Environment | WPN World People News

Save the Children is warning of the devastating long-term impact of Kerala’s deadly flooding on children. In the past two weeks, the Indian state has been hit by its worst flooding since 1924, with entire communities devastated and more than 350 people killed.

On August 20, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that it is taking final action to approve the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s request to redesignate the Kentucky portion of the Louisville Area from unclassifiable to attainment/unclassifiable for the 2012 Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5) standard.

Community groups, represented by Earthjustice, won key protections that safeguard the public and first responders from chemical disasters, on August 17. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) delay of implementation of EPA’s Chemical Disaster Rule was unlawful. Industry will now need to implement the life-saving protections of that rule. The EPA had been delaying implementation of the rule since March 2017 based on petitions from industry trade associations. EPA stated it wanted to “reconsider” the rule.

The New Caledonian government has announced the highest possible levels of protection as defined by the IUCN (International Union for the Conservation of Nature) for its near-pristine coral reefs.

A 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck the Indonesian island of Lombok Sunday, just hours after a 6.3-magnitude quake shook the island, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The death toll in the southern Indian state of Kerala has passed 350 as thousands of rescuers continue to search through flooded areas for survivors Sunday.

Following the catastrophic devastation of Hurricane Maria, Save the Children is teaming up with Puerto Rico’s Department of Education and Rocky Mountain Institute of Boulder, Colorado to support 12 schools that were greatly impacted during last year’s historic hurricane season.

On August 15, the Washington State Pollution Control Hearings Board (PCHB) affirmed the Department of Ecology’s denial of a necessary water quality permit for Millennium, a coal company whose proposed coal shipping terminal on the Columbia River has already met several permitting roadblocks.

More than 430 people have now been confirmed dead from last week's devastating earthquake that struck off the Indonesian island of Lombok.

Two senior members of the Trump administration are surveying damage from large wildfires in California that have killed at least eight people.