Pipeline companies have run roughshod over several regions where they’re building, racking up safety and environmental violations. Many residents feel trapped, with no control over their property.
A coal mine in the mountains in Alberta.
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A 2006 Supreme Court ruling created widespread confusion about which wetlands and other waters are federally protected. The Trump administration’s latest action isn’t likely to clear things up.
Polls show the gap between conservatives and liberals is widening on the issue of climate change.
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Yu Luo, University of British Columbia; Jiaying Zhao, University of British Columbia, and Rebecca M. Todd, University of British Columbia
Vehicle emissions and industrial facilities are contributing to climate change, but many conservatives don’t believe it.
A Kosovo policeman directs cars in Pristina after the government banned traffic in response to extremely high fine particle pollution levels, Jan. 31, 2018.
AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu
The head of the World Health Organization calls air pollution ‘the new tobacco’ because it causes millions of preventable deaths yearly. Fine particle pollution is especially deadly.
Environmental regulations generally improve communities’ preparedness and resilience during disasters.
AP Photo/Gerald Herbert
The damage to coal ash sites from Hurricane Florence demonstrates how a community’s vulnerability to natural disasters is closely linked to how stringent environmental regulations are.
The authors conferring at a natural gas facility in Colorado.
Colorado State University
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt wants to change the grounds for setting US air pollution targets. An environmental lawyer explains why Pruitt’s approach misreads the law and could roll back decades of gains.
A streamlined NEPA review of replacing New York’s Tappan Zee Bridge over the Hudson River, which would normally take 3-5 years, was completed in 1.5 years.
Jim Henderson
Do environmental reviews delay large-scale projects? The Trump administration says yes, but studies show that these reviews lead to better results and can even save time and money.
To comply with air pollution laws, midwest energy companies built tall smokestacks to displace pollutants. This one at Indiana’s Rockport Generating Station is 1,038 feet high, just 25 feet shorter than the Eiffel Tower.
Don Sniegowski
Trump administration officials argue that states can regulate more effectively than the federal government. But without leadership from the top, federalism may allow red states to avoid acting.
In Montana and Idaho, endangered gray wolves are no longer safe outside national parks.
Ronnie Howard/Shutterstock.com
Legislation designed to protect wildlife is being rolled back or ignored in all sorts of ways in all sorts of places, according to a new global database of attacks on green tape.
The outdoor retail industry is moving its lucrative trade show out of Utah after disputes with state officials over land conservation.
AP Photo/Rick Bowmer
President Trump says environmental regulation kills jobs. To fight back, conservation advocates need to show that protecting the environment can produce jobs and local benefits.
Union workers supporting coal energy (right) face off against environmentalists in Pittsburgh, 2013.
AP Photo/Keith Srakocic
Most Americans care about the environment, but they didn’t vote that way this year. Two political scientists urge the movement to build better connections with blue-collar workers and immigrants.
Do environmental regulations help or hurt the economy? Democrats and Republicans sharply disagree. Six of our experts consider whether we have too much or too little regulation.
What’s in that bottle? And is it safe?
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Congress has passed a long-overdue update of a key law regulating hazardous chemicals. But a legal scholar says the new law does not go far enough to reduce chemical exposure risks.
Acid drainage from surface coal mining site, North Lima, Ohio.
Jack Pearce/Flickr
As coal energy loses market share, major U.S. coal companies are filing for bankruptcy. One multi-billion-dollar question: will taxpayers be forced to pay for cleaning up abandoned mines?
Ministers considering new coal mines need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.
AAP Image/Dave Hunt
The granting of a mining lease to the Carmichael coal project, despite the huge potential greenhouse emissions, shows that ministers need to consider the wider consequences of their approvals.
Professor of Political Science, Walker Family Professor for the College of Arts and Sciences and Founding Director, Center for Environmental Politics, University of Washington