EPA’s failure to address dangerous oxides of nitrogen pollution prompts lawsuit

OAKLAND, Calif. — Conservation and public health groups filed a lawsuit today [Sept. 28, 2023] challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s failure to review and update air-quality standards that protect people from harmful nitrogen pollution nationwide. Federal law requires the EPA to review the pollution standards every five years and improve them as needed to ensure … Read more

With CO2 doubling, predicted is a 1.9°C rise in GMST: Study

Yay!! Yay? For once I feel like a climate study is not predicting the absolute worse [sic] possible scenario, it’s just predicting a serious and pressing one. Roy Spencer and Ron Christy published a paper entitled Effective climate sensitivity distributions from a 1D model of global ocean and land temperature trends, 1970–2021. Phys.org has a version … Read more

Federal appeals court upholds EPA’s ‘Good Neighbor Rule’

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Environmental and health groups celebrated an important step toward clean air after a federal appeals court today [Sept. 25, 2023] denied the requests of states and industry groups to block the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) “Good Neighbor Rule.” The rule, designed to address cross-state air pollution and the adverse health effects of … Read more

CARB, American Honda agree on $8M settlement for SORE air-quality compliance violations

SACRAMENTO – The California Air Resources Board (CARB) reached a settlement agreement with American Honda Motor Corp., Inc. (Honda) of Torrance for $7.9 million for violations of CARB’s small off-road engine (SORE) air quality regulations. This is the third SORE enforcement action against Honda in the past four years. In 2021, CARB testing revealed multiple … Read more

Did climate change cause this?

I’ve been lately hearing through the grapevine that ground on which properties sit around Fresno, California – where I make my home – has been sinking. Though I could be pulling your leg here, this time, however, I’m not. It’s really going on. That ground is compacting, compressing or sinking throughout this and other parts … Read more

Funning extra: Cleanup’s the word

One of my least favorite cleaning activities is dusting. When I do dust, I cheat. I use the vacuum cleaner – hose with soft-bristle brush attachment. Those other dusting methods, I avoid those like the plague. If the vacuum cleaner breaks, well, I guess I’m out of luck. Clean sweep Outdoor sweeping I have no … Read more

Hyping clean air, blue skies: Yup, there’s a day, place for that too

(Editor’s note: And, yet another opportunity presents itself to commit to a healthier-air, clearer-sky environment). Air pollution is responsible for half a million premature deaths annually in the WHO European Region, primarily due to noncommunicable diseases, such as ischaemic heart disease, stroke, lung cancer and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. On this International Day of Clean … Read more