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David Speier / NurPhoto / Getty Images

Journalist Dies in Clash Over Dirty Coal in Germany

By Andy Rowell

Over the last week, the German Police have deployed thousands of officers, backed up by water cannons and armored vehicles, to evict hundreds of climate activists trying to defend the last remnants of an ancient forest in Germany from being destroyed by RWE, which wants to expand the biggest open coal mine in Europe.

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Health
Maryland and Delaware petitioned the EPA to reduce emissions from upwind coal plants like the Pocahontas coal plant in West Virginia. Magnolia677 / CC BY-SA 3.0

EPA Rejects States' Health Concerns Over Upwind Coal Air Pollution

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a notice Friday denying petitions by the states of Delaware and Maryland for it to recognize that upwind state pollution sources are interfering with their ability to meet ozone standards.

The states had used a provision of the Clean Air Act to petition for reduced nitrogen oxide emissions from coal plants in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, but the EPA found that there wasn't enough evidence that the plants were contributing to elevated ozone levels in the downwind states, InsideClimateNews reported.

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Climate
A truck submerged by Florence flooding in Lumberton, NC. ALEX EDELMAN / AFP / Getty Images

18 Dead, More Than 900 Rescued as Florence Floods the Carolinas

Hurricane Florence, downgraded to a tropical depression, pummeled the Carolinas this weekend, killing 18 so far and instigating flooding that officials said could last through mid-week, CNN reported Monday.

Florence, which scientists predicted would be more than 50 percent wetter due to climate change, is expected to dump 40 inches of rain on parts of southeastern North Carolina and northeastern South Carolina, with some swollen rivers not cresting until later in the coming week.

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Politics
Scott Pruitt at the 2017 Conservative Political Action Conference in National Harbor, Maryland. Gage Skidmore / CC BY-SA 2.0

Former EPA Chief Pruitt in Talks to Become Coal Company Consultant

Former U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) chief Scott Pruitt is in talks with a prominent coal executive about working for him as a consultant, the New York Times and the Washington Post reported Wednesday.

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Energy
Flourescent lamps must now be 4 percent more efficient. DOE

5 Products Improved in 2018, Thanks to Obama-Era Efficiency Standards

By Lauren Urbanek

Hotels, offices, stores and other commercial spaces across the U.S. are reaping benefits from new energy efficiency standards taking effect this year, one of which is the largest ever set by the Department of Energy (DOE). Consumers will see lower bills from these efficiency efforts, which were finalized during the Obama administration, even as the Trump DOE seeks to stall new standards.

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Climate
UN Secretary General António Guterres addressed the future of international cooperation at Westminster Central Hall in London on May 10, 2017. International Maritime Organization / CC BY 2.0

As Climate Talks Stall, UN Chief Presses World Leaders to Take Action

UN Secretary General António Guterres urged world leaders to pick up the pace on fighting climate change in a speech at the UN headquarters in New York Monday, The New York Times reported.

"If we do not change course by 2020, we risk missing the point where we can avoid runaway climate change," Guterres said.

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Health
Pexels

New Study Links Air Pollution to Dementia

There's no question that air pollution is bad for your body, from lung cancer to heart disease. Even President Trump's coal-friendly U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) admits that dirty air can increase adverse health effects and cause death.

Now, researchers from Arizona State University have determined another air pollution risk: dementia.

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Politics
A part of Bears Ears that was lopped off partly due to the work of Downey Magallanes, who will move to BP after Labor Day. U.S. Bureau of Land Management

Interior Adviser to Join BP After Pushing to Open National Monuments to Fossil Fuel Development

A Department of the Interior (DOI) official who played an important role in opening public lands to fossil fuel interests has left the federal government to accept a job at BP, The Washington Post reported Monday.

Former DOI Deputy Chief of Staff Downey Magallanes led the review that resulted in Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke's plan to shrink the Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monuments in Utah by 85 and 46 percent respectively, Think Progress pointed out.

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Health
Air pollution harms life expectancy, especially in countries such as Bangladesh, a new study shows. Mirza Khalid / CC BY-SA 4.0

Air Pollution Shortens Human Life by One Year, on Average

In a summer marked by air quality alerts as wildfires rage in the western U.S., a study has been published finding that air pollution lowers the average lifespan by one year worldwide.

The study, published in Environmental Science and Technology Letters Aug. 22, was the first to assess the impact of particulate matter pollution smaller than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) on human life expectancy on a per country basis, ScienceNews reported.

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