Public health advocates urged voters Tuesday to support a renewable energy mandate on the November ballot even though not one of them could say how much of a difference it actually would make in ground-level air pollution.

The Arizona Department of Health Services estimates that the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System, or AHCCCS, Arizona’s Medicaid program, pays for more than half of the estimated $115 million spent every year on asthma-related emergency room visits and hospitalizations.

We have a clean air problem in Arizona. Families are breathing polluted air that causes asthma, chronic lung and heart disease.

New federal rules designed to better protect small streams, tributaries and wetlands ai??i?? and the drinking water of 117 million Americans ai??i?? are being praised by environmentalists as a victory for clean water and criticized by Republicans and farm groups as going too far.

As chief lobbyist of the National Mining Association, it falls on Hal Quinn, the group’s president and CEO, to promote his industry. That means defending coal mines and, ultimately, America’s reliance on the fuel source to power homes and businesses.

State climatologist takes conciliatory stance on global warming

At a rally to raise awareness of climate change, Nancy Selover demonstrated the delicate balance she has to strike as both a political appointee and a scientist.

Mining companies and other businesses will be allowed to keep environmental studies secret, even if they detail possible pollution problems, under industry-backed legislation that gained final House approval Monday. Under the measure headed to Republican Gov. Jan Brewer, environmental audits generally could not be used as evidence in civil cases.

Corporations and other entities would be able to keep confidential reports they prepare on environmental problems under legislation approved by the Arizona House.

By supporting a transition to new, clean energy projects in our state and ensuring that existing coal plants reduce their pollution, we can restore and protect the clean air and scenic views that attract visitors to the Grand Canyon, Petrified Forest, and other now-polluted parks in the region.

The Maricopa County Board of Supervisors is weighing whether to increase the costs of certain permits for companies that emit pollutants into the air.