• Air

Nearly 250,000 Students At Risk Due to Proximity To Active Oil and Gas Wells

• air pollution
• cancer
• fracking
• oil and gas
• toxic chemicals

A Newsy analysis released last week found that more than 600 U.S. schools are located within 500 feet of an active oil or gas well, and more than 1.4 million people across the U.S. live within the 500-foot danger zone. 

Why This Matters:  Kids should not have to go to school near active oil and gas wells with toxic air emissions that put them at higher risk for cancer and respiratory problems.  Research from the Colorado School of Public Health has found that people living within 500 feet of an oil or gas facility have a cancer risk that is 8 times higher than the EPA’s accepted threshold.

• Air

An Interactive Map That Tells The Story of US Auto Emissions

Yesterday morning The New York Times published the “most detailed map of auto emissions in America” ever made.  It is a fascinating look at where air pollution has become much worse since The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 became law and which took aim for the first time at cutting pollution from cars. As […]

• Air

New Study Links Air Pollution and Violent Crime

• aggression
• air pollution
• violent crime

A study published last week by a team of researchers in economics, atmospheric science, and statistics found strong links between short-term exposure to air pollution and aggravated assaults and other violent crimes across the United States.

Why This Matters: Air pollution can result in more than just the health risks caused by breathing dirty air.  The study’s economists calculated that a 10 percent reduction in daily fine particulate pollution could save $1.1 million in crime costs per year, which they called a “previously overlooked cost associated with pollution.”

• Air

Court Says EPA Must Do More To Curb Interstate Air Pollution

• #CleanAir
• air pollution
• Clean Air Act
• clean power plan
• coal

A three-judge panel that included a Trump appointee held on Tuesday that the EPA needs a better plan for addressing smog that travels across state lines from the midwest to the densely populated Northeast, where states are failing to meet federal air quality standards.

Why This Matters:  The EPA is failing to protect the public in the northeast from air pollution that is generated by coal power plants and manufacturing facilities in the midwest that travels with the winds and air currents into northeastern states who then are unable to meet their air quality standards.  This problem is EXACTLY why the federal government must be involved — and why the Clean Power Plan the Obama Administration put in place was so important.

• Air

Trump Administration To Take Away Transportation Funding for CA Due to Its Dirty Air

• California
• Clean Air Act
• Clean Car Rule
• EPA
• highway funding

Looking to take further action against the State of California, the Environmental Protection Agency under the guise of enforcing the state’s non-compliance with the Clean Air Act (CAA) says it will take away billions in federal funds provided to the state of California to implement low carbon transportation projects.   The Sacramento Bee reported yesterday that […]

• Air

The Trump Administration Investigates California Clean Car Agreement

• BMW
• California
• Clean Car Rule
• Ford
• Honda
• volkswagen

The Trump administration opened an anti-trust investigation over an agreement the state of California reached with automakers about producing cars that adhere to tougher emissions standards than the federal government now requires.  According to the Wall Street Journal on Friday, “Justice Department lawyers are seeking to determine whether Ford Motor, Honda, BMW AG and Volkswagen AG broke federal competition law by agreeing with California […]