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<ul class="summary-list"><li>The Seine River is too polluted for swimming events at the Paris Olympics, city officials said.</li><li>Paris invested $1.5 billion to clean the Seine, but heavy rainfall increased pollution levels.</li></ul>Despite a massive cleanup effort, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/see-paris-underwater-as-the-seine-floods-the-streets-hundred-year-flood-2018-1">Paris' Seine River</a> remains too polluted to host swimming events for the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/category/olympics">upcoming Olympic Games</a>, city officials have said.Samples taken from the river showed that E. Coli levels were above the recommended limit at four different sites for nearly the entire week of June 10 to June 16, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/france/article/2024/06/21/paris-seine-river-water-too-dirty-to-allow-olympic-swimming-events_6675386_7.html">per Le Monde with AFP</a>."Samples from the Seine do not meet the standards we will have this summer," Paris region official Marc Guillaume added on Friday.The Seine was poised to be a centerpiece of the Paris Olympics, featuring prominently in both the opening ceremony and various swimming events.The city of Paris invested $1.5 billion in cleaning the river ahead of the games, with regular testing of bacterial levels to ensure athletes' safety.But officials say heavy rainfall has scuppered those plans thus far, leading to high rates of two kinds of fecal bacteria, including E. Coli — which is "the species of coliform bacteria that is the best indicator of fecal pollution," according to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.health.ny.gov/environmental/water/drinking/coliform_bacteria.htm">New York State Department of Health</a>."Water quality remains degraded due to... rain, high flow, little sunshine (and) temperatures below seasonal norms," a weekly report published by the Paris region and mayor's office said, per Le Monde with AFP.Paris' 19th-century sewage system can be overwhelmed by bad weather, leading to <a target="_blank" href="https://www3.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/nps_urban-facts_final.pdf">urban runoff</a>, which carries pollutants to streams and rivers.The Seine has been off-limits for swimming since 1923 due to high pollution levels.Last year, triathletes took part in a test event in the Seine, with some airing concerns about their safety.Norwegian Olympic gold medallist Kristian Blummenfelt said: "I always dive with open mouth. It's not going to be funny if I wake up tomorrow morning with ... whatever," <a target="_blank" href="https://www.espn.co.uk/olympics/story/_/id/38201983/paris-triathlon-test-previous-water-quality-issues">per ESPN</a>.A number of other test events in the river have been canceled due to pollution levels and bad weather.Nevertheless, Guillaume said he was "confident" that swimming events would go ahead as planned."At one point or another, the weather will change, it's going to stop raining and we're going to have sunshine ... It is in summer conditions that we must be able to examine swimmability," he said, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.axios.com/2024/06/21/seine-polluted-paris-olympics">Axios</a> reported.The 2024 Olympic Games is set to kick off on July 26.The overall economic impact of the Olympic Games on the Paris region could range from 6.7 billion euros to 11.1 billion euros, or around $7.1 billion to $11.8 billion, <a target="_blank" href="https://cdes.fr/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/2024.04_Paris-2024_Economic-impact-study_final.pdf">according to a study published by Center for Law and Economics of Sport</a>.Business Insider contacted the Olympic Games Paris 2024 for comment.

Seine River in Paris still too polluted for Olympic events as opening ceremony looms

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A driver of a truck was caught on camera "rolling coal" into a <keyword id="11896956" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="texas" source="Orion">Texas</keyword> restaurant. </li><li>Rolling coal is a term used when diesel-truck drivers modify the emissions controls on their vehicles to intentionally blow smoke.</li></ul>A driver of a truck was caught on camera "rolling coal" into a busy Texas restaurant, a video viewed over 1 million times on Tik Tok shows. The video showed one person holding the door of a Whataburger restaurant open while a truck blew plumes of black smoke into the building as it drove away. Afterward, patrons of the restaurant could be seen clearing the area because of the smoke. Whataburger did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. The person who posted the video captioned it: "Only in Texas." They could not immediately be reached for comment. Rolling coal is a term used for when drivers of diesel trucks "disable their vehicles' emissions controls" to blow smoke on others, <a href="https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/texas/article/Texas-whataburger-rolling-coal-viral-video-illegal-16548391.php?utm_campaign=CMS%20Sharing%20Tools%20(Premium)&amp;utm_source=t.co&amp;utm_medium=referral#photo-2160560821605608">the Houston Chronicle reported</a>. The practice is not illegal in Texas. "Coal rollers' frequent targets: walkers, joggers, cyclists, hybrid and Asian cars and even police officers. A popular bumper sticker reads 'Prius Repellent,'" The New York Times' climate reporter Hiroko Tabuchi <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/05/business/energy-environment/rolling-coal-in-diesel-trucks-to-rebel-and-provoke.html?_r=0">wrote in 2016</a>. In September, a teenage <keyword id="11969570" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="truck-driver" source="Orion">truck driver</keyword> drew intense criticism in Waller County, Texas, after he <a href="https://www.insider.com/teen-truck-driver-ran-over-six-cyclists-not-arrested-2021-9">rolled coal on a group of cyclists</a> and ended up hitting six of them, sending several to the hospital. While altering the emissions-control device on a vehicle violates the Clean Air Act, some drivers have found ways to skirt the law by modifying their trucks so that they can still pass an emissions test, <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/coal-rolling-whataburger-driver-fumes-diesel-truck-1640737">Newsweek reported</a>. According to the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/transportation-air-pollution-and-climate-change/learn-about-air-pollution-transportation#vehicles">Environmental Protection Agency</a>, transportation <keyword id="12230730" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="air-pollution" source="Orion">air pollution</keyword> - such as emissions from vehicles - can cause health issues and contribute to carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. Texas drivers can report vehicles that smoke excessively to the <a href="https://www.nctcog.org/trans/quality/air/for-everyone/hevp/rsvp">North Central Texas Regional Smoking Vehicle Program</a>.

