The Trump administration yesterday announced plans to ease regulations requiring oil and gas companies to repair methane leaks – a move drawing opposition from the industry, as well as environmental groups.
Methane is a greenhouse gas and a major contributor to climate change. It is emitted during the production and transport of coal, natural gas, and oil and also results from certain agricultural practices.
For a huge swath of Northern California, the air suddenly became hazardous last November. Thick smoke from the most destructive wildfire in state history was delivering a secondary blow to nearly ten million Californians, some of whom turned to a new class of consumer air monitors to help keep them safe.
The EPA is proposing to designate 20 chemical substances as High-Priority Substances for upcoming risk evaluations, per a statutory requirement under the 2016 amendments to the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) by. The proposed designation is a required step in a new process of reviewing chemical substances currently in commerce under the amended TSCA.
With plastic pollution having emerged as a significant environment and health crisis, the World Health Organization (WHO) is calling for more research into the potential effect on human health of microplastics in drinking water.
“We urgently need to know more about the health impact of microplastics because they are everywhere - including in our drinking-water,” says Dr Maria Neira, Director, Department of Public Health, Environment and Social Determinants of Health, at WHO.
Although they compose only six percent of the total U.S. workforce, construction workers accounted for 36 percent of all occupational heat‐related deaths from 1992 to 2016 – and climate change may have something to do with it. That’s one of the key findings from new research from the Center for Construction Research and Training (CPWR).
A pollutant associated with climate change is sulfur dioxide, a component of smog. Sulfur dioxide and closely related chemicals are known primarily as a cause of acid rain. But they also reflect light when released in the atmosphere, which keeps sunlight out and creates a cooling effect. Volcanic eruptions can spew massive amounts of sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere, sometimes causing cooling that lasts for years.
More Americans than previously estimated live within a city block of aged, underground natural gas storage wells, some more than a century old and most of them lacking modern designs to prevent major leaks, according to researchers from Harvard University.
A worker dies during a safety drill; safety certification for highway construction workers and California fast tracks a regulation to protect workers from wildfire smoke. These were among the top stories featured on ISHN.com this week.
Four major automakers have reached an agreement with California on fuel economy standards that would reduce emissions – and the American Lung Association (ALA) approves.
Ford, Volkswagen, Honda, and BMW this week agreed to increase the average fuel economy of their new vehicle fleets to nearly 50 miles per gallon by model year 2026 - an increase of 3.7 miles per gallon per year.
California employers are going to have to move fast in order to comply with an emergency occupational safety regulation expected to go into effect in early August.
The rule adopted last week by the state’s Department of Industrial Relations’ (DIR) Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board is aimed at protecting workers from hazards associated with wildfire smoke.
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