Pollution

Indiana environmentalist Jeff Stant has been pushing to have EPA declare coal ash a hazardous waste. EPA has resisted for some 30 years.

"The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed the nation's first federal rules for the disposal of contaminant-laden ash from coal-fired power plants, but delayed a decision for at least three months on whether coal ash should be regulated as a hazardous substance."

Nitro, West Virginia, is still struggling with the toxic legacy of a long-shuttered Monsanto weedkiller plant that has polluted soil and water with dioxin.

"Four environmental groups have just filed a major new water pollution lawsuit against Massey Energy."

"Metro communities from White Bear Lake and Maplewood to South St. Paul are discovering that their storm-water ponds are chemical soups of pesticides, fertilizers, pet wastes, oil, grease and other contaminants."

"The discovery of methane gas and benzene has transformed a 50-acre neighborhood into an environmental case study — a reminder of Southern California’s history as a center of the oil industry."

"Worried whale researchers in Washington state are wondering where a grey whale had been feeding before it died in West Seattle last week. The 11-metre whale, which came ashore alive, swallowed an unusual amount of garbage, including sweatpants, a towel, a golf ball, rubber gloves, drink containers and numerous plastic bags."

"Rates of lung cancer among women and colorectal cancer among men are significantly elevated throughout Pompton Lakes, but two other cancers linked to a neighborhood contaminated by a DuPont munitions plant are not elevated borough-wide, health officials said Wednesday."