked to climate change."