"A federal appeals court yesterday upheld nearly all U.S. EPA designations of areas where airborne soot concentrations exceed national standards, rejecting challenges from state and local governments and industry groups."

Should youth practice or play sports outdoors on days when the EPA cautions them against heavy exercise?

"Studies Are Homing in on Which Particles Polluting the Air Are Most Sickening -- and Why"

California this week put in place the toughest restrictions in the world on smog from ships, requiring reductions of more than 80 percent of soot from foreign and US ships out to 24 miles from shore. Tankers, cargo vessels and cruise ships burn bunker fuel, which has sulfur content as much as 1,000 times higher than on-road diesel. The US is moving forward to copy California's rules by 2015. Paul Rogers reports in the San Jose Mercury News.

"A judge has ordered Chevron Corp. to stop work on its controversial oil refinery expansion in Richmond, [Calif.], handing environmentalists their biggest victory in a long fight over the project."

"The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing tougher rules to reduce air pollution from large oceangoing ships, including oil tankers and cargo vessels."

"The Obama administration on Monday proposed to strengthen a key air pollution health standard to better protect children and people with respiratory illnesses."

"The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality will evaluate older coal-fired power plants for compliance with today's federal air quality standards, Virginia Governor Tim Kaine announced today. The state will survey air pollution from facilities throughout Virginia that were initially grandfathered by the 1970 federal Clean Air Act."