Video shows a truck 'rolling coal,' or purposefully blowing a cloud of thick black exhaust fumes, into a busy Texas restaurant

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill on Saturday to ban gas-powered lawn equipment as early as 2024.</li><li>The state plans to offer rebates to people who switch to zero-emission electronic lawn tools.</li></ul>Gov. Gavin Newsom of <keyword id="11892889" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="california" source="Orion">California</keyword> signed a <a href="https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220AB1346">bill</a> into law on Saturday that would ban gas-powered lawn equipment, such as <keyword id="12297945" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="lawn-mowers" source="Orion">lawn mowers</keyword> and <keyword id="12297944" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="leaf-blowers" source="Orion">leaf blowers</keyword>, as soon as 2024.The bill, which adds a section to the air-pollution part of California's health and safety code, offers some rebates for switching to zero-emission electronic lawn tools. The bill's author <a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-10-09/california-moves-toward-ban-on-gas-lawnmowers-and-leaf-blowers">told the Los Angeles Times</a> the state was setting aside $30 million to help professional gardeners and landscapers switch to electric equipment.The bill says small off-road engines, which it describes as those "used primarily in lawn and garden equipment," emit lots of <keyword id="12230730" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="air-pollution" source="Orion">air pollution</keyword>.Gas-powered chain saws, weed trimmers, and golf carts are also affected by the new law, the Times said."This is a pretty modest approach to trying to limit the massive amounts of pollution that this equipment emits, not to mention the health impact on the workers who are using it constantly," the author of the bill, Assemblyman Marc Berman, told the Times.There are more than 16.7 million small engines in California, 3 million more than the number of passenger cars on the road in the state, <a href="https://apnews.com/article/business-gavin-newsom-california-pollution-environment-and-nature-a0110d773785d920558134c0009ba694">the Associated Press reported</a>.The bill also stipulates that portable generators must be zero-emission by 2028.The law is set to come into force on January 1, 2024, or as soon as is feasible, whichever is later.In 2019, the American Lung Association <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/us-states-worst-air-pollution-california-2019-9">ranked California the worst US state for air pollution</a>. In September 2020, following a string of wildfires, the West Coast <a href="https://www.insider.com/west-coast-hazardous-air-quality-worst-on-earth-wildfire-smoke-2020-9">temporarily had the worst air quality on Earth</a>.

California is banning gas-powered leaf blowers, lawn mowers, and weed trimmers - and offering rebates for switching to zero-emission tools

