Recent Streetsblog USA posts about Air Quality

A New Bill Passes, But America’s Transpo Policy Stays Stuck in 20th Century

By Tanya Snyder | Jun 29, 2012 | 11 Comments

The House of Representatives approved the transportation bill conference report this afternoon by a vote of 373 to 52. [UPDATE 4:00 PM: The Senate has also approved the bill, 74-19.] This is a bill that’s been called “a death blow to mass transit” by the Amalgamated Transit Union, “a step backwards for America’s transportation system” […]

Report: Pollution From U.S. Parking Spaces Costs Up to $20 Billion Per Year

By Angie Schmitt | Feb 23, 2012 | No Comments

Parking spaces keep getting more costly. As we often discuss on Streetsblog, parking encourages people to drive rather than ride transit, bike, or walk. And all that asphalt also taxes sewer systems by making vast swaths of urban and suburban land impermeable. But an overlooked cost is that building and maintaining each parking space belches […]

Polluters Rejoice! Obama Caves on Proposed Ozone Standard

By Tanya Snyder | Sep 2, 2011 | 12 Comments

This morning, President Obama announced that he would direct the EPA to back off of new ozone standards that would have saved an estimated 12,000 lives [PDF]. They’ll revisit it in 2013. Obama said the action was taken in the interest of “reducing regulatory burdens and regulatory uncertainty, particularly as our economy continues to recover,” […]

This Is Your Brain on Cars—Oh, and Your Lungs and Heart and Gut, Too

By Catherine Lutz and Anne Lutz Fernandez | May 17, 2011 | 11 Comments

Gerontologists in a laboratory at the University of Southern California exposed a group of mice to the same atmospheric conditions that humans encounter when driving along the freeway. Horrifyingly, they discovered that the mice’s brains showed the kind of swelling and inflammation associated with diseases such as Alzheimer’s. The researchers didn’t super-dose to get these […]

Detroit Residents Press EPA for Stronger Air Pollution Monitoring

By Elana Schor | Apr 19, 2010 | No Comments

In Washington, "grassroots lobbying" is more often associated with industry-funded issue campaigns than ground-up local advocacy. But residents of Detroit’s industrial southwest neighborhoods took the term back to its roots on Friday, getting a personal visit from Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officials after a groundswell of complaints about decaying air quality. Cyclists in southwest Detroit. […]

EPA Drops Data Before GOP Forces Shutdown of Transportation Hearing

By Elana Schor | Mar 24, 2010 | No Comments

The Senate environment panel today was forced to prematurely shutter its latest hearing on the next long-term federal transportation bill after Republicans invoked a rarely-used right to close down committee work as part of their broader protest against the majority party’s health care legislation. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), center, with Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) at […]

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