Hoppers, like Pixar's pre-Disney films, is a delight. The beavers' world is immersive and richly realized, grounded in science but never dry. The plot zigs and zags between moments of absurdity and emotional heft to stirring effect; I cried multiple times, and not just because of the low-hanging fruit of grandma death.
As a result of these changes, engine and vehicle manufacturers no longer have any future obligations for the measurement, control, and reporting of GHG emissions for any highway engine and vehicle, including model years manufactured prior to this final rule.
The lawsuit specifically argues that the EPA's decision to rescind a 2009 study that determined greenhouse gases are dangerous to public health was illegal. The study, which is the source of what's called the "Endangerment Finding," was one of several justifications - along with things like the Clean Air Act - for the agency's ability to regulate emissions.
Dozens of local communities, states, and individuals are suing major oil and gas companies and their trade associations over rising climate costs and for allegedly lying to consumers about climate change risks and solutions. At the same time, some states are enacting or considering laws modeled after the federal Superfund program that would impose retroactive liability on large fossil fuel producers and levy a one-time charge on them to help fund climate adaptation and resiliency measures.
The patchwork efforts to identify and safely remove contamination left by the 2025 Eaton and Palisades fires has been akin to the Wild West. Experts have given conflicting guidance on best practices. Shortly after the fires, the federal government suddenly refused to adhere to California's decades-old post-fire soil-testing policy; California later considered following suit. Meanwhile, insurance companies have resisted remediation practices widely recommended by scientists for still-standing homes.
Ethylene oxide was once considered an unremarkable pollutant. The colorless gas seeped from relatively few industrial facilities and commanded little public attention. All that changed in 2016, when the Environmental Protection Agency completed a study that found the chemical is 30 times more carcinogenic than previously thought. The agency then spent years updating regulations that protect millions of people who are most exposed to the compound.
On Friday the Trump administration officially rolled back a series of Biden-era environmental regulations on coal plants, including some intended to clamp down on mercury pollution. Environmental advocacy groups and experts have decried the decision as risking human healthmercury has been shown to cause serious neurological damage, especially in infants. The decision effectively reverts regulations to those set in 2012 by the Obama administration.
Donald Trump's EPA has said that easing the pollution standards for coal plants would alleviate costs for utilities that run older coal plants at a time when demand for power is soaring amid the expansion of datacenters used for artificial intelligence. But environmental groups have said that weakening standards for mercury, a neurotoxin that can impair babies' brain development, and other air toxics will lead to higher health-related costs.
Researchers used satellite data to see how much nitrogen dioxide was in California's air between 2019 and 2023. As the number of electric cars and plug-in hybrids rose, neighbourhoods had lower NO concentrations. Everybody knows that electric cars don't emit carbon emissions because they don't burn any fuel. And while there are some studies out there that show how zero-emission cars can improve the quality of air in urban areas, they weren't always definitive.
Clean Harbors just locked in a $110 million contract for PFAS water filtration at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. This isn't just another project win. It's validation of the company's end-to-end PFAS solution: lab analytics, water filtration, site remediation, and most critically, high-temperature incineration disposal.
Last spring, the Environmental Protection Agency made a surprise announcement: President Donald Trump would consider giving some polluters exemptions from a handful of Clean Air Act rules. To get the ball rolling, all it would take was an email from a company making its case. The EPA set up a special inbox to receive these applications, and it gave companies about three weeks at the end of March to submit their requests for presidential exemption.
Many human activities - from improper disposal of waste to the degradation of car tyres - release small plastic particles, which have infiltrated the atmosphere, oceans and other ecosystems. These include nanoplastics - particles measuring less than 1 micrometre across - and microplastics, which range from 1 micrometre to around 5 millimetres. They've entered our bodies and brains, and scientists are still working to understand their effects on people's health.