Texas found startling amounts of a cancer-causing chemical in the air outside Houston. Nobody told the residents.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>New York City's air is abysmal this week because of smoke from Canadian wildfires. </li><li>Hazy skies are a shock to New York and other eastern locales but poor air is common in many cities.</li></ul>As a former New York City resident, I'm always curious about what's going on there. This week I didn't expect my texts to be about air quality. Coworkers, friends, and family members in various locales up and down the East Coast texted me about the terrible smoke blanketing their neighborhoods, with a cousin saying he'd had some trouble breathing. Another family member said Manhattan looked apocalyptic.For the past few days, New York City's air has appeared dirtier than the bottom of a subway track. The foul air from massive Canadian wildfires is expected to linger through at least Saturday. As shocked as New Yorkers — and people in other big cities from Detroit to Washington, DC — might be to barely be able to make out their skylines, this is nothing new for many people who live in other parts of the world. Lahore, Pakistan; Hotan, China; and Bhiwadi, India, had the worst air quality in the world in 2022, according to <a href="https://www.iqair.com/us/world-most-polluted-cities" target="_blank" rel="noopener">data from IQ Air</a>. My colleague Spriha Srivastava wrote that New York's <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-air-quality-awful-pollution-every-day-delhi-2023-6">suffocating smog reminds her of growing up in Delhi</a>. Indeed, New York City has found itself atop the rankings — and above all of the perennial offenders — for having the worst air quality and being hazardous to breathe. New York Mayor Eric Adams said that by Wednesday afternoon the <a href="https://abc7ny.com/air-quality-nyc-forecast-alert-canada-wildfire-smoke/13357814/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">air quality index hit 484</a>, out of a scale of 500. As of midday Thursday, it's around 180 — still not great.New Yorkers and others are getting a taste of what it can be like to live in Doha, Qatar, and Shanghai, where at least air pollution <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/1283503/china-annual-pm25-particle-levels-shanghai/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appears to be improving</a>.<div type="image" title="A hazy Manhattan skyline" height="2268" width="3023" msid="100858112" hostid="261"></div>In many developed economies, expectations about clean air are baked in. But that wasn't always the case, even in the US. Landmark legislation like the Clean Air Act, signed into law by President Nixon in 1970 and beefed up in 1990, acted like a giant air filter for the nation. Today, in many global cities where the air quality is poor, the focus is often on building economies to lift people out of poverty. "They're in a period of rapid economic growth," Robert Kremens, a physicist who studies wildfires, told Insider. "They sacrifice air quality over human health." He said those decisions are often understandable because the focus is on ensuring citizens aren't going hungry, for example. Yet there are consequences from the pollution as well. A study published last year found 86% of people living in the world's urban spaces encounter air pollution that's <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00350-8/fulltext" target="_blank" rel="noopener">more than seven times</a> above guidelines put out by the World Health Organization back in 2005. Cleaner air is something the US now takes for granted — even out west where smoke from wildfires is far more common. Kremens, who is with the Chester F. Carlson Center for Imaging Science at Rochester Institute of Technology, said the US made a decision decades ago to make cleaner air a priority. That meant a big drop in pollution from industrial smokestacks and tailpipes. That was quite a change from the years before the federal government had the authority to regulate what America was sending into the sky. In 1948, for example, over the course of five days in Donora, Pennsylvania, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4133758/#:~:text=The%20Clean%20Air%20Act%20of,from%20stationary%20and%20mobile%20sources." target="_blank" rel="noopener">20 people died</a> and thousands more were made sick by air pollution that spewed from a factory. It was incidents like this and seminal works like Rachel Carson's 1962 book "Silent Spring" on the effects of insecticides that propelled a nascent environmental movement.When the <a href="https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/earth-day.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">first</a> Earth Day took place in April 1970, air pollution was a major problem in most US cities. In 1969, a river in Cleveland topped with industrial runoff caught fire, something that had happened at least a <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/cuyahoga-river-caught-fire-least-dozen-times-no-one-cared-until-1969-180972444/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dozen</a> times before. Almost one in 10 Americans took part in demonstrations or activities on the first Earth Day, and those participants sought something in particular: government action. Those actions have since made such a difference that many of us are now shocked by what poor air quality looks like."I'm going out to LA tomorrow. It's not red anymore. It used to be red when we went there," Kremens said this week from his office in Rochester, New York. "This is a societal decision, where we're going to clean up the air and the water." Kremens pointed to the Clean Air Act and the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-water-act" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Clean Water Act</a> as examples for what can be done when enough attention is paid to an environmental challenge. These advance are likely why the recent haze choking so many eastern cities has been so jarring, even for Kremens, who has gone around the world studying — and fighting — fires for more than 20 years. "I go outside and it smells like Montana," he said. "I have so many pictures on my wall that look like here now, but they're from Utah and Montana and places I've worked out west."I'm looking forward to another batch of photos from friends and family in eastern cities — pictures showing clear skies.

New Yorkers are getting a taste of what it's like to live in the pollution of Delhi, Doha, and Shanghai

