Pollution

"The Obama administration will soon finish rules aimed at controlling pollution from toxic coal ash, making good on a promise it made less than two months after President Obama’s inauguration."

"The city of Libby was home to a mine that blanketed residents in asbestos dust for decades. After years of cleanup, the Environmental Protection Agency now says most of the risk is gone."

"A coalition of environmental groups reminded President Obama Monday that they want him to set set strong standard for coal ash storage."

"It is no secret that the world’s oceans are swimming with plastic debris — the first floating masses of trash were discovered in the 1990s. But researchers are starting to get a better sense of the size and scope of the problem."

"The federal government’s big-money commitment to restoring the Great Lakes is now almost certain to continue another five years thanks to House passage Tuesday of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative of 2014."

SAN PEDRO VILLAGE, Peru -- "It is a disaster hidden from the environmental leaders gathered inside the walls of a military compound in Lima on a mission to fight climate change."

"BILLINGS, Mont. — A long-delayed risk study released Monday for a Montana mining town where hundreds of people have died from asbestos poisoning concludes cleanup practices now in place are reducing risks to residents."

"Gov.-elect Larry Hogan promised Maryland farmers Monday that his 'first fight' in office would be against costly new farm pollution regulations, even as environmental groups released new data showing many Eastern Shore chicken farms could be fouling the Chesapeake Bay."

"The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected BP's challenge to its multibillion-dollar settlement agreement over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, which the oil giant complained has allowed payouts to some businesses that are unable to trace their losses to the disaster."

"Every year coal-burning power plants generate not only electricity, but a staggering amount of leftover coal ash that contains heavy metals unhealthy to humans. Yet due in part to intense industry lobbying, there are no federal regulations on its disposal. It's left to the states to oversee some of the most powerful utility companies in the country."