Chemicals

"Efforts to expand production and exports of ethane—a natural gas byproduct used to make plastics—were criticized by groups that told the Department of Energy Tuesday that any job gains wouldn’t benefit regions bearing the brunt of environmental damage."

"Although the formaldehyde assessment has grave implications for public health, Trump administration officials refused to allow the EPA to release it."

"Frackers in America’s largest oil field are letting massive amounts of natural gas spill into the atmosphere. Scientists and activists are trying to find the leaks and get them plugged before they cook the planet further."

"A tsunami of electric vehicles is expected in rich countries, as car companies and governments pledge to ramp up their numbers – there are predicted be 145m on the roads by 2030. But while electric vehicles can play an important role in reducing emissions, they also contain a potential environmental timebomb: their batteries."

"Numbers of the country’s carrion-loving birds dropped by over 97% in the 1990s. Now, a successful breeding scheme is giving them a boost".

"Herbicides are losing the war — and agriculture might never be the same again."

"The Energy Department on Wednesday proposed reversing a Trump-era rule that was expected to undermine its ability to regulate efficiency of both residential furnaces and commercial water heaters."

"Minnesota pollution control and natural resources officials on Wednesday released a $700 million plan to improve the drinking water for 14 Twin Cities communities whose groundwater was contaminated due to decadeslong chemical disposal by 3M Co."

"Construction on an enormous $9.4 billion plastics plant proposed in St. James Parish must be delayed so the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can do a more extensive and lengthy review of the facility's impacts on the environment and nearby minority communities, a top Army official said Wednesday."