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Chicago's Southeast Side has dealt with pollution from heavy industry for generations.</li><li>Neighborhood advocates hope changes to zoning and land-use rules could curb some polluters.</li><li>"If you take away our health, you take away our wealth," one activist told Insider.</li></ul>As a kid, Oscar Sanchez remembers his brother wearing a special mask to help him breathe at night. He was among many residents of Chicago's Southeast Side with asthma and other respiratory diseases.The community is home to Chicago's <a href="https://greatlakes.org/databook/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">largest industrial corridor</a> and is among the most polluted sections of the city — the legacy of landfills, chemical-incineration plants, scrapyards, now closed steel mills, and other environmental hazards. It's also predominantly Black and Latino.Sanchez, 26, became a local organizer to encourage young people to improve the Southeast Side. During the COVID-19 pandemic, that included passing out testing kits and setting up vaccination sites, as well as educating people about the connection between air pollution and respiratory conditions that made people more vulnerable to the disease."If you take away our health, you take away our wealth," Sanchez, a community planning manager at the <a href="https://setaskforce.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Southeast Environmental Task Force</a>, told Insider. "Just because you're poor doesn't mean you should be treated poorly."Sanchez soon found himself at the center of an environmental-justice movement ushering in major changes in Chicago, including <a href="https://www.chicagoejn.org/press/environmental-justice-advocates-city-ofnbspchicago-andnbsphudnbspsign-landmark-civil-rights-settlement-to-overhaul-zoning-lawsnbsp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a historic settlement</a> in May with the US Department of Housing and Urban Development directing the city to overhaul its land-use and zoning policies that for decades pushed polluters into the Southeast Side. He and other advocates hope that remaking some of the arcane but powerful scaffolding that shapes how Chicago develops will curb the pollution that's harmed residents in poor neighborhoods.Under the settlement with federal officials and a <a href="https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/cdph/environment/CoC_Executive-Order-2023-3.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">city executive order</a>, Chicago by September must identify neighborhoods experiencing the greatest health effects from pollution and use that study to inform changes to land-use, permitting, and environmental-enforcement policies.The first-of-its-kind settlement with HUD could be a model for environmental justice advocates in other cities. Robert Weinstock, an attorney representing two environmental-justice groups who's also the director of the Environmental Advocacy Center at Northwestern University's Pritzker School of Law, said that structural racism exists everywhere he's looked in the US, but it is baked into policies in different ways."What's really precedent-setting in this agreement is that it has a focus on process. Many of the provisions required the city to improve community-driven processes to understand the impacts of the current policies and laws to generate structural reforms," he said.<h2>Trying to block a scrap-metal company from opening near a school</h2>The settlement followed a yearslong fight by groups including the Southeast Environmental Task Force to block a scrap-metal recycler <a href="https://blockclubchicago.org/2022/02/18/city-denies-controversial-metal-scrapper-southside-recyclings-permit-after-activists-wage-years-long-fight/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">with a history of environmental violations</a> from opening across from a high school. The opposition campaign included a 30-day hunger strike led by Sanchez and other organizers, as well as a federal complaint in 2020 that challenged the city's role in relocating the metal-shredding business from Lincoln Park, an affluent and mostly white part of Chicago.<div type="image" title="Cheryl Johnson stands in white long-sleeve shirt outside" height="142" width="190" msid="102024392" hostid="261" sizebytes="4248"></div>The complaint sparked an investigation by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development, which last July <a href="https://www.hud.gov/sites/dfiles/Main/documents/Letter_of_Finding_05-20-0419_City_of_Chicago.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">accused Chicago of violating</a> the civil rights of its residents by shunting industrial sites into Black and Latino neighborhoods already overburdened by pollution and health issues. If the city didn't agree to address environmental harms, it risked losing hundreds of millions of dollars in federal housing money."This is a historical time for us," Cheryl Johnson, the executive director of People for Community Recovery, told Insider. "Now all levels of city government have to listen to us and develop policies that are protective of public health."Johnson grew up in a community on the Far South Side of Chicago <a href="https://www.peopleforcommunityrecovery.org/our-story/legacy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">that her mother in the 1970s dubbed the "toxic donut"</a> after surveying the hazardous sites that surround it for miles. More than 40 years later, Johnson is leading the organization her mother founded.<div type="image" title="Industrial facilities along the Calumet River in Chicago" height="3333" width="4444" msid="102024394" hostid="261" sizebytes="1036138"></div>"This fight has always been a majority women," Johnson said. "We understand that we have to protect our babies. Don't make our babies sick."<h2>Changing which businesses get to operate next door</h2>In the Calumet industrial corridor, which runs through the Southeast Side, businesses that handle hazardous waste don't need a city permit. They can operate by right, said Weinstock. Communities also don't have the legal authority to challenge land-use approvals, he said.Weinstock said these are the kind of policies that might change because of the settlement with HUD.<div type="image" title="Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson stands at the podium during his inauguration" height="2433" width="3244" msid="102024396" hostid="261" sizebytes="504636"></div>Environmental-justice advocates are optimistic because they have allies at the highest levels of city government, including Mayor Brandon Johnson, who took office in May after <a href="https://www.brandonforchicago.com/issues/environmental-justice#:~:text=We%20need%20Chicago%20to%20lead,makes%20a%20better%20future%20possible." target="_blank" rel="noopener">making the issue a key part of his campaign</a>. The administration in June <a href="https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/cdph/environment/CumulativeImpact/DRAFT-Chicago-EJ-Action-Plan-June-2023.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">published a 52-page draft action plan</a>.Angela Tovar, Chicago's chief sustainability officer, grew up in the Southeast Side. She told Insider it was "refreshing" to have a mayor who understands that environmental-justice initiatives have to reflect the overlapping factors that create inequality and be drafted in collaboration with the communities experiencing them."We have to center race and class and gender as we're thinking about how to mitigate these disparities," she said. "What we've seen over time is zoning policies that didn't consider real estate. Homes surrounding industrial zones often have lower price points and are more accessible to low-income communities of color, so we need to think about the negative impacts of that both historically and now."Though it appears changes are afoot in Chicago, the scrap-metal site could still open in the Southeast Side. A judge earlier this year reinstated its operating permit — overturning a denial the city's health department issued <a href="https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/sites/rmg-expansion/home.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">in February 2022</a> after finding the business would pose an "unacceptable risk" to local residents, who have higher rates of chronic illness than Chicago's overall population and are among the most vulnerable to air pollution.The judge said that the health assessment was an added step and that the city wasn't following its own permitting rules. Johnson has <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2023/6/30/23780141/mayor-johnson-appeals-general-iron-ruling-in-circuit-court" target="_blank" rel="noopener">appealed the ruling</a>.Sanchez said the case underscored the importance of updating city policies, because administrations come and go."I see Mayor Johnson as a friend, but we hold our friends accountable," Sanchez said. "Unless we have policies in place that protect lives, it's going to be business as usual."

