Environment

Supreme Court cases could reshape Navajo Nation water rights

5:43pm March 19, 2023

NPR's Pien Huang speaks with Gregory Ablavsky, professor at Stanford Law School, about a set of cases the Supreme Court will hear on Monday involving the water rights of the Navajo Nation.

Environment

Denver's local indigenous groups are helping manage its bison herds

12:02pm March 18, 2023

by Isaac Vargas

In Denver, local indigenous groups are helping the city manage its bison herds.

Queue Listen Now

Cases of babesiosis, a tick-borne illness, are on the rise throughout the northeast, according to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

What is Babesiosis? A rare tick-borne disease is on the rise in the Northeast

2:54pm March 17, 2023

by Emily Olson

Lyme Disease isn't the only tick-driven illness that residents of the northeast should worry about. The CDC says cases of Babesiosis, which can cause flu-like symptoms, are on the rise in 8 states.

Markey calls Biden's decision to back the Willow Project 'an environmental injustice'

6:14pm March 16, 2023

The Biden administration approved a major oil extraction project in Alaska, a decision that has divided Democrats. NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Sen. Ed Markey, who opposes the project.

Queue Listen Now

Activists spread misleading information to fight solar

6:14pm March 16, 2023

by Michael Copley

Citizens for Responsible Solar is part of a growing backlash against renewable energy in rural communities across the United States.

Queue Listen Now

A smokestack stands at a coal plant on June 22, 2022, in Delta, Utah. The Environmental Protection Agency issued a final rule Wednesday to restrict smokestack emissions from power plants and other industrial sources that burden downwind areas with smog-causing pollution they can't control. (

Environment

The EPA's new 'good neighbor' rule targets downwind pollution by power plants

2:11pm March 15, 2023

by The Associated Press

Nearly two-dozen states will have to cut harmful industrial emissions of nitrogen oxide and other pollutants, improving air quality for millions of people living in downwind communities.

People remove Sargassum in Playa del Carmen, Mexico, in April, 2022. Researchers expect this year will bring another massive bloom, choking local ecosystems and tourism economies.

Meet the sargassum belt, a 5,000-mile-long snake of seaweed circling Florida

9:47am March 15, 2023

by Emily Olson

Since 2011, a fleet of seaweed patches double the size of the contiguous U.S. has cycled from West Africa to Florida, threatening beaches from Martinique to Miami. This year, it could grow bigger.

New EPA regulations target PFAs in drinking water

4:12pm March 14, 2023

by Gabrielle Emanuel

The EPA proposed new regulations for PFAS and PFOA in the nation's drinking water. The chemicals are part of a class of so-called forever chemicals associated with a variety of health problems.

Michael Regan, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency, at an event in 2021. The Biden administration is announcing a plan to regulate "forever chemicals" in drinking water.

EPA moves to limit toxic 'forever chemicals' in drinking water

11:25am March 14, 2023

by The Associated Press

The EPA proposed limiting the amount of harmful "forever chemicals" in drinking water to the lowest detectable levels, a move it said will save thousands of lives and prevent serious illnesses.

Indigenous groups lash out after an oil drilling project is approved in Alaska

5:11am March 14, 2023

NPR's Leila Fadel talks to Jade Begay of the group NDN Collective, which advocates for indigenous communities, about the White House approving the controversial Willow drilling project in Alaska.