America’s states, local governments and institutions are ushering in a new era of clean energy, despite federal policies designed to prop up polluting and outdated fossil fuel industries.
Despite improvement in recent years thanks to clean air policies, air pollution remains a threat to public health, according to a new report by Environment Ohio Research & Policy Center. In 2016 over 2 million people in Cleveland experienced 114 days of degraded air quality, increasing the risk of premature death, asthma attacks and other adverse health impacts.
If the United States transitioned its entire fleet of 480,000 school buses to all-electric vehicles, it could significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions each year and reduce the toxic air pollution to which schoolchildren are directly exposed. A new report from Environment America Research & Policy Center, U.S. PIRG Education Fund, and Frontier Group, Electric Buses: Clean Transportation for Healthy Neighborhoods and Cleaner Air, shows that a full transition to electric school buses in the U.S. could eliminate an average of 5.3 million tons of climate-altering pollution each year -- the equivalent of taking a million cars off the road.
Toxic ponds filled with billions of gallons of waste from coal plants across the United States pose a threat to hundreds of rivers and lakes, and millions of Americans who live near them. As the public comment period closes on the Trump administration’s proposal to weaken current rules protecting waterways, Accidents Waiting to Happen: Coal Ash Ponds Put Our Waterways at Risk, a new report from Environment America Research & Policy Center, U.S. PIRG Education Fund and Frontier Group, documents the toxic pollution threats from these poorly-regulated waste pits.
Industrial facilities dumped excessive pollution into Ohio’s waterways 492 times over 21 months, according to a new report by Environment Ohio Research & Policy Center. The facilities rarely faced penalties for this pollution. The Troubled Waters report comes as the Trump administration tries to weaken clean water protections and slash enforcement funding for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the states.
Environment Ohio Research and Policy Center is part of The Public Interest Network, which operates and supports organizations committed to a shared vision of a better world and a strategic approach to social change.
