Environment | WPN World People News

Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior, arrived in Cuba for the first time to host a conversation between Mexican scientists and farmers and their Cuban counterparts, responsible for researching and practising large scale ecological farming on the island for over two decades.

On January 13, EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy finalized her decision to maintain the current greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions standards for model years 2022-2025 cars and light trucks. The final determination finds that a wide variety of effective technologies are available to reduce GHG emissions from cars and light trucks, and that automakers are well positioned to meet the standards through model year 2025 at lower costs than predicted.

Approximately 50,000 lives a year could saved by 2030 if no new coal-fired power plants are built in Southeast Asia, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, according to a groundbreaking peer reviewed study from researchers at Harvard University and Greenpeace International.

Approximately 50,000 lives a year could saved by 2030 if no new coal-fired power plants are built in Southeast Asia, South Korea, Japan and Taiwan, according to a groundbreaking peer reviewed study from researchers at Harvard University and Greenpeace International.

On January 12, the Washington State Supreme Court ruled a state law that protects coastal resources applies to crude oil export projects proposed in Grays Harbor. The decision will block the last proposed crude-by-rail terminal in Hoquiam, a project that planned to move millions of gallons of crude oil out of Grays Harbor and through Washington’s open ocean every year.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, on January 12, released its annual Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) National Analysis, which shows releases of toxic chemicals into the air fell 56% from 2005-2015 at industrial facilities submitting data to the TRI program. In Florida, the analysis shows a 56 percent decrease of reported chemical releases from 2005 to 2015.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), on January 12, issued a notice of violation to Fiat Chrysler Automobiles N.V. and FCA US LLC (collectively FCA) for alleged violations of the Clean Air Act for installing and failing to disclose engine management software in light-duty model year 2014, 2015 and 2016 Jeep Grand Cherokees and Dodge Ram 1500 trucks with 3.0 liter diesel engines sold in the United States.

On January 11, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy joined U.S. Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch at a press conference at the U.S. Department of Justice to announce that Volkswagen AG (VW) has agreed to plead guilty to three criminal felony counts, and pay a $2.8 billion criminal penalty, as a result of the company’s long-running scheme to sell approximately 590,000 diesel vehicles in the U.S. by using a defeat device to cheat on emissions tests mandated by the EPA and the California Air Resources Board (CARB), and by lying and obstructing justice to further the scheme.