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New hurdles for Louisiana residents reporting air pollution

News Feed
Friday, April 5, 2024

A proposed bill in Louisiana could make it harder for locals to prove air pollution issues, raising concerns about community health.Greg LaRose reports for Louisiana Illuminator.In short:Senate Bill 275, backed by industry groups, aims to limit the evidence residents can use to report toxic emissions, demanding more than community air monitoring data.The bill has sparked debate, with opponents arguing it undermines efforts to address health issues in pollution-impacted communities.Environmental advocates stress the need for accessible monitoring methods, while the bill's supporters argue for adherence to federal standards to ensure data reliability.Key quote:“I’m here because I cannot believe, once again, our state is actually still trying to tell us that this doesn’t exist and trying to take the power from us to be able to monitor our own community.”— Tish Taylor, resident of LaPlaceWhy this matters:Measures like the one in Louisiana, tracing back to corporate lobbyist efforts, aim to discourage activism by raising the legal stakes for trespassing near polluting facilities, with felonies that could lead to significant fines and prison time. This approach has set a precedent for other states and forms part of a broader strategy to curb opposition to the industry, despite local resistance.In polluted cities, reducing air pollution could lower cancer rates as much as eliminating smoking would.

A proposed bill in Louisiana could make it harder for locals to prove air pollution issues, raising concerns about community health.Greg LaRose reports for Louisiana Illuminator.In short:Senate Bill 275, backed by industry groups, aims to limit the evidence residents can use to report toxic emissions, demanding more than community air monitoring data.The bill has sparked debate, with opponents arguing it undermines efforts to address health issues in pollution-impacted communities.Environmental advocates stress the need for accessible monitoring methods, while the bill's supporters argue for adherence to federal standards to ensure data reliability.Key quote:“I’m here because I cannot believe, once again, our state is actually still trying to tell us that this doesn’t exist and trying to take the power from us to be able to monitor our own community.”— Tish Taylor, resident of LaPlaceWhy this matters:Measures like the one in Louisiana, tracing back to corporate lobbyist efforts, aim to discourage activism by raising the legal stakes for trespassing near polluting facilities, with felonies that could lead to significant fines and prison time. This approach has set a precedent for other states and forms part of a broader strategy to curb opposition to the industry, despite local resistance.In polluted cities, reducing air pollution could lower cancer rates as much as eliminating smoking would.



A proposed bill in Louisiana could make it harder for locals to prove air pollution issues, raising concerns about community health.

Greg LaRose reports for Louisiana Illuminator.

In short:

  • Senate Bill 275, backed by industry groups, aims to limit the evidence residents can use to report toxic emissions, demanding more than community air monitoring data.
  • The bill has sparked debate, with opponents arguing it undermines efforts to address health issues in pollution-impacted communities.
  • Environmental advocates stress the need for accessible monitoring methods, while the bill's supporters argue for adherence to federal standards to ensure data reliability.

Key quote:

“I’m here because I cannot believe, once again, our state is actually still trying to tell us that this doesn’t exist and trying to take the power from us to be able to monitor our own community.”

— Tish Taylor, resident of LaPlace

Why this matters:

Measures like the one in Louisiana, tracing back to corporate lobbyist efforts, aim to discourage activism by raising the legal stakes for trespassing near polluting facilities, with felonies that could lead to significant fines and prison time. This approach has set a precedent for other states and forms part of a broader strategy to curb opposition to the industry, despite local resistance.

In polluted cities, reducing air pollution could lower cancer rates as much as eliminating smoking would.

Read the full story here.
Photos courtesy of

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Air Pollution Contributing To Clogged Arteries, Study Suggests

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay ReporterFRIDAY, Dec. 5, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Air pollution could be contributing to clogged arteries, a new study...

