[Source: Los Angeles Times] President Trump says he will name the Environmental Protection Agency’s acting head, Andrew Wheeler, to the post permanently. Trump made the announcement almost in passing Friday at a White House ceremony for Presidential Medal of Freedom honorees. The president singled out Wheeler in the audience at the ceremony, adding Wheeler “is Read More…
Newsroom
More protection: UN says Earth’s ozone layer is healing
[Source: Associated Press/ Seth Borenstein] Earth’s protective ozone layer is finally healing from damage caused by aerosol sprays and coolants, a new United Nations report said. The ozone layer had been thinning since the late 1970s. Scientist raised the alarm and ozone-depleting chemicals were phased out worldwide. This combination of images made available by NASA Read More…
State sues Quemetco, says battery recycling plant in City of Industry is guilty of 29 violations
[Source: San Gabriel Valley Tribune] The state attorney general has sued Quemetco, the battery-recycling facility in City of Industry, citing 29 alleged violations involving failures to stop hazardous waste from migrating into the neighborhood and the underground aquifer, a source of drinking water for more than a million Los Angeles County residents, according to the Read More…
Ozone hole modest despite optimum conditions for ozone depletion
[Source: Ellen Gray, NASA] The ozone hole that forms in the upper atmosphere over Antarctica each September was slightly above average size in 2018, NOAA and NASA scientists reported today. Colder-than-average temperatures in the Antarctic stratosphere created ideal conditions for destroying ozone this year, but declining levels of ozone-depleting chemicals prevented the hole from as Read More…
As Trump slashes environmental regulations, the EPA union forms the crux of an internal resistance
[Source: Salon] Salon talked to the head of a government employees union about the president’s disastrous environmental policies. For all of the horrifying policies being implemented by President Donald Trump, perhaps the most terrifying prospect is the potential for his climate change attitudes to bring about to the destruction of life on Earth as we know it. As the Read More…
Democrats to target Trump environmental rollbacks if they win House
[Source: Bloomberg] Democratic lawmakers are quietly making plans to use hearings and investigations to focus attention on the Trump administration’s environmental agenda if they win control of the House of Representatives. Because they are less likely to capture the Senate, Democrats would have limited opportunities to enact laws. But they can assert themselves in the Read More…
UTC Aerospace to end aircraft systems manufacturing in Chula Vista, cutting 300 jobs
[Source: LA Biz] UTC Aerospace Systems plans to wind down manufacturing at its Chula Vista aircraft plant beginning early next year, eliminating around 300 jobs. The company — a division of Farmington, Conn.-based conglomerate United Technologies — said the decision stems from ending production of certain commercial aircraft models. The Chula Vista plant builds aerodynamic Read More…
Environmental defense fund develops methane-hunting satellite
[Source: Astrowatch.net] Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a U.S.-based nonprofit environmental advocacy group, intends to launch a new satellite designed to measure methane emissions worldwide. The spacecraft, named MethaneSAT, could offer a substantial help for countries and companies in combating global warming. MethaneSAT project was unveiled by EDF President Fred Krupp on April 11, 2018. He Read More…
U.S. government, but not Trump, can be sued over climate: judge
[Source: Reuters] A group of young Americans suing the federal government over lack of action to fight climate change can proceed with their lawsuit, but U.S. President Donald Trump cannot be named as a defendant, a federal judge ruled on Monday. The decision by U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken in Eugene, Oregon, came before the Read More…