Judge strikes down New York law that forced climate polluters to pay damages

“The fossil fuel industry would like nothing more than for one district court ruling in New York to scare lawmakers across the country into backing down, but this decision doesn’t bind other states or stop them from passing their own laws,” said DiPaola. 

 “If allowed to stand, some of the richest corporations in history get to walk away from $75bn they owe New Yorkers. The floods will still come, roads will still wash out and communities will still need billions to protect themselves.”

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/01/judge-strikes-new-york-law-climate-polluters-damage-pay

 

Pushback Lands Two Wins

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/6Fd3YiEr8hk

 

No administration has done more damage to our environment — in a shorter period of time

 https://www.youtube.com/shorts/XzKsafxk5O8

 

Carbon pollution has fuelled ‘massive expansion’ of marine heatwaves in Europe, study finds

While hot seas receive little attention, they can lead to the death of habitat-forming species such as corals and macroalgae, disrupting ecosystems and leading to large-scale mortality of fish and seabirds. They also raise dangerous overnight temperatures in coastal regions, as oceans cool more slowly than land...

 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/aug/19/carbon-pollution-massive-expansion-marine-heatwaves-europe

 

How Fossil Fuel Companies Made Us Believe Gas Was Clean – Mother Jones

A new report released by the Center for Climate Integrity, a research and advocacy group, reveals that fossil fuel companies knew as early as the 1960s that branding gas as “clean” was deceptive…

 https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/07/natural-gas-methane-pollution-clean-branding-myth/ 

Space datacenters proposed by Musk and Bezos ‘catastrophic’ for planet, experts warn

Space datacenters proposed by SpaceX, Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin and others would release staggering levels of pollution that would probably alter the Earth’s atmosphere and be “catastrophic” for the planet, space industry experts and environmental groups warn in a new petition demanding a review of their impacts. 

 Tech companies have collectively proposed millions of “orbital datacenters” and are pressing forward with plans, which require Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval. Among other issues, pollution from satellites and rockets burning up upon re-entry appears to be accumulating in the stratosphere at alarming levels. The spacecraft release black soot, rare metals, aluminum oxides and other pollutants with unknown effects...

 https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jul/23/space-datacenters-bezos-blue-origin 

 

Appeals court rejects Trump EPA bid to abandon rule restricting deadly soot pollution

Decision leaves in place Biden-era standard on pollution from coal-fired plants, factories and other industrial sources

 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/27/trump-epa-court-ruling-soot-pollution

 

Five Americans die every hour from toxic vehicle emissions, study finds

“At a time when many Americans are concerned about the impact of environmental toxins on their families’ health, public health authorities can’t afford to overlook the impact of vehicle pollution on mortality and respiratory health outcomes,” said Lingzhi Jin, a senior researcher at the International Council on Clean Transportation, in a statement…

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/29/deaths-vehicle-emissions-pollution

 

Trump’s DoJ intervenes to back Elon Musk in datacenter pollution lawsuit

Justice department urges judge to throw out suit brought by NAACP over xAI’s methane-gas turbines in Mississippi…

 https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/jun/16/elon-musk-xai-datacenters-trump-administration

 

People Living Near xAI’s Dirty Data Centers Are Right Pissed About the SpaceX IPO – Mother Jones

Elon Musk’s worth tops $1 trillion as rural communities fight to rein in his gas turbines…

 https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2026/06/xai-data-center-neighbors-angry-spacex-ipo-gas-turbines-colossus-pm2-5-elon-musk-trillionaire-pollution-asthma/

 

Trump wants to put a $75m coal terminal in this liberal California city. Residents aren’t having it

Residents of West Oakland, which suffers from toxic waste and high pollution rates, rally against a coal export facility…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/15/oakland-coal-terminal-trump-administration

 

Environmental agencies launch efforts to mitigate industrial pollution on the Detroit and Rouge Rivers

"The Detroit River Area of Concern, for example, we're talking about dredging these areas and actually removing the contamination,” she said. “In some Areas of Concern, we're able to cap the contaminated sediment to keep it in place [while also keeping] it from affecting the water quality."…

https://www.michiganpublic.org/environment-climate-change/2026-06-10/environmental-agencies-launch-efforts-to-mitigate-industrial-pollution-on-the-detroit-and-rouge-rivers

 

‘Severe’ stress on oceans as rate of sea level rise doubles in 10 years, UN warns

Global effort needed to limit effects of pollution, industrial fishing and climate crisis, World Ocean Assessment says

 https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/08/un-world-ocean-assessment-severe-stress-sea-level-rise-doubles-pollution-fishing-climate

 

Young Americans demand court halt Trump’s biggest rollbacks of pollution protections

Suit says administration is impinging on rights to life and liberty by worsening planet-warming and toxic pollution…

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/20/trump-administration-climate-pollution-lawsuit

 

Trump officials plan to repeal limits on ‘forever chemicals’ in drinking water

Public health advocates on Monday condemned the EPA. 

“Zeldin and Kennedy are trying to sell potions out of the back of a covered wagon,” said Dr Anna Reade, director of Pfas advocacy at Natural Resources Defense Council. “The millions of Americans demanding safe drinking water are not going to fall for their hocus pocus.” 

The move is widely viewed as at odds with Donald Trump’s pledge to eliminate toxic chemicals from drinking water…

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/18/trump-administration-epa-pfas-water

 

Michigan will get up to $240 million in settlement over PCBs, Nessel says

“Despite being banned for years in the United States, PCBs leave a toxic legacy that continues to threaten our health and environment,” Nessel said in a statement released Monday by her office. “This settlement directly supports our efforts to hold corporations accountable for the pollution caused by their products and ensures we have the resources needed to remove these chemicals from our state.”…

 https://www.michiganpublic.org/environment-climate-change/2026-05-18/michigan-will-get-up-to-240-million-in-settlement-over-pcbs-nessel-says

 

Feds' order to halt closure of aging Michigan coal plant is illegal, plaintiffs tell judges

"This administration came in with a fixation to funnel Americans' money to the coal industry," he said. "The administration is abusing federal authority to overrule decisions to retire polluting, failing coal plants, letting coal companies pollute the air we breathe and the water we drink — and then charge us the bill."…

 https://www.michiganpublic.org/environment-climate-change/2026-05-15/feds-order-to-halt-closure-of-aging-michigan-coal-plant-is-illegal-plaintiffs-tell-judges

 

Republican lawmakers attempt to shield big oil from climate lawsuits in ‘alarming’ bills

New House and Senate bills, led by Harriet Hageman, a Wyoming representative, and Ted Cruz, a Texas senator, respectively, would give oil and gas companies broad legal immunity from policies and lawsuits aimed at holding the industry accountable for damages caused by its emissions...

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/apr/23/republicans-big-oil-climate-lawsuits

 

US is ‘using Mexico as a garbage sink’ leading to ‘toxic crisis’, UN expert says

Mexico is facing a “toxic crisis” and has become a “garbage sink” for the US, exposing Mexican communities to dangerous pollution, a UN expert has warned...

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/apr/07/mexico-us-toxic-waste-un-special-rapporteur

 

Mining’s toxic timebomb: dams full of poisonous waste are dotted around the world. What happens when they burst?

While tailings dams are meant to last for ever, extreme weather events are making many unstable – with devastating consequences for nature and humans…

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/mar/13/minings-toxic-timebomb-dams-full-of-poisonous-waste-are-dotted-around-the-world-what-happens-when-they-burst-aoe