The Guardian
Latest environmental news, opinion and analysis from the Guardian.
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Wildfire smoke has reversed US progress toward ozone air quality, study finds
Since 2015, fires have undone years of effort to reduce ozone levels, underscoring a growing public health crisis
The highly destructive wildfires that have battered the US and North America in recent years have significantly increased emissions and been linked to tens of thousands of premature deaths, but their impact on air quality is greater than previously known, according to new research.
A study published in Science on Thursday found that, since 2015, wildfires have reversed US progress toward ozone air quality standards, as the worsening pollution caused by wildfire smoke has undone years of efforts to reduce emissions. Ground-level ozone (O3) is created when pollutants from cars, refineries and industrial sources react with sunlight, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
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Trump to use wartime powers to dole out $700m to coal industry
US president accused of ‘putting polluters first’ by invoking Defense Production Act to prop up coal output
Donald Trump is to use a wartime presidential authority to hand $700m to coal-fired power plants in the US, the latest move by the president to bolster what he calls “beautiful clean coal” despite it being the dirtiest of fossil fuels.
Trump is using the Defense Production Act, a cold war-era statute used to accelerate American industrial output in times of national need, to provide grants to more than a dozen existing coal plants across the US, including facilities capable of exporting coal.
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California and New York weaken climate rules as red states ramp up green energy
Republican-led states growing renewable capabilities at faster rate as Texas emerges as clean-energy leader
Democratic-led states are eroding their climate policies, as red states are scaling up their clean energy deployment.
California on Friday scaled back its cap-and-invest program, offering more than $3bn in free pollution allowances to polluting companies. Earlier the same week, New York weakened its groundbreaking climate law, delaying a plan to regulate carbon from 2024 until 2028 and reducing emissions-slashing targets. Rhode Island’s governor, meanwhile, is attempting to roll back aggressive clean-energy programs.
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Alarm as once-eradicated flesh-eating parasite found in calf in Texas
USDA confirms first case of new world screwworm fly in cattle in six decades, posing threat to livestock industry
A flesh-eating parasite rarely seen in the US in six decades has been found in a calf in Texas, agriculture officials said, in an alarming development for the country’s cattle industry.
The new world screwworm fly (NWS) was confirmed in the animal in the south of the state, about 50 miles from the Mexico border, Brooke Rollins, the agriculture secretary, said late on Wednesday.
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In first, California city overwhelmingly votes to permanently ban datacenters
While many US city councils have passed moratoriums, Monterey Park is first where residents have voted on a ban
Residents in Monterey Park, California, became the first in the US to vote on a permanent ban on datacenters on Tuesday, and early results indicate a resounding victory for the prohibition.
While many cities and counties have already passed temporary or indefinite moratoriums via their local governments, Monterey Park would be the first to do so through a ballot initiative.
This article was amended on 4 June 2026. An earlier version referred to Monterey Park as Monterey county in one instance. The former is in southern California, the latter in northern California.
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