Environment | WPN World People News

Building on the Obama Administration’s strong record of protecting the public’s health through common-sense clean air standards – including proposed standards to reduce emissions of mercury and other air toxics, as well as air quality standards for sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide – the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today finalized additional Clean Air Act protections that will slash hundreds of thousands of tons of smokestack emissions that travel long distances through the air leading to soot and smog, threatening the health of hundreds of millions of Americans living downwind. The Cross-State Air Pollution Rule will protect communities that are home to 240 million Americans from smog and soot pollution, preventing up to 34,000 premature deaths, 15,000 nonfatal heart attacks, 19,000 cases of acute bronchitis, 400,000 cases of aggravated asthma, and 1.8 million sick days a year beginning in 2014 – achieving up to $280 billion in annual health benefits. Twenty seven states in the eastern half of the country will work with power plants to cut air pollution under the rule, which leverages widely available, proven and cost-effective control technologies. Ensuring flexibility, EPA will work with states to help develop the most appropriate path forward to deliver significant reductions in harmful emissions while minimizing costs for utilities and consumers.

Furthering the Obama Administration's goal to cut U.S. oil imports by one-third by 2025, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu today announced that six new corporate partners have joined the National Clean Fleets Partnership. The new partners—Coca-Cola, Enterprise Holdings, General Electric, OSRAM SYLVANIA, Ryder, and Staples—operate a total of nearly a million commercial vehicles nationwide.

Drought has forced thousands of Somali families to migrate to urban areas

This aerial view shows the swollen Missouri River inundating Sioux City, IA (left) and South Sioux City, NE (right).

This aerial view of the Missouri River shows the white line of sandbags enclosing North Sioux City, SD and flooded Nebraska farmland in the foreground. FEMA and other federal agencies are supporting the State Incident Management Team in their effort to prepare for flooding along the river.

The country is bracing for a significant food shortage

Four outstanding natural sites in Kenya, Jordan, Australia and Japan were given World Heritage status following the advice of IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) to the World Heritage Committee, which closes today in Paris. An extension to an existing World Heritage Site in Ukraine and Slovakia was also granted to the Ancient Beech Forests in Germany .

The Causses and the Cévennes

Millions of people are being pushed closer to destitution by factors beyond their control in the Horn of Africa

Firefighters in northern New Mexico were battling on Tuesday to stall a raging wildfire before it reaches the town that is home to the government laboratory that produced the first atomic bomb.