Consumer

"Though utilities’ mission is to provide clean water, their trade groups for decades have often fiercely opposed initiatives to improve quality"

"Russ Lewis has picked up some strange things along the coast of Long Beach Peninsula in Washington state over the years: Hot Wheels bicycle helmets with feather tufts, life-size plastic turkey decoys made for hunters, colorful squirt guns." ... "These items aren’t like the used fishing gear and beer cans that Lewis also finds tossed overboard by fishers or partygoers. They’re the detritus of commercial shipping containers lost in the open ocean."

"Urban populations in Southern Californian are facing chronic exposure to toxic airborne “plasticizer” compounds — two of which have already been banned from children’s products, a new study has found."

"House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn “G.T.” Thompson (R-Pa.) is meeting with congressional leaders on agricultural policy Thursday to try to secure a last-minute deal on passing the farm bill."

"In Arizona, researchers are studying playgrounds where the equipment gets so hot it can burn kids’ skin. As heat worsens nationwide, other communities will need to take note."

"The Federal Housing Finance Agency has for months debated adopting a minimum energy efficiency standard for new homes. On Monday, lawmakers demanded action."

“Paper or plastic” will no longer be a choice at grocery store checkout lines in California under a new law signed Sunday by Gov. Gavin Newsom that bans all plastic shopping bags."

"The landmark lawsuit is the first time a state has targeted an oil company over claims that recycling could solve the plastic pollution crisis."

"The GOP-controlled House approved a resolution Friday that would overturn a new Biden administration rule on automobile emissions that Republicans say would force Americans to buy unaffordable electric vehicles they don’t want."