Refined Hazard

Petroleum refineries are a major source of pollution in the United States, releasing a significant amount of carcinogenic pollutants into the air Americans breathe. Although petroleum refineries are the backbone… Read more

Cementing a Toxic Legacy?

Cement kilns are poisoning our air, water and food with mercury pollution. For more than a decade, the EPA has neglected this health threat. Now, new data from EPA itself… Read more

Tar Sands

Over two thirds of currently planned expansions of U.S. oil refining capacity are designed and intended to accommodate heavier, dirtier crude oil from Canadian “tar sands,” according to data on… Read more

Houston We Have a Problem

As the petrochemical capital of the United States, the Houston area is at the center of a toxics storm. Numerous studies have documented dangerous levels of toxic air pollution in… Read more

Running Out of Time

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants rose 2.9 percent in 2007, the biggest single-year increase since 1998, according to new data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Emissions of… Read more

Dirty Kilowatts

Nationwide, the power plants that provide electricity to run our homes, businesses, and factories also account for 40 percent of carbon dioxide, roughly two thirds of sulfur dioxide, 22 percent… Read more

Shortchanging the Clean Air Act

State agencies are responsible for most of the day to day work required under the federal Clean Air Act, such as monitoring emissions, developing air quality plants, and writing and… Read more

Dirty Kilowatts

Power plants provide electricity for our homes, businesses, and factories. But they also foul America’s air with dangerous pollution. Each year, power plants emit millions of tons of sulfur dioxide… Read more

Off the Books

The Clean Air Act requires large industrial plants to report their total annual emissions of pollutants like sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and smog forming chemicals to state environmental agencies. But… Read more

Backed Up

The Environmental Integrity Project analyzed how many of the municipalities with combined sewer systems in six Great Lakes states (Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin, or EPA’s Region 5)… Read more