Pennsylvania homes have high levels of radon, a substantial risk factor for lung cancer. Is the fracking boom makings matters worse? Scientists aren't quite sure.
Young people will need to understand climate change to make informed decisions in the future. But in many school districts in the US, students receive little or no scientific information about it. Teachers who do try to bring climate science into the classroom can find themselves in trouble.
The steep decline in the North American Monarch butterfly population has won this beautiful and popular creature its day in court.
Exhaust from diesel fuel contains thousands of chemicals and more than 40 toxic air contaminants. That's especially dangerous for children who ride diesel-fueled school buses and wait in line among their fumes. But while efforts to cut down pollution are working, more enforcement is still needed.
Believe it or not, the Keystone XL pipeline is not the only pipeline in North America. Pipelines that carry natural gas from wells to refineries stretch hundreds of miles in the US, crossing public and private land. Many of these pipelines are planned for densely populated areas, and in some states, local opposition has been fierce.
Pipelines that carry natural gas from well to refinery stretch hundreds of miles in the US, crossing public and private land. But as the Allegheny Fronts Julie Grant reports, landowners who learned that the proposed Nexus pipeline from southeast Ohio to Canada was to run across their property and carried risks of explosion, they banded together to protect their safety and property rights.
Under the EPAs proposed rules states have to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 2030, but Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidates disagree on how to do it. Allegheny Fronts Julie Grant reports that one candidate favors joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative would help meet these goals, but his opponent and Pennsylvanias coal power industry says no.
Oil and gas wells in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania present risk for local residents, but in many places, local government have no say in the zoning decisions that govern those wells. Now a movement is growing to bring that control back down to towns and cities to ease pollution worries
Fracking wastewater is trucked into Ohio from Pennsylvania, processed and injected into deep wells. Allegheny Fronts Julie Grant reports that many local residents are concerned about earthquakes and water contamination, and argue that the state legislation improperly overrules citizens input on well zoning and regulations.
To pay to repair storm drains to control run-off, some towns are charging residents what's being called a storm utility fee or "rain-tax."
Offshore wind power has huge potential in the United States, but few wind farm projects are being approved. Now, a project on Lake Erie that once looked promising has lost federal grant money and may also be in jeopardy.