Pollution

"The United States and Mexico have signed an agreement outlining specific steps and a new timetable to clean up the longstanding problem of the Tijuana River pouring sewage across the border and polluting California beaches, officials from both countries announced Thursday."

"Old oil wells on the reservation spew chemical-laden water. The feds have done little to honor treaty obligations to clean them up."

"The first-in-the-nation regulation, passed last year, will cut NOx emissions from more than 1 million boilers and water heaters in the smoggy Los Angeles area."

"The Trump administration just dealt another blow to U.S. environmental regulations — one that could allow more contamination of drinking water from toxic coal ash contamination. The Environmental Protection Agency proposed on July 17 to extend deadlines for required reporting and groundwater monitoring at coal ash landfills and dumps."

"Law enforcement agencies, including the FBI, have for years worked alongside private mine security to surveil the largely peaceful protesters who oppose the mine, called Thacker Pass, according to more than 2,000 pages of internal law enforcement communications reviewed by ProPublica."

"A coalition of environmental, labor and public safety groups are calling on US lawmakers to reject the Trump administration’s move to eliminate a federal unit that investigates chemical accidents, citing risks to more than 170 million people who lives in zones at risk for such events."

"The EPA announced Wednesday its plan to re-register dicamba, a herbicide widely used on soybean and cotton farms that has been banned twice by federal courts." 

"The Trump administration has drafted a plan to repeal a fundamental scientific finding that gives the United States government its authority to regulate greenhouse-gas emissions and fight climate change, according to two people familiar with the plan."

"Plastic waste is an exploding global problem, with minimal recycling resulting in incineration as a common disposal practice. Shipments of plastic products and plastic waste from the Global North to the Global South are contributing to a flood of plastics that are not recycled and often burned."

"A wildfire burning in a sparsely populated region of central Oregon has become the largest fire this year and is on the verge of surpassing 100,000 acres to become what’s officially known as a megafire."