Tag: pollution

US-Israeli Bombing Has Harmed Iran’s Wildlife, Farms, and Water Supply

ust a few days before Tehran and Washington signed a now-defunct ceasefire agreement, local media in Iran reported that 25 goitered gazelles were killed in U.S. airstrikes on Kharg Island in the northern Persian Gulf. The small coral island is a key terminal for Iran’s oil exports and its unique wildlife includes white-headed seagulls, hawksbill sea turtles, and ospreys. It also hosts the ruins of a Dutch fort built in 1753. On multiple occasions, U.S. President Donald Trump has brandished the possibility of invading the island of 8,000 people.

The U.S.-Israeli war on Iran opened with the most intensive bombing campaign in modern history. Some 23,800 airstrikes were carried out in a span of 39 days, and one of its most consequential impacts was the environmental damage inflicted on Iran’s ecosystems. A June 17 memorandum of understanding halted the hostilities, but Trump notified Congress last week that he was resuming military action. Bombings are becoming a new norm, damaging Iran’s land, air, and water.

From toxic acid rain blanketing the Tehran metro area after Israel bombed the Iranian capital’s oil depots on March 7, to the emission of a substantial volume of greenhouse gases in the early phases of the campaign, the war has caused serious environmental degradation in a country reeling from a range of climate-related crises, water stress, and air quality issues. While international media have failed to consistently cover the negative environmental impacts of the war, environmental nonprofits, academic institutions, and climate advocates have documented extensive damage, only a portion of which has been understood to date.

According to a study by the Climate and Community Institute, 5 million metric tonnes of greenhouse gases were emitted due to the attacks on Iran in first 14 days of the war, which the nonprofit estimated exceeded Iceland’s carbon pollution over an entire year.

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Why the Left Hates Idling Cars

There’s nothing that bugs the anti-petroleum Left more than seeing hundreds of non-moving cars with their engines running. They call it a waste of gasoline.

Of course, it’s not actually a waste of gasoline at all; it’s just part of driving. We need cars to stop at red lights; that’s what red lights are for, so that traffic is managed safely. Cars stop for a moment at a stop sign, a little longer at a red light, sometimes going back and forth from stop to start on a highway or other major road during rush hour, or when sitting in the intersection awaiting a right or left turn.

You can’t look at each segment of a road trip separately; the issue is driving from point A to point B, not studying each individual step along the way. Stopping at stop signs and red lights is just part of the process of safe driving; it allows a huge number of cars to share the road network in all directions with a minimum of accidents.

But somewhere along the way, the Left came up with the idea of an automatic stop-start mechanism (also known as micro hybrid, idling stop, or other names). It’s an automatic way for the car to shut down its engine whenever it detects that the vehicle has come to a stop, without the driver switching it off.

I’m sure this idea sounds wonderful to the Leftists who dreamed it up; you are no longer burning up gasoline for the 10 seconds at the stop sign, or the 30 to 120 seconds at the red light, or the 15 or 30 seconds while waiting to turn left, or the minute while waiting for a police car, ambulance, or funeral procession to pass by, and so forth.

It sounds to the Left like a fabulous savings of gasoline. This must be wonderful for the environment, right?

That’s as far as the Left goes with it. They don’t dig any deeper. So the EPA started offering a tax credit to auto manufacturers who would add this tool, and before you knew it, 18 separate manufacturers were taking advantage of this tax credit, installing stop-start mechanisms in cars and SUVs and minivans. It’s almost unavoidable now.

The Trump administration is removing this foolhardy tax credit this year, in hopes that automakers will stop installing this alleged “feature” as soon as possible.

Why?

Not because the Right doesn’t like conserving gasoline. We pay the same price at the pump that the Left does; everyone wants to save money.

But because the Right dug deeper into the issue, and recognized that this allegedly environmental improvement was actually a net cost — to the driver, to the economy, maybe even to the cause of safety.

Is there a tiny savings in fuel consumption alone? Perhaps. It takes fuel to stop and start, and it takes fuel to idle. How long you idle will affect the net result in actual mpg.

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Pollution from Musk’s unpermitted xAI power project hits hardest in Black communities

Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI has installed 59 natural gas turbines for its Colossus 2 data center project in Tennessee without securing federal clean air permits, according to communications between regulators and xAI representatives.

Potential emissions from the turbines are far beyond the threshold that would require a federal permit, and would be released near predominantly Black communities already estimated to be suffering disproportionately high rates of lung disease, according to a Reuters analysis based on government data and information in the correspondence with regulators.

The findings, which have not been previously reported, reflect how exploding electricity demand from AI data centers is driving companies to build off-grid power plants at a pace outstripping environmental oversight, with potentially big risks to public health.

The number of unpermitted turbines identified by Reuters is about double what xAI has publicly acknowledged. The company previously said it was running 27 unpermitted turbines for Colossus 2 as of January and has argued the permits are not required. At least 57 of the 59 turbines are located in Mississippi, just over the state line from Tennessee where the data center is located.

