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Over 1,000 evacuees return to homes with brush fire now 30% contained
More than 1,100 people have returned to their homes in northern Scottsdale as firefighters declared a brush fire to be 30% contained.
Arizona will fail clean-air standards if other states aren’t ‘good neighbors’
Arizona is doing all it can to improve air quality but will not meet federal standards as long as pollution from other jurisdictions can drift across its borders, the director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality testified Wednesday.
Climate and health in South Phoenix: building advocates through education
South Phoenix has a history of redlining and racist city planning, which zoned it for heavy industrial use that contaminated the communities of color who were segregated there. It’s up to decision makers to hear us and address our concerns–it’s time for action and it’s beyond time for strict limits on the methane, soot, and other pollutant emissions that have devastating effects on human h[...]
Dirty air, weak enforcement hurt Arizona during COVID-19
In the middle of any crisis, Arizonans expect our leaders to use every tool at their disposal to do what is best for our communities. But as the coronavirus pandemic... […]
Southwest air quality benefits from stay-at-home orders
Fewer motorists in Arizona and Nevada following the states' stay-at-home orders appears to be improving the air quality and decreasing the effects vehicle emissions have on the environment.
9th Circuit sides with feds in air quality dispute
A federal court on Monday rejected efforts by some companies, aided by state officials, to void air quality requirements imposed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
State delays action on air quality permits for uranium mines
State officials are delaying action on air quality permits for three uranium mines after one test revealed a spike in soil contamination.
Giant ‘Haboob’ dust storms cause EPA to relent on Arizona anti-pollution plan
Like a toddler with a water hose, the monsoon brings the rain in bursts, unevenly spraying but never quite quenching Arizona’s dry earth.
Often, the season’s thunderstorms unleash an apocalyptic scene — a wall of dust, with its tinge of yellow and red against the setting sun, rushing to swallow the Valley whole and enveloping its homes with its unwelcome sandy mist. Free from crip[...]
Flake: EPA’s air-quality dealings with Arizona cost money, jobs
The Environmental Protection Agency’s strict enforcement of air-quality regulations in Arizona is stifling job creation and proving costly to businesses unable to meet the standards, U.S. Rep. Jeff Flake said Wednesday.
Air: What’s in a grade?
Although Maricopa County was assigned a grade of “F” for ozone pollution and a grade of “C” for 24-hour particulate pollution in the American Lung Association’s recently released 2012 State of the Air Report, air quality professionals contend that the simple letter grade doesn’t tell the entire story of the Valley’s air, and that progress has been made during recent years in reducing[...]
County weighs higher pollution permit fees
The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is weighing whether to increase the costs of certain permits for companies that emit pollutants into the air.
Maricopa County to upgrade its air monitors
The Maricopa County Air Quality Department expects within the next two months to upgrade its air monitors in a move that will help officials report urban dust levels more quickly.
