Consumer

"Coca-Cola may have to sell more drinks in plastic bottles in the US if President Donald Trump's tariffs end up making aluminium cans more expensive, the company's chief executive, James Quincey, said in a call with investors."

"Electric and gas utilities routinely charge ratepayers for costs related to political advocacy, ads to burnish their brand, and even luxury perks for executives and employees, according to a recent report by the utility watchdog group Energy and Policy Institute, or EPI. Such expenses add up to millions of dollars paid by customers toward utilities’ efforts to raise prices and stall climate progress."

"The head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking to end contracts agreed by the previous administration to distribute $20 billion in grants to fund clean energy and transportation projects in disadvantaged communities, he said on Thursday."

"The federal government is seeking the dismissal of a lawsuit brought by animal-welfare activists over an Iowa puppy-mill operator."

"Climate change is quickly upending the home insurance market in the United States as well as globally and is projected to bring sweeping change in U.S. real estate values over the next 30 years, new research shows."

"The 10 percent tariff the president said he might impose in March could cause U.S. refineries to cut production and lead to higher prices."

"As aging private wells fall into disrepair, residents are left traveling miles to access or buy clean drinking water. Public officials say it’s a humanitarian crisis but argue there’s little they can do."

"Experts are questioning President Donald Trump’s latest effort to slow the electric vehicle charging buildout in the U.S. ... The administration may need an act of Congress for this, and it’s unclear there will be one. Industry leaders say customer demand will continue to drive growth in the charging network, regardless of federal funding."

"Microplastics contamination is widespread in seafood sampled in a recent study, adding to growing evidence of the dangerous substances’ ubiquity in the nation’s food system, and a growing threat to human health."  "The peer-reviewed study detected microplastics in 180 of 182 samples comprising five types of fish and pink shrimp".

"The data, which appeared fleetingly online on Wednesday, confirmed transmission in two households. Scientists called on the agency to release the full report."