From harmful dust to toxic fumes, poor oversight is blamed as school repairs make the same mistakes again and again.
"I knew that in order to make a policy story work on the airwaves, I would need to find stories of the people whose lives it would affect –– and I would need to do it fast," writes reporter Marissa Ortega-Welch.
The Bay Area air district is currently weighing a proposed cap on greenhouse gases and pollutants coming from the five Bay Area refineries. The cap would in effect freeze local refineries at their current levels of production.
The number of children diagnosed with developmental disabilities has increased notably in the past two decades, and a growing body of science suggests that environmental pollution, stress and food insecurity are fueling the trend.
Air pollution is a real health risk for people in communities across the U.S., as extensive research shows. But while we all have to breathe, not everyone breathes the same air, thanks to big variations from place to place.