More than 30m homes are thought to contain lead paint, including nearly 4m where children under age of six live
Two weeks after setting a nationwide deadline for removal of lead pipes, the Biden administration is imposing strict new limits on dust from lead-based paint in older homes and childcare facilities.
A final rule announced on Thursday by the Environmental Protection Agency sets limits on lead dust on floors and window sills in pre-1978 residences and childcare facilities to levels so low they cannot be detected.
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Breaking Waves: Ocean News
10/24/2024 - 06:50
10/24/2024 - 05:00
Pace of growth helps maintain renewable energy when weather conditions interfere with wind and solar
Faced with worsening climate-driven disasters and an electricity grid increasingly supplied by intermittent renewables, the US is rapidly installing huge batteries that are already starting to help prevent power blackouts.
From barely anything just a few years ago, the US is now adding utility-scale batteries at a dizzying pace, having installed more than 20 gigawatts of battery capacity to the electric grid, with 5GW of this occurring just in the first seven months of this year, according to the federal Energy Information Administration (EIA).
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10/24/2024 - 02:39
Move is designed to combat environmental damage from single-use vapes and their widespread use by children
Disposable vapes will be banned from sale in England next summer, the government has confirmed.
From June 2025 it will be illegal to sell single-use vapes, in a move designed to combat environmental damage and their widespread use by children.
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10/24/2024 - 02:02
Government agencies and departmental officials spend full day scrutinising Peter Dutton’s controversial plan to build seven nuclear power plants
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A senior government nuclear safety official says the sites of coal-fired power plants “might not be adequate” to house the opposition’s proposed taxpayer-funded nuclear reactors.
Government agencies and departmental officials were grilled in parliament on Wednesday at a government-backed inquiry into nuclear energy. The inquiry was tasked with scrutinising the Coalition’s controversial plan to lift Australia’s ban on nuclear power and build taxpayer-funded reactors at seven sites.
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10/24/2024 - 00:00
Just designating key areas will not meet 30x30 target on nature loss, study says, pointing to oil drilling in parks
Biodiversity is declining more quickly within key protected areas than outside them, according to research that scientists say is a “wake-up call” to global leaders discussing how to stop nature loss at the UN’s Cop16 talks in Colombia.
Protecting 30% of land and water for nature by 2030 was one of the key targets settled on by world leaders in a landmark 2022 agreement to save nature – and this month leaders are gathering again at a summit in the Colombian city of Cali to measure progress and negotiate new agreements to stop biodiversity loss.
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10/23/2024 - 23:00
Plant enthusiasts stumble across 2-metre long snake consuming egg-laying mammal in Marys Creek State Forest in Queensland
A botanist was admiring a myrtle shrub in bloom in an obscure state forest just west of Gympie in Queensland when his companion uttered 10 words that can rarely have been heard before – at least in English.
“I was just looking at a Gossia bidwillii, in flower and Darren calls out,” Elliot Bowerman said.
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10/23/2024 - 22:54
Plant enthusiast Darren Williams made the discovery in Marys Creek State Forest just west of Gympie in Queensland. The male platypus was freshly killed, probably after what would have been a fierce struggle with the ambush predator. Williams and his companion Elliot Bowerman photographed the roughly 2-metre long carpet python with its jaw firmly clasped around the platypus before quickly moving on. 'We didn’t want to disturb the snake,' Bowerman said
‘There is a python with a platypus in its mouth: botanist’s extreme monotreme v reptile encounter
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10/23/2024 - 16:25
Grizzly No 399 was at least 28 years old and beloved by many in Grand Teton national park
A famous grizzly bear beloved for decades by countless tourists, biologists and professional wildlife photographers in Grand Teton national park is dead after being struck by a vehicle in western Wyoming.
Grizzly No 399 died on Tuesday night on a highway in Snake River Canyon south of Jackson, park officials said in a statement on Wednesday.
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10/23/2024 - 12:17
RHS says ensuring access to green space as part of housebuilding push could make Britons healthier
Requirements for gardens and the planting of trees must be included in Labour’s planned new rules for housebuilders, green groups have said.
The government is drawing up its future homes standard for new developments and it is not yet clear what requirements there will be for green space.
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10/23/2024 - 12:00
With no power, no water and soon-to-spoil food, Asheville residents fired up their grills and emptied their freezers for communal meals
Erin Kellem’s Asheville, North Carolina neighborhood is a short drive from the city center, but feels remote. The Haw Creek area’s culs-de-sac are fronted by spacious yards and surrounded by thick woods that give the illusion of isolation.
Hurricane Helene changed that, dropping an ocean of rain on the southern Appalachian mountains. Floods of biblical proportions killed dozens. Power outages left thousands without electricity for at least two weeks in most places. There was no gas or cellphone service for days following the storm, and most of the city is still without potable water. Roads disappeared under rushing water and mud. The help that was on its way had no way in, and those stranded in their homes had no way of checking on loved ones.
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