ozone

An auto emissions machine in a car garage.

Transportation

New bill would roll back emissions testing requirements in North Carolina

3:58pm March 27, 2023

Senate Bill 341 proposes to reduce most car inspections to every other year rather than annually and eliminate emission tests in all counties but Mecklenburg.

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Environment

New Website Provides Detailed NC Air Quality And Weather Conditions

3:45pm August 27, 2021

by Keri Brown

Map of ozone changes across the country.

Traffic Is Way Down Because Of Lockdown, But Air Pollution? Not So Much

10:27am May 19, 2020

Car traffic took a big dip beginning in late March, and headlines celebrated clean air around the U.S. But an NPR analysis of EPA data tells a more troubling story.

Wildfires caused high levels of air pollution in San Francisco in November 2018. Climate change is making wildfires and heat waves more likely, and driving more days of unhealthy air in many U.S. cities.

Science

Climate Change Undercuts Air Pollution Improvements

12:02am April 21, 2020

by Rebecca Hersher

More Americans are breathing unhealthy air, even though overall air pollution has decreased in recent decades. In the tug-of-war between air regulations and climate change, global warming is winning.

Environment

What's Behind Forsyth County's Poor Air Quality?

7:41am March 11, 2020

by Keri Brown

A recent report spotlighted Forsyth County for its poor air quality a

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Environment

Report: Piedmont-Triad Tops Statewide Air Pollution Study

7:00am January 29, 2020

by Eddie Garcia

A new study shows that millions of Americans live i

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An image provided by NOAA shows the hole in the ozone layer in 2015. NOAA scientists now say emissions of one ozone-depleting chemical appear to be rising, even though the chemical has been banned and reported production has essentially been at zero for y

Banned Ozone-Depleting Chemical Is Still Being Produced Somewhere, Scientists Say

7:08pm May 17, 2018

by Camila Domonoske

Trichlorofluoromethane, or CFC-11, hurts the ozone layer and was phased out of production by 2010. Supposedly. But a NOAA study says CFC-11 emissions began to rise after 2012.

Nitrogen oxide pollution in India and China is offsetting U.S. gains in cutting emissions, researchers say. This photo from October shows road traffic, along with smoke and smog, in front of the landmark India Gate in New Delhi.

Smog In Western U.S. Starts Out As Pollution In Asia, Researchers Say

11:46am March 03, 2017

by Bill Chappell

By tripling their emission of pollutants, Asian countries have contributed as much as 65 percent of a rise in ozone levels in the western U.S., scientists say.

EPA Proposes New Rules To Curb Ozone Levels

1:49pm November 26, 2014

by Krishnadev Calamur

The rules would lower the threshold for ozone from 75 parts per billion to between 65 ppb and 70 ppb. They are likely to be opposed by industry groups as well as Republicans.

Ozone Levels Bounce Back, Showing First Increase In 35 Years

12:22pm September 11, 2014

by Scott Neuman

NASA says that a ban on CFCs enacted in the 1980s has contributed to a 4 percent rebound since 2000 in atmospheric ozone in mid-northern latitudes.