A historic settlement could bring environmental justice to a Chicago neighborhood that's been filled with polluting industries

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The <keyword id="11893011" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="supreme-court" source="Orion">Supreme Court</keyword> added a case to its docket that will inform the EPA's scope of power.</li><li>The Biden administration asked the court in August to wait to hear the case.</li></ul>On Friday, the Supreme Court added a case to its docket that will inform the scope of power the US Environmental Protection Agency has to regulate <keyword id="11949068" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="carbon-emissions" source="Orion">carbon emissions</keyword>, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/29/us/scotus-epa-carbon-emissions.html">The New York Times reported</a>.Members of the Biden administration <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/20/20-1530/186855/20210805165924807_W%20Va%20080521.3.pdf">asked the court in August</a> to wait until the EPA finishes crafting new carbon emission guidelines, which would still be subject to judicial review by the courts, before hearing the case so that any legal challenge may take "a more concrete shape," <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/20/20-1530/186855/20210805165924807_W%20Va%20080521.3.pdf">court documents show</a>. However, the court decided to hear the appeal brought by <keyword id="11911392" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="coal" source="Orion">coal</keyword> companies, 18 Republican-led states, and Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves, that asks it to reign in the EPA's "unbridled power" to decarbonize most sectors of the economy, <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/20/20-1530/176915/20210429133443663_2021.04.29%20-%20West%20Virginia%20v.%20EPA%20Petition.pdf">according to court documents</a>.The case arrives at the Supreme Court following a 2-1 ruling on January 19, 2021, in which a Washington DC appeals court vacated the Trump administration's repeal of the Clean Power Plan, an Obama-era policy that created the first national limits on carbon pollution from fossil fuel-fired power plants."How we respond to <keyword id="12002886" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="climate" source="Orion">climate</keyword> change is a pressing issue for our nation, yet some of the paths forward carry serious and disproportionate costs for states and countless other affected parties," <a href="https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/20/20-1530/176915/20210429133443663_2021.04.29%20-%20West%20Virginia%20v.%20EPA%20Petition.pdf">the petitioners argued in the appeal</a>, adding that the court should intervene immediately.Despite <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/co2-in-atmosphere-hit-highest-level-in-modern-history-2021-6">decreases in global carbon emissions</a> during the pandemic, the long-term trajectory of carbon emissions remains largely unchanged. A <a href="https://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/natlinfo/indicators/methodology_sheets/atmosphere/co2_emissions.pdf">United Nations report from June</a> found that the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has steadily increased since the Industrial Revolution, predominately due to the combustion of fossil fuels and deforestation.

Coal companies and conservative states have asked the Supreme Court to limit the EPA's 'unbridled power'

