pollution

Stand on the beach in Boca Raton at 10 or 11 at night with your back to the ocean — over the dunes, you'll see a glowing sky. This artificial light is coming from city buildings and homes. It's confusing baby sea turtles.

Burning oil, coal and other fossil fuels releases plumes of tiny, dangerous particles. A new study estimates that eliminating that pollution would save about 50,000 lives in the U.S. each year.

The rising number of fires hamper decades of environmental efforts, and over 40% of Americans — more than 137 million people — live in places with poor air quality, a new report says.

Tiny plastic debris — some so small you can't see it — has previously been found in human blood, excrement and in the depths of the ocean.

A year ago, 215 million gallons of wastewater poured from the troubled Piney Point phosphate plant into Tampa Bay’s waters — a long-feared disaster come true.

The latest plan cuts back on both the storage and cleaning needed to fix the lake. It eliminates a large above ground reservoir and treatment marshes, relying instead on underground storage wells.

The study by the Environmental Integrity Project analyzed biennial pollution reports sent by states to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Many of manatee deaths have been attributed to starvation because of declining seagrass beds that are prime foraging areas, particularly in the Indian River Lagoon.

"We see a really clear association between how these maps were drawn in the '30s and the air pollution disparities today," says an author of a study on the effects of the discriminatory policy.

The measure had drawn opposition from Gov. Ron DeSantis and critics such as fishing guides who raced to the Capitol to appear in the Senate gallery. A leader of one group said the changes removed the “worst of the worst” in a bill that opponents argued was being rammed through the legislative process.

Now the government is leaving, and moving the country's capital to the island of Borneo.

Sarasota, Pinellas and Hillsborough counties spilled more than nine million gallons of wastewater from sewage plants in 2020.