EPA issues toughest rule yet on power plant emissions, but it’s likely to face court challenges

Washington — Coal-fired power plants would be forced to capture smokestack emissions or shut down under a rule issued Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency. New limits on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel-fired electric plants are the Biden administration’s most ambitious effort yet to roll back planet-warming pollution from the power sector, the nation’s … Read more

‘CSI on the ocean’: Whale researchers comb B.C. waters for eDNA

It was just after 8 a.m. when Gary Sutton and his crew spotted the signature black dorsal fins cutting through the cool waters of the Salish Sea, off the coast of Vancouver Island. More than a dozen Bigg’s killer whales, also known as transient killer whales, swimming north in search of food. They surfaced every few minutes, the spray of their … Read more

U.S. eases vehicle emissions rules, but overall reduction targets remain unchanged

The Biden administration on Wednesday slashed its target for U.S. electric vehicle adoption from 67 per cent by 2032 to as little as 35 per cent after industry and autoworker backlash in the political battleground state of Michigan. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) instead adopted a “technology neutral” regulatory scheme that allows automakers far more freedom … Read more

US Bans Last Form of Asbestos in Use

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Monday a comprehensive ban on asbestos, targeting the last remaining form of the chemical still used in the United States. Although asbestos was the first chemical banned under a 2016 chemical safety law removing it from many consumer products, the cancer-causing material is still used in some chlorine bleach, brake … Read more

North Bay, Ont., and DND move to remediate ‘forever chemicals’ site that contaminated drinking water

The City of North Bay, Ont. and the Department of National Defence (DND) are set to begin a $20-million project this spring to remediate a site contaminated with perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) — often referred to as “forever chemicals.” From the early 1970s to mid-1990s, DND conducted training exercises at the city’s Jack Garland Airport with aqueous film-forming foams that contain … Read more

Bills in Colorado legislature take aim at poor Front Range air quality

Democratic state legislators on Thursday rolled out an ambitious suite of bills aimed at improving the Front Range’s air quality — among the worst in the nation — by taking specific aim at the oil and gas industry. The three bills will focus on curbing toxic emissions from oil and gas drilling sites by changing … Read more

Who benefits most from Canada’s ambitious EV targets? Maybe China

Flavio Volpe, head of the Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, believes the recent electric vehicle targets set out by Canada’s environment minister also carried this pointed message to Canada’s domestic auto industry: “Let them eat cake.” Volpe says he has come to this conclusion because he believes those goals, which include a national target of 100 per cent zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035, cannot be … Read more

Calif. city Lancaster chose people over cars in its downtown. Did it work?

Not many California downtowns feature an idle F-4 Phantom supersonic jet tilted on a cement perch, but that’s exactly how the east end of main street in Lancaster begins.  The jet is in Boeing Plaza, at the mouth of a central boulevard in the Southern California city. From there, the road diverts into two slow … Read more

US Issues New Rule on Methane Emissions

WASHINGTON —  The Biden administration on Saturday issued a final rule aimed at reducing methane emissions, targeting the U.S. oil and natural gas industry for its role in global warming, as President Joe Biden seeks to advance his climate legacy. The Environmental Protection Agency said the rule will sharply reduce methane and other harmful air … Read more