New Delhi, Noting that air pollution is a silent killer, Randeep Guleria, Director at <keyword id="7683594" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="The-All-India-Institute-of-Medical-Sciences">the All India Institute of Medical Sciences</keyword> (<keyword id="40458" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="AIIMS">AIIMS</keyword>), said that it contributes to up to 40 per cent deaths in patients with chronic illnesses and neonatal fatalities. "The global burden disease published in Lancet shows that in 2019, air pollution was the fourth leading cause of mortality and third for disability-adjusted life years. Air pollution is a silent killer which makes it difficult for the policymakers to understand," he said. "We must focus more on the chronic effects of pollution such as diabetes, lower respiratory tract disease, lung cancer, stroke or neonatal deaths - there is enough data to say that around 20 to 40 per cent of deaths in these diseases are caused by air pollution," Guleria said. He was speaking at the second Good Air Summit organised by the Integrated Health &amp; Wellbeing (IHW) Council. Guleria also said that more than smoking tobacco, pollution contributes to developing diseases such as lung cancer, <keyword id="73190" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="COPD">COPD</keyword> and heart disease. "These are acute effects," he added. The AIIMS chief also shared that within a few days of spike in air pollution levels, the influx of patients increased in the hospital's OPDs. "Experience in AIIMS shows that whenever there is a spike in air pollution, the number of patients in OPDs increases in the next 5-6 days," Guleria said. Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Prakash Javadekar, also attended the summit. Accepting that pollution is a sensitive issue and a serious challenge, he expressed hope that the newly-constituted <keyword id="10260083" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="commission-for-air-quality">Commission for Air Quality</keyword> will reduce pollution in the national capital. "We introduced the idea of measuring air quality and brought the concept of AQI. The Sameer app of the Central Pollution Control Board provides hourly update of the national Air Quality Index (AQI). I am hopeful that the Commission for Air Quality Management will reduce pollution further," Javadekar stated. Meanwhile, Kamal Narayan, CEO, IHW, complained that air pollution did not receive the kind of response it required either from the government or the citizens, despite being an evident health emergency. "The data from 'State of Global Air 2020' shows that 1.67 million or 17 lakh people die annually due to air pollution that comes to around 4,700 deaths per day. Which means around half a million more people fell prey to air pollution last year than the number of lives claimed by Covid-19 virus till date, globally. However, despite being a super-killer and an evident health emergency, air pollution did not get the emergency response either from the system, or from the people," he said. Commenting on the issue, Swatanter Kumar, retired Supreme Court judge and former chairperson of <keyword id="2462566" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="The-National-Green-Tribunal">the National Green Tribunal</keyword> (NGT), said that protection of the environment is a constitutional obligation of both the government and the citizens. "Protecting the environment is a constitutional obligation for the citizens and a constitutional duty of the governments. We don't need more laws but better implementation of the existing frameworks. We need holistic, pragmatic and practical solutions for intergenerational equity and examine the sources of cleaner energy as well," he said.

Air pollution causes 40% deaths in patients with chronic illnesses: AIIMS Director

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The US is launching the largest ever carbon-removal initiative in the world. </li><li>Once built, facilities in Texas and Louisiana will suck carbon dioxide pollution from the air.</li></ul>The Biden Administration is investing up to $1.2 billion for companies to suck greenhouse gases out of the air — the biggest investment in carbon removal in history, the US Department of Energy announced in a <a href="https://www.energy.gov/articles/biden-harris-administration-announces-12-billion-nations-first-direct-air-capture" target="_blank" rel="noopener">press release</a> on Friday. The DOE said that the initiative will begin with two large-scale carbon removal facilities in Texas and Louisiana, before eventually expanding to more sites across the US. "Cutting back on our carbon emissions alone won't reverse the growing impacts of climate change," US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm said in the press release. "We also need to remove the CO2 that we've already put in the atmosphere — which nearly every climate model makes clear is essential to achieving a net-zero global economy by 2050."The money will boost the development of two <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/carbon-dioxide-removal-air-sky-machine-climate-change-climeworks-2023-1">direct air capture (DAC) sites</a> — Project Cypress in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, and the South Texas DAC Hub in Kleberg County, Texas — which won a call for proposal that attracted 14 projects. Together, these two facilities are expected to remove 2 million <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-tech-vc-handed-record-42-billion-carbon-removal-2022-2023-2">metric tons of CO2 emissions</a> every year, about the same amount of emissions that 445,000 gas-powered cars pump into the atmosphere, according to the press release. The money will come out of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/whats-in-the-infrastructure-bill-amtrak-clean-energy-2021-7">Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,</a> for which Congress has already <a href="https://www.energy.gov/oced/regional-direct-air-capture-hubs-selections-award-negotiations">appropriated $3.5 billion</a>. This law plans for the construction of two more domestic Regional DAC Hubs, per the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations.The project will also create 4,800 "good-paying" jobs in both states, the press release states. The Louisiana site plans to recruit 10% of its workforce from employees formerly working in the fossil fuel industry, per the release.Granholm said in the announcement that with this "once-in-a-generation investment," the DOE "is laying the foundation for a direct air capture industry crucial to tackling climate change — transforming local economies and delivering healthier communities along the way."<h2>How direct air capture differs from carbon capture technology</h2>Unlike <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/carbon-capture-storage-expensive-climate-change-2021-9">carbon capture technology</a>, which captures carbon as its being produced by a facility before it reaches the atmosphere, direct air capture acts like a giant air purifier, separating carbon that is already in the air and pumping it underground or into rocks for permanent storage. The Texas site believes it could store up to <a href="https://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/1pointfive-selected-for-u-s-department-of-energy-grant-to-develop-south-texas-direct-air-capture-hub-1032546036">3 billion metric tons of CO2</a> in saline formations under the hub.These sites are part of a four-pronged plan pushed by the Biden-Harris administration to limit warming to just no more than <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/climate-change-alter-human-life-un-ipcc-report-2022-2">1.5 degrees Celsius,</a> by reducing emissions by 50% to 52% by 2030.To do so, the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2023/04/20/remarks-by-president-biden-at-the-2023-major-economies-forum-on-energy-and-climate/">administration is focussing</a> on decarbonizing energy, ending deforestation, reducing non-carbon greenhouse gas emissions, and improving carbon management, US President Joe Biden said in a speech in April.

