smog
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Obama blows smog in everyone's face
President Obama has yanked back the EPA's proposed new restrictions on ground-level ozone (i.e. smog). That's a huge win for Big Business, which had claimed it couldn't weather an economic downturn AND keep from suffocating people at the same time. But it's an equally huge loss for everyone else -- especially since the reason the EPA was revising the smog standards in the first place was because the allowable limit was well above safe levels, according to the agency's science advisors.
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Industry exaggerates pressure to meet Clean Air Act standards
Polluters whine about the economic burden of reducing emissions during tough times, but the Clean Air Act gives them more than enough time to comply.
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As summer temperatures rise, so does deadly coal pollution
Coal-fired power plants are a huge source of air pollution, which poses an immediate threat to health on hot summer days when smog levels are highest.
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Green buildings can now eat smog for breakfast
The aluminum giant Alcoa has designed a building panel that cleans both itself and the nearby air. The secret to this feat is titanium dioxide, the same compound that allows sunscreen to block the sun. In this application, when the sun hits a coat of titanium dioxide, the compound begins spewing electrons. According to Alcoa, […]
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For half the nation’s population, it’s dangerous to breathe the air
Close your eyes and stick your finger into a map of the United States. (A map. A big piece of paper with a picture of the country? Okay, look it up on Google Images, we'll wait.) Chances are you just poked a county with dangerous levels of ozone or particle pollution in the air. Nearly […]
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Is EPA running scared from the incoming Republican Congress?
I've been worrying aloud on the blog that the Obama administration doesn't seem to be doing much to prepare for the relentless assault on EPA that's already underway, not only on its coming greenhouse gas regulations but on its entire agenda. Instead, the agency looks to be backing down.
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Scholastic steps into the Chamber of Hypocrisy
Scholastic, the education company, has teamed up with the Chamber of Commerce to "educate" children about the perils of government energy regulation.
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Smoggy senators protest EPA plan to save thousands of children’s lives
In a startling act of fealty to polluter interests, several senators are fighting scientifically guided smog limits that would save thousands of lives a year.
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Gigantic wind turbines, flush power, biodegradable coffins, and 7 more tales of green
There's an oil spill in Michigan and the energy bill's now a slip of a thing, but a lot of other stuff happened in recent days that didn't grab big headlines. Here are 10 stories from the greenosphere that you might have missed.