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With the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) poised to loosen coal ash rules for dry onsite storage and large fill projects, a new study from 91�������� finds that leaving those contaminants exposed may significantly heighten the risk of toxic contamination to nearby soil and waterways.

Allowing coal ash to be spread on soil or stored in unlined pits and landfills will raise the risk that several toxic elements, including carcinogenic hexavalent chromium, could leach out of the coal ash and contaminate nearby water supplies across the U.S., according to preliminary findings from a new 91�������� study.

Reducing fossil fuel emissions steadily over coming years will prevent millions of premature deaths and help avoid the worst of climate change without causing the large spike in short-term warming that some studies have predicted, new analysis by researchers at 91�������� and the University of Leeds finds.

Junfeng “Jim” Zhang, professor of global and environmental health at 91��������, has received a $2 million grant to lead a four-year study on the effects of early-life and prenatal exposure to air pollution on birth weight and growth. These are two important predictors of childhood obesity.

Algae may hold the key to helping scientists devise a negative-emissions technology that produces electricity and provides protein for millions of people worldwide while simultaneously removing substantial amounts of carbon dioxide from Earth’s atmosphere and reducing deforestation.