Ozone hole modest despite optimum conditions for ozone depletion

[Source: Ellen Gray, NASA] The ozone hole that forms in the upper atmosphere over Antarctica each September was slightly above average size in 2018, NOAA and NASA scientists reported today. Colder-than-average temperatures in the Antarctic stratosphere created ideal conditions for destroying ozone this year, but declining levels of ozone-depleting chemicals prevented the hole from as Read More…

Southern California smog worsens for second straight year despite reduced emissions

[Source: Los Angeles Times] Southern California smog worsened for a second straight year in the latest sign that progress in cleaning the nation’s most polluted air is faltering. The dive in air quality comes even though emissions are declining, forcing regulators to explain why returns are diminishing after years of progress battling smog. Ozone, the Read More…

House passes bill delaying Obama-era EPA ozone rules

[Source: Law360] The House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a measure to delay new U. S. Environmental Protection Agency rules on baseline ozone standards, as President Donald Trump’s administration looks to give states the flexibility to set their own rules. The Ozone Standards Implementation Act of 2017, passed on a largely party line 229-199 vote, Read More…

How new Southern California air cleanup plan could affect warehouses, ports

[Source: The Press Enterprise] Southern California air quality officials approved a 15-year pollution clean-up plan Friday, March 3, after adding provisions that would eventually eliminate a pollution-credits marketplace that regulates emissions from oil refineries and other major smokestack polluters. But the 11-2 vote by the South Coast Air Quality Management District board left intact controversial Read More…