The US government will hand out up to $1.2 billion for companies to suck greenhouse gases out of the air

<ul><li>India’s national capital is implementing the ‘odd-even’ scheme to battle the city’s rising <keyword id="55910" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Air-Pollution">air pollution</keyword>.</li><li>The scheme will be in effect from 4 November 2019 to 15 November 2019.</li><li>Anyone found skirting the law will be fined ₹4,000.</li></ul>India’s national capital Delhi is no stranger to air pollution. In fact, it’s one of the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/gurgaon-is-the-most-polluted-city-in-the-world/articleshow/68267574.cms">most polluted</a> cities in the world. The city’s local government is implementing the ‘<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/pollution-dipped-in-last-3-years-still-delhi-to-have-odd-even-scheme/articleshow/71145180.cms">odd-even</a>’ scheme, yet again, to try and battle the growing environmental threat. <keyword id="260213" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Arvind-Kejriwal">Arvind Kejriwal</keyword>, Delhi’s chief minister, announced that the odd-even scheme will be in effect from 4 November 2019 to 15 November 2019. He also clarified that it will also apply to Delhi’s ministers and chief ministers. On the other hand, women-only vehicles, two-wheelers and cars carrying school children in uniform will be exempted. Violation of the rules under the odd-even scheme will result in a ₹4,000 fine for the offenders. Delhi is not the only one at fault According to Kejriwal, the <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/fed-up-of-pollution-more-than-35-of-residents-in-indias-capital-say-they-want-to-move-out-permanently-survey/articleshow/66630699.cms">rising level of air pollution</a> in Delhi can’t be wholly be blamed on the city. The crop burning after the harvest season in neighboring states is also a contributing factor. "It is unjustified to only blame the residents of Delhi," he stated. He also said that the <a href="http://safar.tropmet.res.in/">SAFAR reports</a> stating that only 10% of Delhi’s air pollution comes from stubble burning as inaccurate. This is because the right equipment to measure air quality and its sources accurately are still being imported and not currently in place, according to him. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/gurgaon-is-the-most-polluted-city-in-the-world/articleshow/68267574.cms">India accounts for 7 of the world’s 10 most polluted cities — with Gurugram ranked as the worst: Study</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/pollution-dipped-in-last-3-years-still-delhi-to-have-odd-even-scheme/articleshow/71145180.cms">Delhi to go ahead with odd-even scheme even as pollution dips by 25%</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/fed-up-of-pollution-more-than-35-of-residents-in-indias-capital-say-they-want-to-move-out-permanently-survey/articleshow/66630699.cms">Fed up of pollution, more than 35% of residents in India’s capital say they want to move out permanently: Survey</a>

India’s national capital is giving the ‘odd-even’ scheme another go to battle air pollution

