Environment | WPN World People News

Well-organized transnational criminal networks and a poorly regulated domestic market are among the factors making Japan a lucrative target for procuring ivory products for illegal export. In the continued absence of effective regulation and law enforcement, WWF and TRAFFIC are calling for the closure of Japan’s domestic ivory market pursuant to CITES.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a settlement of Clean Air Act claims, by the United States and the state of Louisiana, against Orion Engineered Carbons, LLC. Under the settlement, the company has agreed to install and operate state-of-the-art pollution control technologies to reduce emissions of harmful air pollutants.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) on December 22, announced a settlement resolving Clean Air Act claims by the United States and the states of Louisiana and Texas against carbon black manufacturer Sid Richardson Carbon and Energy Company. Under the settlement, the company has agreed to install and operate state-of-the-art pollution control technologies to reduce emissions of harmful air pollutants.

The city of Lancaster, Pennsylvania has agreed to comprehensive measures to end discharges of untreated sewage and other pollutants to local waterways from the City’s combined storm and sewage system, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Justice and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) announced on December 20.

The year has been a tough one for Puerto Ricans, Floridians, Texans and Californians, and recovery efforts continue for those three areas hit by hurricanes and one, California, struggling to contain wildfires. In a year of disasters, even the Federal Emergency Management Agency is struggling to cope.

The United States and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania have settled a federal court case against ArcelorMittal Monessen LLC (AMM), involving alleged Clean Air Act violations at AMM’s coke (purified coal) plant in Monessen, Pennsylvania, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on December 20.

A girl from the Iñupiat community stands on a ice floe on a shore of the Arctic Ocean in Barrow, Alaska in the United States. The anomalous melting of the Arctic ice is one of the many effects of global warming that has a serious impact on the life of humans and the wildlife.

Hazy air covers an active drilling field in California.

A crocodile lizard that has been turned into a cartoon character, a snail-eating turtle discovered in a Thai food market and a horseshoe bat that would not look out of place in a Star Wars movie are just three of the 115 new species discovered by scientists in the Greater Mekong region in 2016, according to a new report released by WWF, on December 19.