Environment | WPN World People News

Although air quality has improved over the years in Los Angeles, Calif., bad air days still blanket the city and surrounding region with smog.

The EU must take effective measures to prevent the spread of Xylella fastidiosa bacteria beyond Italy, where it is severely damaging olive trees, says a resolution passed by Parliament on Wednesday. MEPs welcome EU import restrictions on plants from affected areas in third countries but say more may be needed. They also urge that growers be compensated for their losses, and suggest stepping up funding for research to combat the bacteria, which may attack other plants.

At least 74 fishing vessels owned and operated by four Chinese Distant Water Fishing (DWF) companies have been exposed for fishing illegally in prohibited fishing grounds in West Africa and falsifying their gross tonnage, according to findings from a two-year investigation by Greenpeace East Asia and Greenpeace Africa.

Howe Motors Inc., a Claremont, N.H. auto dealer, has agreed to pay a penalty of $17,500 to settle EPA claims regarding a January 2014 oil spill, and inadequacies in Howe’s oil spill prevention plan.

Houses in front of a coal fired power plant in the Rhenish lignite mining region.

The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors Tuesday approved a US$2 million additional financing to the Republic of Moldova for the Disaster and Climate Risk Management Project, which will support the State Hydrometeorological Service’s ability to forecast severe weather and improve the country’s overall capacity to prepare for and respond to natural disasters.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a settlement with Marathon Petroleum Corporation Tuesday that resolves various alleged Clean Air Act violations at 10 Marathon facilities and requires Marathon to take steps to reduce harmful air pollution emissions at facilities in three states.

Nyadol Dak with her children in Jewi camp, among thousands of South Sudanese refugees being moved from flood-prone areas in the Gambella region to a new refugee camp in western Ethiopia.

Military groups in conflict areas such as in the Democratic Republic of the Congo often use the sale of minerals found in their territory to fund their activities. A new EU proposal aims to put an end to this by setting up an EU system of self-certification to encourage importers, smelters and refiners to source their minerals responsibly.

The Delhi High Court on Monday 18th May agreed to rule on Greenpeace India’s legal challenge to the MHA’s decision to suspend its FCRA license and block the group’s international and national bank accounts.