Sulfur Dioxide

America is mired in three wars. The past decade was the hottest on record. Unemployment remains stuck near 9 percent, and there's a small, albeit real, possibility that the U.S. government will default on its debt. So what's dominating the news? A reality-television star who can't persuade anyone that his hair is real is alleging that the president of the United States was born in Kenya. Perhaps this is just the logical endpoint of two years spent arguing over what Barack Obama is — or isn't.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned one of the Obama administration's hallmark air-quality rules Tuesday, ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency had overstepped its authority in sharply curbing pollution from power plants. The 2 to 1 ruling by the appeals court represents a major victory for utilities and business groups, which fought the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule on the grounds that it was costly, burdensome and arbitrary.

The story of acid rain from the 1970s is preserved in newspaper headlines, textbooks and, it turns out, the soils of the Northeast. Forty years after humans began tackling the problem, the impact of acid rain lingers in New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, according to a new study. But the research also shows the first signs of recovery. At the height of the acid rain problem, sulfur dioxide from burning coal drifted into the atmosphere and lowered the pH of rainwater. When this acidic rain fell to...

The gleaming white Sapphire Princess docked in this deep-water port this month, unloading its passengers and taking on another 2,600 guests headed first to Glacier Bay and, eventually, Vancouver, B.C. Every day of that trip the cruise ship — whose Web site invites passengers to see Alaska's "pristine landscapes" — will emit the same amount of sulfur dioxide as 13.1 million cars, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and as much soot...

W hy do we never hear about acid rain anymore? Did it just go away? Back in the 1980s, acid rain was the environmental scourge of the day. Canada's environmental minister proclaimed it an "insidious malaria of the biosphere"; it menaced the Transformers; it turned Kimberly's hair bright green in an episode of "Diff'rent Strokes. " Toxic precipitation fell off the radar in 1990, when Congress passed amendments to the Clean Air Act calling for major reductions in the types of emissions that lead to...

The gleaming white Sapphire Princess docked in this deep-water port this month, unloading its passengers and taking on another 2,600 guests headed first to Glacier Bay and, eventually, Vancouver, B.C. Every day of that trip the cruise ship — whose Web site invites passengers to see Alaska's "pristine landscapes" — will emit the same amount of sulfur dioxide as 13.1 million cars, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, and as much soot...

An economist at the Office of Management and Budget who has battled environmentalists for years on issues such as climate change and smog has raised questions about the economic impact of a proposed new rule on air pollution, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. Randall W. Lutter, a Food and Drug Administration employee detailed to the OMB, looked at whether the rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency imposes higher costs on coal-fired power plants than the agency has assumed.

Regarding the May 18 editorial "Cold Reality": By advocating a carbon tax in lieu of an effective cap-and-trade program, The Post obscured essential facts about climate change legislation. First, a carbon tax fails the environmental effectiveness test. Some companies would undoubtedly pay the tax rather than lower emissions, and the cost of the tax could be passed on to consumers. Second, it fails the political test. With the country looking to emerge from its economic struggles, it is unlikely that any legislation involving...

Tiny solid and liquid particles in the atmosphere, including volcanic ash and soot from fossil fuel burning, have kept the Earth from warming as fast as it otherwise would have in the past dozen years, according to a new study published online Thursday in the journal Science. The findings show that both natural and human factors have slowed the rate of global warming 20 percent since 1998. Small particles, otherwise known as aerosols, help cool the Earth's climate by blocking out sunlight.

THE BUSH administration is not known for undying concern for the environment in general or clean air in particular. That's why it was a stunning setback when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia last month struck down the administration's single boldest move in favor of clean air: a regulation from its Environmental Protection Agency that sought to clean up the air from power plants. In an odd twist, the ruling was handed down on the same day the EPA opted to avoid issuing rules to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

The story of acid rain from the 1970s is preserved in newspaper headlines, textbooks and, it turns out, the soils of the Northeast. Forty years after humans began tackling the problem, the impact of acid rain lingers in New York, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, according to a new study. But the research also shows the first signs of recovery. At the height of the acid rain problem, sulfur dioxide from burning coal drifted into the atmosphere and lowered the pH of rainwater. When this acidic rain fell to...

