Environment & Health

13 Refineries Emit Dangerous Benzene Emissions That Exceed the EPA’s ‘Action Level,’ a Study Finds

In Houston and Corpus Christi, the impacted communities are predominantly Black and Latino. Scientists say the dangers of benzene, a carcinogen, are not well understood.

By Aman Azhar

Q&A: With Climate Change-Fueled Hurricanes and Wildfire on the Horizon, a Trauma Expert Offers Ways to Protect Your Mental Health

By James Bruggers

An Explosion in Texas Shows the Hidden Dangers of Tanks Holding Heavy Fuels

By Sabrina Shankman, Julia Kane

With the World Focused on Reducing Methane Emissions, Even Texas Signals a Crackdown on ‘Flaring’

By Jonathan Moens

Warming Trends: Heating Up the Summer Olympics, Seeing Earth in 3-D and Methane Emissions From ‘Tree Farts’

By Katelyn Weisbrod

For the Second Time in Four Years, the Ninth Circuit Has Ordered the EPA to Set New Lead Paint and Dust Standards

By Agya K. Aning

Fighting Attacks on Inconvenient Science—and Scientists

By Liza Gross

Air Pollution From Raising Livestock Accounts for Most of the 16,000 US Deaths Each Year Tied to Food Production, Study Finds

By Georgina Gustin

Coal Phase-Down Has Lowered, Not Eliminated Health Risks From Building Energy, Study Says

By Marianne Lavelle

Expansion of I-45 in Downtown Houston Is on Hold, for Now, in a Traffic-Choked, Divided Region

By Aman Azhar

The EPA Calls an Old Creosote Works in Pensacola an Uncontrolled Threat to Human Health. Why Is There No Money to Clean it Up?

By Agya K. Aning, Katie Surma, Kristoffer Tigue

Noxious Neighbors: The EPA Knows Tanks Holding Heavy Fuels Emit Harmful Chemicals. Why Are Americans Still at Risk?

By Sabrina Shankman, Julia Kane

The EPA Is Asking a Virgin Islands Refinery for Information on its Spattering of Neighbors With Oil

By Kristoffer Tigue

During February’s Freeze in Texas, Refineries and Petrochemical Plants Released Almost 4 Million Pounds of Extra Pollutants

By Aman Azhar

What’s On Interior’s To-Do List? A Full Plate of Public Lands Issues—and Trump Rollbacks—for Deb Haaland

By Judy Fahys

Baltimore Continues Incinerating Trash, Despite Opposition from its New Mayor and City Council

By Agya K. Aning

Covid-19 Cut Gases That Warm the Globe But a Drop in Other Pollution Boosted Regional Temperatures

By Bob Berwyn

Why the Poor in Baltimore Face Such Crushing ‘Energy Burdens’

By Agya K. Aning

For a City Staring Down the Barrel of a Climate-Driven Flood, A New Study Could be the Smoking Gun

By Bob Berwyn