By Dennis Thompson HealthDay ReporterFRIDAY, Dec. 5, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Air pollution could be contributing to clogged arteries, a new study says.People exposed long-term to common air pollutants have an increased risk of advanced heart disease caused by hardened arteries, researchers reported Thursday at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, in Chicago.Even air pollution levels near or below government standards were associated with early signs of heart disease, researchers found.“Even at low exposure levels, air pollution is associated with more plaque in the coronary arteries,” lead researcher Dr. Felipe Castillo Aravena, a cardiothoracic imaging fellow at the University of Toronto in Canada, said in a news release.Further, the more air pollution a person had been exposed to during their lifetime, the greater the odds that their arteries were clogged, results show.For the study, researchers tracked the heart health and air pollution exposure of more than 11,000 adults treated at three hospitals in Toronto.The team used chest CT scans to look at patients’ heart arteries and estimated their air pollution exposure using environmental data and the patients’ home postal codes.Results showed that for each 1 microgram per cubic meter increase in long-term exposure to particle air pollution, there was:An 11% increase in calcium build-up in the coronary arteries. A 13% greater odds of more arterial plaques. A 23% increased risk of heart disease caused by clogged arteries. Exposure to another form of air pollution, nitrogen dioxide, showed similar trends but with smaller effects, researchers said.There also were differences between men and women, researchers found.“In women, long-term exposure to fine particulate matter was linked to higher calcium scores and more severe narrowing of the arteries,” Castillo said. “In men, higher long-term exposure to fine particulate matter was associated with higher calcium scores and higher plaque burden.”This study couldn’t draw a direct cause and effect link, but only shows an association between air pollution and heart health, researchers noted.More research is needed to understand why air pollution might harm the heart and blood vessels, and to firm up a causal link between the two, Castillo said. “This is one of the largest studies to link long-term gaseous and particulate air pollution at contemporary exposure levels with multiple markers of coronary artery disease assessed by cardiac CT,” senior researcher Dr. Kate Hanneman, a cardiac radiologist and vice chair of research at the University of Toronto, said in a news release.“Heart disease is the number one cause of death globally,” Hanneman added. “The results of this study add to the growing body of evidence that air pollution is a modifiable cardiovascular risk factor and reinforce the need for further research to understand why these associations differ between men and women.”Findings presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until they’re published in a peer-reviewed journal.SOURCE: Radiological Society of North America, news release, Dec. 4, 2025Copyright © 2025 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

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England’s water industry issued £10.5bn in ‘green bonds’ despite pollution record

River Action says use of issuance tied to environmental benefits is ‘corporate greenwash on steroids’Water companies have issued a fifth of the UK’s “green bonds” since 2017, despite a consistently poor record of sewage pollution during that time, research has shown.Privately owned water companies in England have together issued £10.5bn in bonds tied to projects that offer “environmental benefits”, according to analysis of financial market data by Unearthed, which is part of Greenpeace UK. Continue reading...

Water companies have issued a fifth of the UK’s “green bonds” since 2017, despite a consistently poor record of sewage pollution during that time, research has shown.Privately owned water companies in England have together issued £10.5bn in bonds tied to projects that offer “environmental benefits”, according to analysis of financial market data by Unearthed, which is part of Greenpeace UK.Anglian Water has been the biggest issuer in the water industry, at £3.5bn, with struggling Thames Water second at £3.1bn. The two companies were the third- and sixth-largest issuers of corporate green bonds overall since 2017.Issuers of green bonds are expected to use the proceeds for defined purposes such as renewable energy, greenhouse gas control and clean transportation such as electric vehicles. Sustainable water and wastewater management is also included. This means many water companies’ standard operations qualify. In return, companies tend to be able to borrow more cheaply, because they attract investors hoping to benefit the environment while also profiting.Yet the privatised water industry in England and Wales has faced persistent criticism over its environmental record in recent decades, after years of alleged underinvestment and payment of large dividends to shareholders.The first green bond issued by a UK water company was in 2017, when Anglian, which supplies much of the east of England, raised £250m. However, the UK government’s Environment Agency last month said environmental progress across the sector had declined in the last year. Critics of the water industry said the poor performance raised questions over possible “greenwashing” in relation to the bonds.James Wallace, the chief executive of River Action, a clean water campaign group, said: “This is corporate greenwash on steroids. UK water companies are raising billions through green bonds while failing to deliver the environmental improvements these funds are supposed to support.“Their crumbling infrastructure continues to kill rivers and put communities at risk while investors are rewarded. True green finance should deliver real benefits for the environment and public health, not mask ongoing pollution.”Water companies accounted for 19% of all corporate issuance between 2017 and 2025. If issuance by the Thames Tideway “super sewer” developer is taken into account, that proportion rises to 22%.Thames Water’s effective owners are pushing for the government to grant it leniency on environmental standards for as long as 15 years as part of a rescue plan. Unearthed also revealed that Thames has failed to publish impact reports detailing its bonds’ environmental benefit for two years. Although not a legal requirement, the failure to publish the reports contravenes the industry standard.The company said it was still committed to publishing the impact reports for its green bonds. A spokesperson said: “The impact report for 2022-23 and 2023-24, which will detail the allocation of the £1.65bn raised through our January 2023 green bond issuance, has not yet been published. We take our reporting responsibilities seriously, and on this occasion we have fallen short of meeting expectations.”skip past newsletter promotionSign up to Business TodayGet set for the working day – we'll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morningPrivacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.after newsletter promotionAn Anglian spokesperson said growing the economy while reducing pollution required “significant and sustained investment in infrastructure”, adding that the funds raised “helped to deliver significant environmental improvements”.“We know there is more still to do, particularly on issues like pollution, but environmental performance is broader than just that one measure,” the spokesperson said, pointing to carbon emission reductions.They said it was vital that the government create the conditions for an “investable sector” through regulatory reform.Water UK, a lobby group for the industry, declined to comment.