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The UK could legalize <keyword id="835856" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="electric-scooters">electric scooters</keyword> by June 2020.</li><li>Transport secretary <keyword id="1053682" type="PERSON" weightage="60" keywordseo="Grant-Shapps">Grant Shapps</keyword> said during Sunday's government press conference</li><li>Silicon Valley scooter firms such as <keyword id="51700" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="60" keywordseo="Bird">Bird</keyword> and <keyword id="163870" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="lime">Lime</keyword> have lobbied for scooter schemes to be permitted in the UK since 2018.</li><li>They are currently illegal to ride anywhere in the UK except on private land, and where the government has permitted some limited trials.</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>The UK could allow electric <keyword id="83121" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="scooters">scooters</keyword> in June as it looks to reduce pressure on public transport and usage of cars in cities.Speaking during the government's daily press conference, transport secretary Grant Shapps <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSvuXQy7z_A">said on Sunday</a> that he would fast-track trials for electric scooter schemes to June 2020.Originally, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-transport-tech-to-be-tested-in-biggest-shake-up-of-laws-in-a-generation">the trial was slated for 2021</a> and would have trialed electric scooters in four areas of the UK: Portsmouth and Southampton, the West of England Combined Authority, and Derby and Nottingham, and the West Midlands.Shapps said on Sunday that any region that wanted to trial electric scooter rental schemes would now be able to make a bid."I'm ... fast-tracking trials of e-scooters, bringing this programme already underway for next year forward to next month, and extending those trials from four local authorities to every region in the country that wants them in a bid to get e-scooter rented schemes up and running in cities," he said.The trial wouldn't extend to individuals who want to buy their own private scooter, but is intended for cities who want to operate rented scooter schemes in partnership with scooter firms.<div type="image" title="Grant Shapps" height="683" width="911" msid="75675840" hostid="261"></div>The trial could lead to an overhaul of UK laws, which currently don't permit electric scooters anywhere except on private land and where the government has allowed some limited trials.But companies operating scooter rental schemes will need to prove they are a safe and green mode of urban transport before the legislation is updated. The death of YouTube Emily Hartridge in 2019 due to a scooter accident <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/scooter-startups-meet-uk-lawmakers-emily-hartridge-death-2019-7?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">provoked some caution in government</a> about changing the laws.Firms will also need to prove that scooters can be cleared off public streets and stored or parked safely when not in use. It's good news for Silicon Valley scooter firms such as Lime and Bird, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/bird-lime-pitching-uk-government-to-trial-electric-scooters-2018-8?r=US&amp;IR=TIR=T">which have lobbied for some two years</a> for scooter rental schemes to be permitted in the UK, as well as European competitors such as Voi, Tier, Bolt, and Wind. Bird already runs a limited trial of its scooters in an area of east London.It's also good news for the many scooter enthusiasts who already zoom around the UK's city streets on their vehicles, albeit illegally.The green-lighting of scooter trials is part of a wider £2 billion package to double down on green measures during and after the pandemic. Air quality in the UK and other lockdown nations has drastically improved during the first few months of 2020, with Shapps noting the decline in pollution was "one of the few benefits" of the pandemic.The UK will hope that one positive side effect of the pandemic might be an overall reduction in car usage. It must also work to reduce public transport crowding, to reduce the risk of further waves of infection. Other green measures announced on Sunday included pop-up cycling lanes and wider pavements.There are still questions about how green scooters actually are. <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab2da8">A North Carolina State University study</a> published in August 2019 suggested that scooters were greener than cars but might be less green than cycling, walking, or taking the bus. The issue may be fixable, the study's authors concluded, if scooters become more robust and are charged more efficiently, among other measures.Alan Clarke, UK director of policy for Lime, said of the accelerated trials: "This is great news for people in towns and cities across the country."As we move beyond the current lockdown restrictions, e-scooters will provide a safe, sustainable and affordable way to travel whilst social distancing. They will also offer a great alternative to driving - helping to keep cars off the road. We look forward to working with local authorities to offer our shared e-scooter scheme as soon as possible."Travis VanderZanden, chief executive of Bird, said in a statement: "At such a crucial time, it's inspiring to see the UK government taking significant strides to accelerate access to shared micromobility — putting safety and climate action at the top of the agenda."With public transport capacity constrained due to the pandemic e-scooters will provide people with a sustainable and socially responsible <keyword id="34991" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="transportation">transportation</keyword> option. Congestion and air quality has improved dramatically in towns and cities throughout the UK in recent weeks, and we're pleased to see the Government is committed to keeping it this way as part of their green transport revolution."Read the original article on <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/uk-allow-scooters-june-covid-19-2020-5">Business Insider</a>

You Searched For "air pollution law" and got 11 results

Seine River in Paris still too polluted for Olympic events as opening ceremony looms

Rebecca Rommen

Video shows a truck 'rolling coal,' or purposefully blowing a cloud of thick black exhaust fumes, into a busy Texas restaurant

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California is banning gas-powered leaf blowers, lawn mowers, and weed trimmers - and offering rebates for switching to zero-emission tools

Isobel Asher Hamilton

Texas found startling amounts of a cancer-causing chemical in the air outside Houston. Nobody told the residents.

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New Yorkers are getting a taste of what it's like to live in the pollution of Delhi, Doha, and Shanghai

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A historic settlement could bring environmental justice to a Chicago neighborhood that's been filled with polluting industries

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Coal companies and conservative states have asked the Supreme Court to limit the EPA's 'unbridled power'

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Air pollution causes 40% deaths in patients with chronic illnesses: AIIMS Director

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The US government will hand out up to $1.2 billion for companies to suck greenhouse gases out of the air

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India’s national capital is giving the ‘odd-even’ scheme another go to battle air pollution

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The pandemic means electric scooter rentals will be allowed on the UK's public roads from June

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