Environmental Health

"Local officials in Florida have approved the release of 750 million mosquitoes that have been genetically modified to reduce local populations. The aim is to reduce the number of mosquitoes that carry diseases like dengue or the Zika virus."

In Europe, policymakers have seized on the coronavirus pandemic to re-envision how cities should look, feel and function. ... So far, American policymakers have shown noticeably less ambition."

"Michigan will pay $600 million to compensate Flint residents whose health was damaged by lead-tainted drinking water after the city heeded state regulators’ advice not to treat it properly, an attorney involved in the negotiations told The Associated Press on Wednesday."

"At least four people have died as a result of wildfires fueled by a heat wave and a blitz of lightning strikes in [California's] northern areas. The clusters of fires merged into orange infernos that are creeping up on residential areas, turning neighborhoods into ash and smoldering ruins."

"Climate change hit home in Colorado this week, exacerbating multiple environmental calamities: wildfires burning across 135,423 acres, stream flows shrinking to where state officials urged limits on fishing, drought wilting crops, and record temperatures baking heat-absorbing cities."

"Chicago’s water commissioner Randy Conner said the city will soon release a plan to remove and replace all of Chicago’s lead water lines."

"Mink at two Utah fur farms have tested positive for the virus that causes covid-19 in humans, the Department of Agriculture said Monday, announcing the first U.S. cases in a species that has been widely culled in Europe following outbreaks there."

"The world’s largest listed oil companies have wiped almost $90bn from the value of their oil and gas assets in the last nine months as the coronavirus pandemic accelerates a global shift away from fossil fuels."

"EPA's first environmental justice chief was left gasping for breath when she visited an industrial town in Louisiana to tout her office's work in 1997."

"A groundbreaking, multibillion-dollar watershed protection plan launched more than two decades ago by New York City and rural partners sufficiently protects the city’s drinking water supply from contamination, according to the findings of an expert panel."