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Where others saw litter, he saw a bird: Galveston artist crafts reddish egret from washed-up debris

The artwork, which will be displayed at Moody Gardens and other locations on the island, was created to increase awareness about plastic pollution in the ocean.

Julianna Washburn/HPMGalveston artist Evan McClimans shows the eye of his sculpture made out of marine debris on Nov. 25, 2025.When artist Evan McClimans saw broken garbage bins, a discarded kayak and blue bottle caps that littered Galveston’s beaches, he didn't see it as trash. He saw a vision. McClimans transformed the waste bins into what now looks like bird feathers, the kayak came to resemble sand and the bottle caps were made into what looks like ocean water. Sign up for the Hello, Houston! daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox. After four months of creating, McClimans finished his work of art. He'd pieced together thousands of pieces of marine debris from Galveston to create a 7-foot sculpture of a reddish egret, the official bird of Galveston and a threatened species nicknamed "Gerde of the Gulf." "It’s been a lot of blood, sweat and tears on this thing and I’m just so grateful that I got to do it," McClimans said. The project was part of a partnership between the Galveston Park Board and Washed Ashore, an Oregon-based organization that works to encourage recycling and educate the public about plastic pollution in the ocean. Sculptures are made out of washed-up debris and represent marine life affected by plastic pollution. "When you’re looking at these different artworks, you’re understanding that these are things ending up in the ocean that we use every single day," said Elizabeth Walla, environmental programs manager at the Galveston Park Board. Walla said the Galveston Park Board, which is responsible for maintaining all 32 miles of beach front on the island south of Houston, has a crew of 36 members who clean the beaches by hand every day, picking up trash and emptying trash barrels. "It is hard to imagine, but we are picking up at least 2 million pounds of trash from our beach front every year," Walla said. Walla said marine debris in Galveston isn't just from people leaving trash on the beach, however, as a study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) found that marine debris accumulation rates were 10 times higher in Texas than the other states along the Gulf, because of where Texas sits in relation to wind directions and currents. "When that was released, it made sense to me because a lot of the trash that we see, especially the bigger stuff, has barnacles on it. It has algae on it. You can tell it’s been in the water for quite a while," Walla said. To help create “Gerte,” Walla said in addition to the crew that typically cleans the beaches, volunteers from around the community came together to help pick up marine debris. Items such as lighters, beach toys and sand buckets now help make up the sculpture. Julianna Washburn, HPM“Gerte of the Gulf,” a sculpture made out of marine debris, sits inside artist Evan McClimans’ shop on Nov. 25, 2025.Julianna Washburn/HPMGalveston artist Evan McClimans shows a children’s toy that sits on his sculpture made out of marine debris on Nov. 25, 2025. "My favorite is the Texas volleyball," McClimans said about one of the items on the sculpture. "I have a whole bin full of beach balls that they found out in random places, but that one had Texas on it and since this [sculpture] is staying in Galveston, I thought it’d be appropriate to put that one on there." While each piece of marine debris turned into its own artform, McClimans, who once focused his energy entirely on welding, said creating Gerte changed him, too. "I’ve definitely taken a bigger interest in making sure that I do my part and preach to others to do theirs," McClimans said. "When I go to the beach, I make sure [to] pick up 10 pieces when you’re there, pick up 10 pieces when you leave," McClimans said. At a Galveston City Council meeting in November, "Gerde of the Gulf" was given the 2025 Galveston Planning & Design Award in the environmental category. Gerte will be displayed at Moody Gardens starting Monday, then the sculpture will continue to move to different locations around the island.

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Brazil Prosecutors Sue Agencies Over Haidar Shipwreck, Environmental Risk

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