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The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) soot rules just got a lot stronger. On February 7, the agency lowered the national limit of annual fine particle pollution—or soot—to 9 micrograms per cubic meter, down from 12, taking a vital step forward for clean air, public health and environmental justice. According to EPA’s own estimates, the …

What’s New Today, we are excited to introduce the Environmental Defense Fund’s (EDF) latest initiative—the Chemical Exposure Action Map. This tool is designed to spur the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to transform the assessment of risks posed by toxic chemicals in our communities. Our map focuses on multiple high-priority chemicals—making visible the urgent and long-overdue …

Statement of EDF General Counsel Vickie Patton

The peaceful retirement that Don and Jane Schreiber envisioned on their ranch in northern New Mexico has been disrupted by natural gas drilling on their land. They're now committed advocates for reducing methane emissions from oil and gas.

The Environmental Protection Agency today announced an updated, stronger national health standard for particulate matter – a potentially deadly air pollutant more commonly known as soot.

Air pollution affects almost everyone and carries severe consequences for public health, the environment and our climate, yet efforts to combat it are severely underfunded, especially in Latin America and the Global South. Less than 1% of development funding goes to air quality programming each year. When leaders meet at the Sixth Session of the …

One year after the catastrophic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, the EPA is considering phasing out vinyl chloride, a toxic chemical the train was carrying.

Statement of EDF President Fred Krupp

What’s new: A new report released today by EDF and ElectrifyNY traces the growth of mega-warehouses–and their health impacts–in communities across New York State, driven in-part by the e-commerce boom. One in four New York State residents now lives within half a mile of a large warehouse of at least 50,000 square feet. Click here …

Communities near large warehouses face higher rates of air pollution associated with health problems, like asthma.

An Environmental Defense Fund expert joined dozens of others in a packed, all-day virtual hearing yesterday in support of an EPA waiver for California’s Advanced Clean Cars II rule, which ensures all new cars and passenger trucks sold in the state will be zero-emitting by 2035.

Statement of EDF General Counsel Vickie Patton

What’s new: EDF partner, South Bronx Unite, has just launched an interactive data visualization that’s mapping what residents of the South Bronx have long experienced—that air pollution from industrial facilities is taking a disproportionate toll on the health of residents in their community and across New York City. For the last year, a multi-disciplinary team …

This blog was co-authored by José Acosta-Córdova, Senior Transportation Policy Analyst at LVEJO Transportation is a big issue in Illinois, accounting for almost one-third of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions — the sector responsible for the most GHG emissions in the state. Medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, such as delivery vans, transit buses and large tractor-trailers are …

What’s new: EDF China recently unveiled its localized Air Tracker tool at a meeting with government officials and policy and academic experts in Jinan. The tool will help these and other policymakers to track and mitigate air pollution in support of China’s carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. What is Air Tracker?: Air Tracker is …

Environmental Defense Fund and almost six dozen other health, environmental and public interest groups are asking the Environmental Protection Agency to protect people from dangerous air pollution caused by producing hydrogen with fossil fuels.

Get out of your car, get into my dreams. New York City's congestion pricing plan promises better transit, less gridlock and cleaner air. 

What’s new: The ministers of environment representing 33 countries in the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) region recently issued a joint declaration calling out the yawning gap between the funds needed to address the global air pollution crisis and the funds currently committed. The declaration is noteworthy because it has set a tone for influential …

Twenty-nine public interest groups sent a letter to President Biden today expressing strong support for protective limits on particulate matter pollution in EPA’s pending standards for cars and passenger trucks.

Environmental Defense Fund today praised updated EPA regulations that will clarify how states and the federal government can work together to reduce harmful pollution under one of our nation’s key clean air laws.

What’s new: EDF and partners have just published new research that explores how novel data sources, including satellites and computer models, can help improve our ability to map, identify, track and reduce disparities in air pollution exposure and health impacts. What we know: Air pollution in the United States has declined dramatically over the last several …

The Little Village neighborhood on the southwest side of Chicago is overrun with warehouses and air pollution from large trucks. These residents are fighting back.

The MethaneSAT satellite will be able to measure methane like never before, providing a powerful means of accountability for communities and governments around the world.

The Environmental Protection Agency took important action to more fully recognize states’ authority to reduce the harmful pollution emitted by America’s older diesel trains.

What’s new: EDF scientists, Hugh Li and Yangyang Xu, presented as keynote speakers at the 10th International Conference on Air Benefit and Cost and Attainment Assessment (ABaCAS) in Qingdao, China this September. At ABaCAS, they shared insights on how to optimize cost-effective sensor technology and on the importance of approaching climate change and air pollution …