The xAI turbines are among scores of off-grid power plants for data centers proposed or under construction around the country. Local authorities often fast-track approvals in just weeks or months, without the years of environmental studies and public hearings typically required for such power generation projects that connect to the grid, Reuters has reported.

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Good Grief. Politico Laughably Kvetches About America 250 Fireworks Pollution – Fears Americans Won’t Mask Up for Show!

Do you remember when the media pretended to love America and the Fourth of July?

Those days are long gone.

The far-left crew over at Politico decided that the America 250 celebration — a record-setting fireworks show over the nation’s capital — was the perfect moment to whine about the environment.

And they did it with a straight face.

The tell is right there in the first word of the headline: “Trump plans record fireworks show, internal docs warn of smoky skies.”

Trump.

That’s the whole story.

NewsBusters nailed exactly what this is really about:

Substitute the name of any Democrat president such as Clinton or Obama or Autopen and the silly story by the Politico troika of Alex Guillen, Miranda Willson, and Ariel Wittenberg would have been nonexistent. Yes, they just can’t allow President Donald Trump to enjoy along with thousands of spectators what they consider to be a triumphal moment without raining on the parade. TDS is just that powerful, especially at Politico.

Then comes the thin veneer of concern.

Here is how the Politico team framed it, as quoted by NewsBusters:

Scientists have well documented the soot and heavy metal pollution that can spike severely in the wake of pyrotechnic displays, and the world-record-setting number of fireworks lined up for July 4 will mean an equally large jump in pollution, according to experts and internal NPS documents reviewed by POLITICO.

Soot. Heavy metals. Smoky skies.

Over fireworks.

On the Fourth of July.

It gets better. According to the same report, Politico frets that no one is telling Americans to mask up before watching the show…

There are no indications that the administration plans to suggest masking or other personal protection for revelers viewing the fireworks from the nation’s front lawn. And the Environmental Protection Agency said tracking the air quality impacts of the fireworks isn’t their jurisdiction.

Mask up… for fireworks.

As NewsBusters put it, any government warning to mask up — after the useless Covid mask warnings — would be rightly ignored and/or laughed at.

And here’s the punchline the Politico kvetch-fest was forced to admit itself. The scary pollution doesn’t even stick around.

The good news is that the dirty air doesn’t linger too long. One study found that particulate matter from July Fourth fireworks remained elevated for about 24 hours across 315 different monitoring sites. On average, the fireworks displays increased pollution by 42 percent. But after a day,

About 24 hours. Then it’s gone.

So the crisis is over before the leftover hot dogs are.

Face it. This was never about the air.

It was about Trump celebrating America’s 250th, with hundreds of thousands of Americans cheering along the National Mall, and a media that simply cannot stand the sight of it.

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JPMorgan DEI Executive FIRED After Dumping Garbage on Street, Stealing Knicks Trashcan in Viral Video

The woman seen in a viral video dumping garbage on the street and then stealing the Knicks trashcan is a JPMorgan DEI executive.

The executive, Angie Baez, 40, was fired after the video went viral and the New York Post contacted JPMorgan about her actions.

Baez reportedly skipped work to attend the Knicks parade after the New York-based team won its first NBA Championship in more than five decades.

The New York Post reported:

A woman caught on video emptying a public trash can on the street, then stealing it during New York City’s Knicks championship parade, was a director at JPMorgan Chase — who was fired Tuesday over the incident, The Post has learned.

Angie Báez, 40, was promoted to executive director of community and industry engagement for card and connected commerce at JPMorgan Chase more than a year ago, according to her LinkedIn profile.

She previously served as executive director of diversity, equity, and inclusion at New York-based review website the Infatuation, which Chase acquired as part of its broader push into lifestyle and experiential content.

Sources say the bank looked into the incident after the video surfaced and a JPMorgan Chase spokesperson told The Post, “This employee is no longer with the company.”

Báez could not be reached by The Post for comment Tuesday. Sources noted she had attended the parade in her personal capacity.

The Knicks-themed trashcan was eventually returned to the Department of Sanitation.

“First, we would reiterate previous comments that dumping trash onto the street and stealing public property for your own personal use are both illegal, antisocial behaviors, and not what New Yorkers do,” the department said in a statement to NBC News.. “On top of all that, doing both on camera is incredibly stupid.”

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“It’s That Bad”: Virginia Residents Battling Constant Noise From Data Center Generators

For more than a year, residents living next to the Vantage Data Centers facility have endured what they describe as a constant, high-pitched whining or ringing sound coming from the site’s massive backup generators – the facility’s only source of electricity.

Unlike most data centers connected to the power grid, this facility runs entirely on its own on-site power plant. What residents were told would be temporary generator testing has become permanent operation.

“They’re Just Never Turned Off”

Neighbor Hari Doue told News Nation that the community was initially assured the generators were only being tested for emergencies.

