Legislation from a Republican lawmaker would almost entirely cut the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) out of regulating the ash produced from power plants that burn coal. A bill introduced by Rep.

Beijing has vowed to eliminate most coal-fired boilers in the city center by the end of 2015 to reduce pollution from fine particulate matter, especially during the heating season. …

Richard Saint Cyr, a family medicine doctor at United Family Health in Beijing, said he has noticed an uptick in discussions about the worsening air quality with many patients since winter.

He said that air pollution in the past winter was unusually serious and he had never witnessed such collective anxiety in Beijing.

Fine particulate matter poses a serious threat to people’s hearts and lungs, he said.

Shang Wenchao, 28, a lifelong Beijing resident, said he used to clean his nostrils before going to sleep in winter because the air he breathed was filled with soot from burning coal.

“You have to wear a mask every day while outdoors or you would be eating coal,” he said.

(Source: environmentalillnessnetwork)

As lawmakers again try to resolve pollution and regulatory uncertainty over power plant coal ash disposal, the head of the nation’s largest ash recycler says he is optimistic they will succeed this time around. Headwaters Inc. chief executive Kirk A. Benson told EnergyGuardian the latest House bill to allow states to implement national storage and disposal standards could attract more Democratic support than previous efforts.

(Source: environmentalillnessnetwork)

xabulove:

Fifty-five percent of U.S. river and stream lengths were in poor condition for aquatic life, largely under threat from runoff contaminated by fertilizers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said on Tuesday.

High levels of phosphorus and nitrogen, runoff from urban areas, shrinking ground cover and pollution from mercury and bacteria were putting the 1.2 million miles of streams and rivers surveyed under stress, the EPA said.

hydrology is a fun subject to study, as is environmental law.  It is tough to regulate something you are forbidden to regulate.

Click the link for the low-down from The Charlotte Observer.

(Source: rhifionn)

Follow the link to interact with the map, which isn’t all-inclusive — it only depicts the United States, and not even all of it; Hawaii and Alaska aren’t included.