Category:

Killer Smog Tests Top Iran Woman as Pollution Sparks Action

A man stands in front of a general view of the north of Tehran engulfed in a cloud of smog caused by pollution. Photographer: Behrouz Mehri/AFP via Getty Images (Bloomberg) — The snowy peaks of the Alborz Mountains visible through Iranian Vice-President Masoumeh Ebtekar’s Tehran office window may be evidence that the city is finally serious about tackling its chronic air pollution. The capital’s factories and five million vehicles, prevented from burning imported cleaner fuels by global sanctions, turn the air in colder months into a suffocating smog that shuts schools and offices. Officials blame the toxins for the premature deaths of 4,000 residents a year. Many more among Tehran’s 12 million people choke behind surgical masks, as roadside pollution readings ram home the health threat. For Ebtekar, who heads the country’s Environment Protection Organization and is the most influential woman in the administration of President Hassan Rouhani, cleaning […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Film Renews Focus on Pollution in China Before National Congress

Buildings are shrouded in smog in Changsha, Hunan Province of China. Air pollution has become a focus of public discourse in China in the past few years as thick smog has blanketed large swathes of the country. Source: ChinaFotoPress via Getty Images (Bloomberg) — A documentary investigating the fallout of China’s poor air quality drew millions of viewers last weekend, putting a renewed spotlight on pollution as the nation’s lawmakers prepare for their annual gathering in Beijing. Called “Under the Dome,” the film released online by former China Central Television reporter Chai Jing cites weak enforcement of environmental laws and poor fuel standards among the causes of the smog. It was the most searched topic on search engine Baidu early Monday, and was played 21 million times on video-sharing site Youku.com. China’s annual meeting of the National People’s Congress, which begins March 5 in Beijing, is expected to set […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Exxon Settles New Jersey Lawsuit Over Refinery Pollution

(Bloomberg) — Exxon Mobil Corp.p. has reached an agreement with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s environmental regulators to settle litigation about pollution released over decades by an oil refinery and petrochemical plant. Lawyers for Exxon and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection told a judge in a Feb. 20 letter they agreed to settle the decade-old litigation. The New York Times first reported the settlement, saying Exxon will pay $250 million, without identifying its sources. The state initially sought $8.9 billion, the paper reported. A consent decree outlining the agreement must be approved by a state judge, and isn’t yet publicly available, according to the letter. The settlement followed an eight-month trial last year on damages to the state for its loss of natural resources. Exxon and the state asked the judge hearing the case in Burlington County to hold off on a decision while they negotiated a […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Filthy India air cutting 660 million lives short by 3 years

NEW DELHI (AP) — New research estimates India’s air pollution is cutting 660 million lives short by three years on average. The study published Saturday in the Economic & Political Weekly highlights the extensiveness of India’s air problems after years of pursuing an all-growth agenda with little regard for the environment. Thirteen Indian cities are now included on the World Health Organization’s list of the world’s 20 most polluted. That pollution burden nationwide is estimated to be costing more than half the population at least 3.2 years of their lives. The study’s authors acknowledge their estimations may be too conservative, as they are based in part on satellite data that tend to underestimate levels of fine particulate matter known as PM2.5. India has a sparse system for monitoring air quality.

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

U.S. to Monitor Air Quality in India and Other Countries

HONG KONG — The United States says it will expand air-quality monitoring at some overseas diplomatic missions, following several years of reporting pollution data in China. The goal is to increase awareness of the health risks of outdoor air pollution, which easily spreads across borders, Secretary of State John Kerry said in announcing the program on Wednesday. The program is intended to help United States citizens abroad reduce their exposure to pollution and to help other countries develop their own air-quality monitoring through training and exchanges with American experts, he said. “We’re hoping that this tool can also expand international cooperation when it comes to curbing air pollution,” Mr. Kerry said . The program, run in conjunction with the Environmental Protection Agency , will begin to operate in India in a few months. New Delhi has some of the world’s worst air pollution, and residents there are becoming increasingly […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Boston leaking $90 million worth of natural gas

It is no secret the networks of aging underground pipes in many big cities can be dangerous. Now, a new study has found they are also bad for the environment. Focusing their attention on Boston, a group of Harvard researchers writing in current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that $90 million worth of natural gas — 15 billion cubic feet — escapes from its network of aging cast iron pipes each year. That accounts for 60 to 100 percent of the region’s release of the methane, a potent heat-trapping greenhouse gas. Methane has a 25 times greater impact on climate change than carbon dioxide over 100 years. It only represents about 9 percent of U.S. emissions (compared to 82 percent for carbon dioxide), but that is growing, partly due to contributions from the oil and gas industry. “This study helps us better understand […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

EPA Set to Regulate Oil and Gas Methane Emissions

ENLARGE In this June 12, 2014 file photo, oil pumps and natural gas burn off in Watford City, N.D. Associated Press WASHINGTON—The Obama administration unveiled plans Wednesday to regulate methane emissions from the nation’s oil and natural-gas industry for the first time, a move aimed at meeting climate-change goals while not hampering the nation’s energy boom. The Environmental Protection Agency plans to propose federal regulations to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40% to 45% over the next decade from 2012 levels, White House and agency officials said Wednesday. The rules, scheduled to be proposed this summer and completed by 2016, would apply only to new or modified sites. For existing oil and gas operations, the EPA is set to rely mostly on voluntary measures to cut methane, a move backed by the industry. To reduce emissions, companies would have to install technology that prevents […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Drillers Say Obama Plan to Plug Methane Leaks Imperils Oil Boom

The Obama administration said it will issue rules to cut leaks of climate-warming methane, a step the oil and gas industry warned could choke the U.S. energy renaissance fueled by hydraulic fracturing. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday it will propose rules later this year targeting new oil-and-gas equipment, aiming to cut emissions 40 percent to 45 percent by 2025. It also will expand voluntary programs with states and industry on equipment already in use, a move that falls short of the new mandates environmentalists sought. “We are outlining a comprehensive set of steps that will have a positive effect on the climate, on the economy and on public health,” Dan Utech, the top White House adviser on climate and energy, said on a conference call with reporters. By 2025, the efforts will reduce gas leaks enough to heat 2 million homes a year, he said. The announcement […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
Category:

Obama Administration to Unveil Plans to Cut Methane Emissions

WASHINGTON — In President Obama ’s latest move using executive authority to tackle climate change , administration officials are announcing plans this week to impose new regulations on the oil and gas industry’s emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. The administration’s goal is to cut methane emissions from oil and gas production by up to 45 percent by 2025 from the levels recorded in 2012, according to a person familiar with Mr. Obama’s plans. The Environmental Protection Agency will issue the proposed regulations this summer, and final regulations by 2016, according to the person, whom the administration asked not to speak about the plan. The White House declined to comment on the effort. The new rules are part of Mr. Obama’s push for regulations designed to cut emissions of planet-warming greenhouse gases from different sectors of the economy. The White House says it can make the moves under […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple