Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.
Businesses that emit greenhouse gases will have more time to report their emissions after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency extended a deadline Tuesday.
The EPA announced that it would extend the deadline, originally March 31, saying it would take more time to test the online system to collect data. The agency said it expected reporting to begin in late summer but did not set a new deadline. Get the full story »
Looming U.S. rules that power utilities face on air pollution could create nearly 1.5 million jobs in the next five years, according to a report.
Engineering, construction and pipefitting are some of the professions that could see a rise in jobs as Environmental Protection Agency rules push utilities to invest in new capacity and pollution controls, said the report “New Jobs — Cleaner Air,” commissioned by Ceres, a coalition of environmentalists and institutional investors. Get the full story »
U.S. regulators on Friday backed a request that would sharply boost the use of corn-based ethanol in more than half the nation’s cars, elevating the stakes in a contentious debate over the safety and cost of converting more corn into fuel.
The Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement boosting the ethanol blend rate in gasoline to 15 percent from 10 percent in vehicles built from 2001 to 2006 was not a surprise, coming just months after it allowed the E15 in cars and trucks built in 2007 or later. Get the full story »
Chrysler Group LLC and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that they are working together to commercialize an unusual type of hybrid-vehicle technology aimed at reducing fuel consumption.
Under the partnership, Chrysler will work to produce vehicles using a hydraulic hybrid system developed by the EPA. The system recovers energy as a vehicle brakes and uses the resulting hydraulic pressure to help power the vehicle. Get the full story »
A NiSource Inc. utility unit finalized a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, agreeing to invest $600 million in environmental, conservation initiatives, and clean energy programs in northern Indiana.
The settlement is the 17th reached by the EPA and the Department of Justice as part of a national initiative to control emissions from coal-fired power plants under the Clean Air Act’s New Source Review requirements. In addition to the investment, NiSource will pay a $3.5 million civil penalty. Get the full story »
U.S. automakers and engine makers sued the Environmental Protection Agency Monday over its decision to allow higher blends of ethanol for newer cars, saying it could cause confusion at the pumps and damage engines in older vehicles.
The suit asks the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to send the decision back to the EPA and asks the court to review whether the decision violates the Clean Air Act. Get the full story »
General Motors has begun commercial production of the Chevrolet Volt, producing cars at the automaker’s Detroit plant intended for sale or lease to consumers.
But there’s one final problem, one that’s been dragging on for years, that needs to get cleared up. Get the full story »
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will delay a decision that was expected in December on whether gasoline blended with up to 15 percent ethanol is safe for vehicles built for the 2001 to 2006 model years, a source familiar with the matter told Reuters on Friday. Get the full story »
The fuel-economy sticker on new cars will change under plans announced Monday.
Will your new car get an A in fuel efficiency? A government proposal may add letter grades to showroom window stickers on new cars and trucks to reflect a vehicle’s overall fuel economy and greenhouse gas emissions.
The Transportation Department and Environmental Protection Agency said Monday they were considering two options to upgrade the energy and environmental information that will adorn labels on new vehicles in car dealership showrooms, beginning with the 2012 model year. Get the full story »
A unit of Bayer AG is phasing out production of a pesticide used on numerous U.S. crops such as cotton, peanuts and potatoes now that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has found that the 40-year-old product doesn’t meet food safety rules.
In a release Tuesday, the EPA said new toxicity data show that the pesticide aldicarb – marketed under the trade name Temik — no longer meets the agency’s safety standards. Get the full story »
U.S. Steel’s Gary Works is set to begin construction on the first two of four plants to produce a coke substitute.
The Indiana Department of Environmental Management issued a source modification permit to the mill on Lake Michigan last week. U.S. Steel spokeswoman Courtney Boone says the $220 million project is moving into the construction phase. Get the full story »
Several U.S. agencies are preparing a criminal probe of at least three companies involved in the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, though it could take more than a year before any charges are filed, the Washington Post reported Wednesday.
BP Plc, Transocean Ltd. and Halliburton Co. are the initial targets of the wide-ranging probe, which aims “to examine whether their cozy relations with federal regulators contributed to the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico,” the newspaper said, citing law enforcement and other sources. Get the full story »
U.S. biotech giant Monsanto Co. agreed Thursday to pay a $2.5 million fine for misbranding its cotton-seed products, the largest civil penalty ever enforced under a federal act that controls the sale and use of pesticides.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Monsanto distributed cotton-seed products that contained a genetically engineered pesticide banned from 10 counties in Texas for fear pests would become resistant to it.
Monsanto was required to label the products with an explanation of the ban. Get the full story »
U.S. ethanol producer Archer Daniels Midland Co. said Friday it was disappointed that the Environmental Protection Agency has delayed for a second time a ruling on higher blends of ethanol in the U.S. fuel supply.
The EPA said Thursday that testing to raise the blend rate of gasoline to 15 percent ethanol, or E15, in newer vehicles would not be completed until the end of September. Get the full story »
The Aon Center has earned an Energy Star qualification from the EPA. (Tribune photo by John Lee)
By Wailin Wong | Chicago has moved up in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s annual ranking of U.S. metropolitan areas with energy efficient buildings, climbing to No. 5 in 2009 from No. 6 in 2008.
Chicago has 134 buildings that have earned an Energy Star qualification from the EPA, awarded to facilities that meet certain criteria on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Local buildings with this distinction include McDonald’s campus office building in Oak Brook, the Aon Center in Chicago and King Lab Magnet School in Evanston, the EPA said.
