Fossil fuels

New rule to further smog-forming-pollutant reduction in heavy-duty trucks in California adopted

The below Aug. 28, 2020 press release is from the California Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board. The California Air Resources Board late yesterday [Aug. 27, 2020] approved a multi-pronged regulation that will dramatically reduce smog-forming emissions from heavy-duty diesel trucks. The “Heavy-Duty Low NOx Omnibus Regulation” will require manufacturers to comply with tougher emissions … Read more

Air pollution, digestive tract disorders and the connection between them – revisited

Strong evidence suggests there is a link between air pollution and compromised gut health. This topic was first explored on the Air Quality Matters blog on Feb. 26, 2014 in the post: “Air pollution, digestive tract disorders and the connection between them.” Since that time, some important developments have surfaced in the academic, medical and … Read more

The climate change exchange: ‘Back-up’ plan

Whether we are talking about atmospheric normalization or global warming’s and/or climate change’s causation, “balance” is the word. That’s right, balance. So in a kind of holistic air-healing sense or maybe more precisely, a holistic air-remedying context, what does being balanced mean exactly? From physics, we know that if an object exerts a force opposite … Read more

California ports poised to get cleaner, greener with new state rule

The below Aug. 27, 2020 press release is from the California Environmental Protection Agency Air Resources Board. The California Air Resources Board today approved a new regulation designed to further reduce pollution from ocean-going vessels while docked at California’s busiest ports. The rule builds on progress achieved by the groundbreaking At-Berth Regulation adopted in 2007. … Read more

Messing with weather: Is that messed up – or what? Maybe, maybe not

Fooling with Mother Nature is almost certainly asking for trouble. Where this is going is nobody wants a planet that climate change-wise or temperature change-wise reaches the point of no return. If that happens, it’s theoretically curtains. But, don’t think for a second that humankind can’t change weather or climate. We can and have. Want … Read more

Climate change: Making or not making air pollution in America worse?

There are three distinct possibilities: There is evidence that climate change has altered the concentration or level of pollution in air The evidence of the effect climate change has on the concentration or level of pollution in air is lacking Climate change has no influence on pollution in air period The American Lung Association seems … Read more

Federal court judge reinstates methane-waste rule; BLM rule-rescission-attempt fails

The below Jul. 16, 2020 press release is from the Center for Biological Diversity. A federal judge late yesterday reinstated the Bureau of Land Management’s 2016 methane waste rule, aimed at protecting people and the climate from methane waste and pollution from oil and gas extraction on public lands. The ruling is the third defeat … Read more

Big boost in EV ‘adoption’ could improve air quality, spark economic/jobs growth, in California, group insists

“Dedicated high-speed rail dollars kept in the Valley will simply go farther,” the Air Quality Matters blog post of Jun. 14th, showed how $4.2 billion in state rail bonds, in being applied to construction work in California’s San Joaquin Valley, could be a tremendous asset where hiring, stimulating local economies and improving area and state … Read more

Dedicated high-speed rail dollars kept in the Valley will simply go farther

This June 16th marks five years since construction on California’s statewide high-speed rail program first began. There are now 4,000 laborers doing bullet-train-related building work in the Golden State’s Central Valley at over three dozen sites. That level of commitment notwithstanding, there are those who think that they know what’s best regarding where yet-unspent dedicated … Read more