Environment | WPN World People News

Unlined pits filled with coal ash waste are leaking toxic substances – including arsenic – into groundwater near old coal-burning power plants in eight states, an Earthjustice review of 14 industry reports has found.

Police in Japan last week arrested the director of a government-accredited ivory retail outlet on suspicion of attempting to smuggle ivory to China in contravention of national and international regulations.

Conservation and environmental groups filed a lawsuit to protect the nation’s largest public lands reserve from oil and gas industrialization, on Fedruary 2rd.

The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have reached an agreement with Gibson Wine Co. to resolve federal environmental violations related to an anhydrous ammonia release at its winemaking facility in Sanger, Calif., that led to the death of one of Gibson Wine’s workers, triggered evacuations and required a fire department response.

A ban on the domestic ivory trade with no compensation by 2021 and an increase in the maximum penalty for wildlife crime offences to 10 years was approved by the Legislative Council, on January 31. WWF welcomes the new legislation and would like to thank all the supporters that helped to make this happen.

Equipment to limit the amount of mercury pollution sent into the atmosphere will be installed at an incinerator owned by Naugatuck, Conn., if an agreement between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the U.S. Department of Justice, the Borough of Naugatuck, and the facility's operator is approved by the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.

Upholding a 2014 decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of Hawai‘i, a panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today that the County of Maui’s Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility has been violating the U.S. Clean Water Act (CWA) since the facility was first put into operation in the early 1980s.

Conservation group Prairie Rivers Network filed official notice on January 31, that it intends to sue the electric generating company Dynegy because toxic coal ash waste stockpiled at the company’s Vermilion Power Plant in Oakwood, Illinois is leaking pollution into the Middle Fork of the Vermilion River, Illinois’ only National Scenic River and a popular site for kayaking, canoeing and tubing.

A US$210 million World Bank project will improve the quality of drinking water supply and wastewater services to 5 million residents in Baghdad who suffer from water shortages and the outbreak of waterborne diseases due to inadequate infrastructure, rapid population growth, and the inflow of internally displaced people.

Trump administration on January 31, announced a final decision attempting to delay the Clean Water Rule to 2020. The rule is a commonsense safeguard that protects streams, wetlands and drinking water supplies across the country.