“We were told in the beginning that they test the generators to make sure they’re working in case of an emergency. And then as the year and the months have gone on, they’re just never turned off,” Doue said. 

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“I’m just a number to them”: Garden Grove residents demand closure of GKN plant after toxic emergency

On Tuesday evening, California officials lifted the remaining mandatory evacuation orders for some 16,000 residents in Garden Grove, California, who live near an overheated chemical tank at a GKN Aerospace facility. Evacuation orders for some 50,000 residents were initially issued last Thursday, rescinded later that same evening, and then reissued Friday morning.

A 34,000-gallon storage tank at the facility containing methyl methacrylate (MMA), a volatile and flammable chemical, was found to be leaking. The chemical is not only dangerous when inhaled, but also posed the risk of causing a massive toxic explosion.

While the evacuation orders were lifted Tuesday night, police and emergency personnel are maintaining a several-block closure around the facility as chemicals continue to leak from the ruptured tank.

In addition to thousands of residences, several schools are also located close to the facility.

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Residents of Polluted Areas Say Trump’s Regulatory Rollbacks Are “Getting Really Scary”

ita Robles’s life is ruled by allergies, the worst effects from which can last for months at a time. She uses rescue inhalers, a nebulizer, and a maintenance inhaler — on top of a slew of other medications. Even then, it’s often not enough.

“There are times when I’m outside just walking to the driveway and it’ll feel like something catches in my throat, and it causes me to go into a choking fit,” Robles told Truthout. “It’s miserable.”

Robles lives in a Houston, Texas, neighborhood suffocated by heavy industry — Denver Harbor, the largest petrochemical hub of the U.S. Robles, 56, calls the neighborhood a “disaster.”

She’s just one of millions of Americans, however, living in communities where people’s quality of life is secondary to the hum of big business — communities at the front line of the government’s regulatory rollbacks and budget cuts.

Since Donald Trump came back into office in January 2025, the federal government has either succeeded in, or is attempting to, weaken and roll back many of the country’s key environmental regulations and other broader programs. Things could get worse if the proposed Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) budget is approved, with its 52 percent cut in funding under the latest agency head, former New York Rep. Lee Zeldin.

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NAACP Sues Musk’s xAI Over Memphis Data Center Pollution

The NAACP has filed a lawsuit against Elon Musk’s xAI, alleging that the company’s massive Memphis data center is causing harmful air pollution in surrounding communities. The legal challenge targets the facility that Musk has positioned as critical infrastructure for xAI’s ambitious AI development plans, raising questions about the environmental cost of the AI boom. The lawsuit marks a significant collision between Silicon Valley’s race to build AI supercomputers and environmental justice concerns in communities hosting these energy-intensive facilities.

xAI, Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence venture, is facing a federal lawsuit from the NAACP over alleged air pollution stemming from its Memphis data center operations. The civil rights organization filed the complaint targeting the facility that Musk has described as essential to xAI’s efforts to compete with OpenAI, Google, and Meta in the race to build more powerful AI systems.

The Memphis facility represents a massive bet by Musk on scaling AI infrastructure quickly. The world’s richest person selected the greater Memphis area as a hub for xAI’s computational buildout, drawn by available industrial space, power capacity, and local tax incentives. But that rapid expansion is now colliding with community concerns about environmental impact.

The NAACP’s lawsuit alleges that emissions from the data center are degrading air quality in nearby neighborhoods, many of which are predominantly Black communities that have historically borne disproportionate environmental burdens. The legal challenge puts a spotlight on an often-overlooked aspect of the AI boom: the physical infrastructure required to train large language models consumes enormous amounts of electricity and generates substantial heat, requiring extensive cooling systems that can impact local environments.

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EV Pollution: Converting the World to EVs Would Be an Environmental Disaster

In 2024, President Biden said he wanted 56% of all new cars sold in the United States to be electric vehicles by 2032. California Governor Gavin Newsom similarly mandated that 35% of new 2026 model cars sold in the state be zero-emissions vehicles, rising to 68% in 2030 and 100% in 2035.

The European Union announced in 2023 that, from 2035 onward, all new cars coming onto the market could not emit any CO2. The United Kingdom similarly announced a 2030 ban on the sale of new diesel and petrol cars.

The reaction from the U.S. auto industry was blunt. The Alliance for Automotive Innovation said it “will take a miracle” for all states following California’s rules to reach 100% new zero-emission vehicle sales by 2035.

They are correct. The environmental impact would be devastating. The people claiming to save the world with electric cars could end up destroying it.

Replacing every vehicle on Earth with an EV, all 1.5 to 1.6 billion of them, would be effectively impossible. There are not enough minerals to manufacture all of the batteries required. In addition, there is not enough global processing capacity, and such a transition would require incredible amounts of labor. Many of these minerals are already being mined by children and by workers laboring under hazardous and toxic conditions that amount to modern slavery.

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