Tag Archive for: Air Pollution

California Sues EPA for Suspending Pollution Enforcement During Coronavirus Pandemic

/in , , /by /San Francisco Chronicleby Bob Egelko

California, along with eight other states, sued the Trump administration Wednesday over the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to stop requiring companies to monitor and report air and water pollution during the coronavirus pandemic.

Three days after receiving a request from the American Petroleum Institute to halt pollution enforcement, the EPA’s compliance director, Susan Parker Bodine, announced a new policy March 26. Retroactive to March 13, when President Trump had declared a state of emergency over COVID-19, Bodine said, businesses could decide for themselves when it would no longer be practical to monitor pollution and report it to federal, state and local agencies.

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Virus Prompts California to Study Air Pollution, Public Health

/in , /by /Bloomberg Lawby Emily C. Dooley

California regulators are seizing on a chance to study the public health effects of air pollution, as stay-at-home orders and drops in freight traffic related to the coronavirus pandemic have presented a unique research opportunity.

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Environmental Groups Sue EPA Over Smog, Air Quality Rules in Imperial County

/in , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Mark Olaide

Two nonprofit advocacy groups on Monday filed legal action against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in an attempt to secure stricter air quality standards in Imperial County.

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As a Dying Salton Sea Spews Harmful Dust, Imperial Valley Water Wars Heat Up Again

/in , , /by /Los Angeles Timesby Sammy Roth

The people of California’s Imperial Valley can be as unforgiving as the region’s harsh desert climate. It’s been 16 years since Bruce Kuhn cast the fateful vote to transfer tens of billions of gallons of Colorado River water from the valley’s sprawling farms to thirsty coastal cities, reshaping water politics in California and across the West.

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Coronavirus Air Pollution Plunge Could Guide San Diego Climate Plans

/in , , /by /Voice of San Diegoby MacKenzie Elmer

Traffic and the amount of harmful chemicals in the air have dropped amid coronavirus closures, data shows. Telework isn’t currently part of the city’s Climate Action Plan – but it could become part of updated versions.

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To Study a Problem That’s Everywhere, They’re Getting Creative

/in , /by /New York Timesby Sarah Elizabeth Richards

Dimitri Deheyn’s lab has become a hub of novel research on the microfibers found in our waterways and even the air we breathe.

Three years ago, Dimitri Deheyn noticed intensely blue stringy shapes as he examined jellyfish samples through a microscope in his marine biology lab at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego.

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Study: Toxic Elements Around Salton Sea Could Adversely Affect Nearby Residents

/in , , /by /KPBSby Shalina Chatlani

More than dust-filled air could be plaguing residents around the quickly evaporating Salton Sea in Imperial Valley. University of California, Riverside research shows toxic aerosols could also be filling the air. The problem has to do with agricultural fertilizer in the Salton Sea wetland area. UC Riverside toxicologist Sabbir Ahmed and first-author on the study says the fertilizer is rich in the element selenium, which is necessary for human body health, but not in excessive doses. Ahmed said plants in the area digest this mineral and release into the air as an aerosol, which is air filled with liquid or solid particles.

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Yes, There’s Microplastic in the Snow

/in , /by /Quartzby Zoë Schlanger

This is the year we found microplastic in the snow.

Although microplastics have been popping up everywhere from the waters of Antarctica to our table salt, the idea that it could blow in the wind or fall as precipitation back down to Earth is extremely new. The main mode of microplastic transport, as far as we knew as recently as last year, was water. It had already shown up in drinking water a few years prior. But microplastic in snow suggests something different: Microplastics carried by wind, and settling out of the air along with the frosty flakes.

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Imperial County Declares Salton Sea Emergency, Demands California Take Action

/in , , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Janet Wilson

Imperial County has had enough. That was the message from the county board of supervisors on Tuesday as they voted unanimously to declare a local state of emergency at the Salton Sea.

And that may not be all: In addition to the action on the state’s largest lake, supervisors said they will seek another emergency declaration on the badly polluted New River — which flows into the Salton Sea — in two weeks.

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Imperial County Seeks to Declare Salton Sea Crisis A Health Emergency; Wants State, Federal Disaster Funds

/in , , /by /Palm Springs Desert Sunby Janet Wilson

Imperial County is seeking to declare a public health emergency at the Salton Sea, The Desert Sun has learned, aiming to force Gov. Gavin Newsom and federal officials to free up emergency funds and take immediate action to tamp down dangerous dust.

County supervisors will vote Tuesday on an urgent action item to proclaim a local air pollution emergency due to airpollution at the state’s largest lake, which is rapidly shrinking and exposing shoreline that is potentially loaded with contaminants from decades of agricultural runoff and military testing.

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