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Air
GM unveiled big plans at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show for electric vehicles — driverless “shuttle” vans and even – imagine this – flying cars. CEO Mary Barra, the keynote speaker, unveiled a new company logo and highlighted innovative new vehicles. The company has created a new unit called BrightDrop that will sell its EV600 […]
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This year two “EVs” repeatedly made headlines — environmental voters and electric vehicles. When we look back in 2035, by which time we should have converted completely to renewable energy, 2020 could be seen as the year when the auto industry fully committed to the transition to electric vehicles and trucks.
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E&E reports in an in-depth piece on Tuscaloosa, chronic illness and exposure to air pollution are exacerbating the spiking COVID rates and increasing the risks for people living in neighborhoods just outside the boundaries of industrial plants and refineries across the country.
Why this Matters: Clean air should be a right, not a privilege. Across the country, communities of color face disproportionate local air pollution and higher COVID rates.
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by Amy Lupica, ODP Contributing Writer On Monday, the Trump administration rejected more stringent standards on the nation’s most widespread air pollutant, soot. Despite mounting evidence that air pollution is linked to lethal outcomes from respiratory illnesses like COVID-19, the administration moved to retain the standards set in 2012 under President Obama. The administration says […]
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A special investigative report from Reuters found that U.S. air monitors routinely miss pollution and even events as impactful as a refinery explosion. Data examined by Reuters showed that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) nationwide network of 3,900 monitoring devices failed to properly monitor day-to-day air quality risks and identified no risks at all from the 10 largest refinery explosions in the last decade.
Why This Matters: We hate to rain on EPA’s birthday celebration but the agency needs to fix this monitoring system. Without accurate baseline measurements of air quality, people are exposed to more pollu
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Ford Motors is urging the other major car companies that had backed President Trump’s looser tailpipe standards to instead embrace the clean air standards set by California, according to The Detroit News. President Trump’s policy split the automakers into two camps — but the Biden administration is expected to tighten emissions standards again.
Why This Matters: Some may forgive GM for its wrong turn following the Trump administration, but others won’t forget.
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