"Acting EPA Administrator James Payne has ousted all members of two of the agency’s most influential science advisory panels, giving President Donald Trump’s administration the opportunity to reshape them with its own appointees."

"The Florida mayor said the threat of legal challenges and other expenses made building a new waste-to-energy facility too difficult. She now recommends landfilling to meet long-term capacity needs."

"At the height of the Los Angeles County wildfires, atmospheric concentrations of lead, a neurotoxin, reached 100 times average levels even miles from the flames, according to early detailed measurements obtained by The New York Times. Levels of chlorine, which is also toxic at low concentrations, reached 40 times the average."

"Toyota’s heavy-duty trucking unit was fined $1.6 billion on Wednesday over fraudulent emissions testing and other violations."

"Twelve Texas counties have recently exceeded federal air quality standards for particulate matter, commonly known as soot. But Texas environmental regulators are proposing that only four of them be required to take action to improve their air quality."

"California has decided to abandon its groundbreaking regulations phasing out diesel trucks and requiring cleaner locomotives because the incoming Trump administration is unlikely to allow the state to implement them."

"Chemical residues from burned houses, cars, consumer products and fire retardants create toxic hazards for fire survivors."

"Helping drive the wildfires in the US city of Los Angeles are the so-called Santa Ana winds, a weather phenomenon known to dry out "the hills and the nerves to flash point."

"Los Angeles has experienced some of the world’s worst air quality this week as smoke from massive wildfires blankets the region and threatens the health of far more people than the fires themselves. And that will end up adding to the economic toll."