Tiny solid and liquid particles in the atmosphere, including volcanic ash and soot from fossil fuel burning, have kept the Earth from warming as fast as it otherwise would have in the past dozen years, according to a new study published online Thursday in the journal Science. The findings show that both natural and human factors have slowed the rate of global warming 20 percent since 1998. Small particles, otherwise known as aerosols, help cool the Earth's climate by blocking out sunlight.

The Environmental Protection Agency announced Thursday that it finalized rules that compel 27 states and the District to curb air pollution that travels across states by wind and weather, the first in a series of federal restrictions aimed at improving the air Americans breathe. The Cross State Air Pollution Rule , which replaces a Bush-era regulation thrown out by federal courts in 2008, targets coal-fired power plants mainly in the eastern United States. The measure, along with a proposal aimed at cutting summertime smog...

America is mired in three wars. The past decade was the hottest on record. Unemployment remains stuck near 9 percent, and there's a small, albeit real, possibility that the U.S. government will default on its debt. So what's dominating the news? A reality-television star who can't persuade anyone that his hair is real is alleging that the president of the United States was born in Kenya. Perhaps this is just the logical endpoint of two years spent arguing over what Barack Obama is — or isn't.

A S THE CRISIS at Japan's stricken reactors wears on, it's increasingly clear what a step away from nuclear power will mean for Europe and Asia: more coal, which means more nasty particulates, carcinogens, carbon dioxide and other dangerous effluences spewing from sooty smokestacks around the world. As radiation levels outside the Fukushima Daiichi plant rise, so did the value of stocks of American companies that mine and export the black stuff. Business analysts expect demand for U.S. coal to jump , along with...

An economist at the Office of Management and Budget who has battled environmentalists for years on issues such as climate change and smog has raised questions about the economic impact of a proposed new rule on air pollution, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post. Randall W. Lutter, a Food and Drug Administration employee detailed to the OMB, looked at whether the rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency imposes higher costs on coal-fired power plants than the agency has assumed.

FRIDAY, April 25 (HealthDay News) -- Even when air pollution levels are within current air quality standards, inner-city children with asthma suffer, a new study finds. The Inner City Asthma Study Group researchers, who looked at 861 children, ages 5 to 12, with persistent asthma, said their findings raise questions about current air quality standards in the United States. They suggest that asthma management plans for inner-city children may need to include reduced exposure to air pollutants.

WEDNESDAY, May 21 (HealthDay News) -- U.S. soldiers exposed to a blazing sulfur mine fire near Mosul, Iraq, in 2003 returned home with a debilitating breathing disorder that affects the small airways of the lung. But doctors were only able to diagnose the condition, bronchiolitis, with a lung biopsy. Conventional, non-invasive tests weren't able to reliably identify the problem, said the authors of a study expected to be presented Wednesday at the American Thoracic Society's International Conference, in Toronto.

W hy do we never hear about acid rain anymore? Did it just go away? Back in the 1980s, acid rain was the environmental scourge of the day. Canada's environmental minister proclaimed it an "insidious malaria of the biosphere"; it menaced the Transformers; it turned Kimberly's hair bright green in an episode of "Diff'rent Strokes. " Toxic precipitation fell off the radar in 1990, when Congress passed amendments to the Clean Air Act calling for major reductions in the types of emissions that lead to...

Regarding the May 18 editorial "Cold Reality": By advocating a carbon tax in lieu of an effective cap-and-trade program, The Post obscured essential facts about climate change legislation. First, a carbon tax fails the environmental effectiveness test. Some companies would undoubtedly pay the tax rather than lower emissions, and the cost of the tax could be passed on to consumers. Second, it fails the political test. With the country looking to emerge from its economic struggles, it is unlikely that any legislation...