"One of the nation’s largest railroads has notified customers that it will stop shipping key chemicals used in water treatment and agriculture on Dec. 1, the latest development in a standoff over a year-end safety deadline few railroads are expected to meet.:

"An expanding investigation into Volkswagen's emissions-cheating scandal launched by state attorneys general could last years and will likely end in a negotiated settlement."

"Toyota, under ambitious environmental targets, is aiming to sell hardly any regular gasoline vehicles by 2050, only hybrids and fuel cells, to radically reduce emissions."

"Environmental groups filed a lawsuit to try to put a wrench in an Oakland developer's plans to ship coal through the city."

"The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will investigate the sinking of a cargo ship that vanished five days ago near the Bahamas. The U.S. Coast Guard on Monday said the ship sank in the brutal seas and high winds of Hurricane Joaquin."

"Volkswagen's pollution-control chicanery has not just been victimless tinkering, killing between five and 20 people in the United States annually in recent years, according to an Associated Press statistical and computer analysis."

Trains carrying hazardous liquids have recently caused more than a dozen explosions, fires, and spills around the country. But communities have little say over hazardous rail facilities in their midst. The rail industry is exploiting obscure historic exemptions from state and local laws protecting communities.

"Volkswagen’s diesel deception unleashed tons of extra pollutants in the United States, pollutants that can harm human health. So while many commentators have been quick to say that the cheating engines are not a highway safety concern, safety — as in health — is still an issue."

"Volkswagen AG's upmarket Audi brand says 2.1 million of its vehicles are among those with the engines affected by the emissions-rigging scandal."