Clean Air Act

By ALEXA ST. JOHN and TOM KRISHER (Associated Press) DETROIT (AP) — Engine maker Cummins Inc. will recall 600,000 Ram trucks as part of a settlement with federal and California authorities that also requires the company to remedy environmental damage caused by illegal software that let it skirt diesel emissions tests. New details of the settlement, reached in December, were released Wednesday. Cummins had already agreed to a $1.675 billion civil penalty to settle claims – the largest ever secured under the Clean Air Act…

BY ALEXA ST. JOHN The Department of Justice released new details of a settlement with engine manufacturer Cummins Inc. Wednesday that includes a mandatory recall of 600,000 Ram trucks, and that Cummins remedy environmental damage it caused when it illegally installed emissions control software in several thousand vehicles, skirting emissions testing. Cummins is accused of circumventing emissions testing through devices that can bypass or defeat emissions controls. The engine manufacturer will pay a $1.675 billion civil…

We need climate action. But just because something gets grouped under the umbrella of things that theoretically combat climate change doesn’t mean it’s actually good for the planet or people. In an alarming example, production of certain alternative “climate-friendly” fuels could lead to dangerous, cancer-causing emissions.Bees Are Fish Now, I Guess?A Chevron scheme to make new plastic-based fuels, approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, could carry a 1-in-4 lifetime cancer risk for residents near the company’s…

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed new regulation that would make chemical plant owners and operators responsible for their toxic emissions. Facilities would have to measure and reduce hazardous compounds beyond just the property that a chemical plant sits on, a change that could significantly improve air quality for nearby communities, according to the EPA. Bees Are Fish Now, I Guess?The rule would update regulations that govern chemical plant emissions, particularly air pollutants ethylene…

This story was originally published by Grist, in collaboration with the Houston Chronicle and the Beaumont Enterprise. The project was supported by the Fund for Investigative Journalism.The trouble began in the middle of the night. Around 2 a.m. on January 10, 2017, an air quality monitor in Port Arthur, Texas, began recording sulfur dioxide readings well above the federal standard of 75 parts per billion, or ppb. The monitor had recently been installed by regulators to keep an eye on Oxbow Calcining, a company owned by…

Photo: OLIVIER DOULIERY / AFP (Getty Images)This story was originally published by Grist. You can subscribe to its weekly newsletter here. Less than 1 percent of the nation’s roughly 500,000 school buses are electric or run on low-emission fuels. That’s about to change.Nearly 400 school districts across the United States, including in several Indigenous tribal lands, as well as in Puerto Rico and American Samoa, will receive around $1 billion to purchase new, mostly electric school buses as part of a Biden Administration…

US Steel Clairton Works in Clairton, Pennsylvania.Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP (Getty Images)This story was originally published by Grist. You can subscribe to its weekly newsletter here.What do you think of when you hear the word “pollution” — a city smothered in smog, a beach strewn with trash, factories pumping out dark clouds?Now try to picture “carbon emissions.” See anything? Probably not, since carbon dioxide is invisible.This simple exercise helps explain the growing popularity of once-rare phrases like “carbon…