air pollution

Christina Lamoureux and her fiancé, Brian Fritzsche, have been planning their wedding since January 2021. Now they may have to scramble to avoid the wildfire smoke from Canada that's drifted into the U.S. across the Northeast and Midwest.

National

Blankets of orange haze may be unwelcomed guests at weddings this weekend in the U.S.

1:26pm June 09, 2023

by Vanessa Romo

Christina Lamoureux planned a perfect wedding. Now she is among the unlucky set of soon-to-be married couples frantically making contingency plans as clouds of polluted air linger over their nuptials.

A general view showing buildings shrouded by polluted air in Seoul on April 12, 2023.

Here's how NPR reporters around the world are dealing with air pollution

9:43am June 09, 2023

As Canada and parts of the U.S. confront declines in air quality due to smoke from Canadian wildfires, NPR reporters in Asia, Latin America and Africa share their experiences.

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The Los Angeles skyline is seen above the Union Pacific LATC Intermodal Terminal on Tuesday.

California becomes the first state to adopt emission rules for trains

5:57pm April 27, 2023

by The Associated Press

California approved a rule limiting rail pollution to aggressively cut greenhouse gas emissions in the state's latest move to establish itself as a global leader in the fight against climate change.

A smokestack stands at a coal plant on June 22, 2022, in Delta, Utah. The Environmental Protection Agency issued a final rule Wednesday to restrict smokestack emissions from power plants and other industrial sources that burden downwind areas with smog-causing pollution they can't control. (

Environment

The EPA's new 'good neighbor' rule targets downwind pollution by power plants

2:11pm March 15, 2023

by The Associated Press

Nearly two-dozen states will have to cut harmful industrial emissions of nitrogen oxide and other pollutants, improving air quality for millions of people living in downwind communities.

Winston-Salem saw near record number of good air quality days in 2022, despite Weaver fire

12:52pm March 10, 2023

by April Laissle

Air quality recovered quickly after the Winston Weaver Company fertilizer plant fire. That’s according to a review of air pollution data collected by the Environmental Protection Agency.

A line of petrochemical facilities in St. Charles Parish, La., in 2018. Many people who live near industrial sites, and who are exposed to dangerous pollution, fear that the Inflation Reduction Act will deepen existing environmental inequalities.

The spending bill will cut emissions, but marginalized groups feel they were sold out

4:21pm August 17, 2022

by Rebecca Hersher

The Inflation Reduction Act is the biggest ever investment to tackle climate change. But there are signs that it could reinforce existing environmental inequalities.

Traffic on a hazy evening in Fresno, Calif. A new study estimates that about 50,000 lives could be saved each year if the U.S. eliminated small particles of pollution that are released from the tailpipes of cars and trucks, among other sources.

Health & Safety

Eliminating fossil fuel air pollution would save about 50,000 lives, study finds

5:15pm May 17, 2022

by Rebecca Hersher

Burning oil, coal and other fossil fuels releases plumes of tiny, dangerous particles. A new study estimates that eliminating that pollution would save about 50,000 lives in the U.S. each year.

A recent study by the American Lung Association found that more Americans are living in areas with increased levels of air pollution. Los Angeles has recorded the worst levels of ozone for all but one of the past 23 years.

More than 137 million Americans live in areas with poor air quality, report finds

8:24am April 21, 2022

by Dustin Jones

The rising number of fires hamper decades of environmental efforts, and over 40% of Americans — more than 137 million people — live in places with poor air quality, a new report says.

Interstate 405 cuts through neighborhoods near the Los Angeles International Airport, seen here in 2017. A new study found links between modern urban air pollution and historical redlining at the national level.

Even many decades later, redlined areas see higher levels of air pollution

10:04pm March 10, 2022

by Laurel Wamsley

"We see a really clear association between how these maps were drawn in the '30s and the air pollution disparities today," says an author of a study on the effects of the discriminatory policy.

Health & Safety

As fertilizer plant fire burns, Forsyth County environmental official sounds alarm about air pollution

6:00am February 03, 2022

by April Laissle

A Forsyth County environmental official is sounding alarms about the air pollution resulting from the ongoing fire at the Winston Weaver fertilizer plant.

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