The number of solar jobs in Illinois – and the U.S. as a whole – decreased last year, but experts are still optimistic about the industry’s future.

Chicago’s tallest building is being recognized for its standing atop another category: energy efficiency.

A bill to be filed this month would ensure Illinois residents are able to challenge certain permits issued by state regulators, giving them legal standing to sue over environmental concerns such as air pollution and contaminated groundwater.

A coalition of environmental advocacy groups in Illinois hopes to put the brakes on a Rauner administration proposal that would relax pollution rules for eight downstate coal plants owned by Dynegy Inc.

ComEd should be allowed to proceed with plans to build a first-of-its-kind microgrid in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, a state legal authority said this week. But environmental and consumer advocates aren't satisfied with the project. 

President Donald Trump’s new tariff on imported solar panels will slow – but not stop – the growth of Illinois’ solar industry, experts say, thanks in large part to the state’s recently passed clean energy law.

The city’s lawsuit comes a week after attorneys at the University of Chicago filed their own lawsuit against the steel corporation. “This Great Lake is our most precious natural resource and we must preserve and protect it,” Mayor Rahm Emanuel said in a statement.

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt told representatives of a children’s health group last week that he wants to eliminate lead from drinking water within 10 years, but he has yet to offer a strategy to meet the goal.

An environmental nonprofit represented by University of Chicago lawyers filed a suit Wednesday against U.S. Steel over Lake Michigan pollution.

A nonprofit group working with the University of Chicago is poised to sue U.S. Steel over Lake Michigan pollution if a deal is not reached by Sunday between the company and environmental regulators.

In 2015, Noah Strycker became a birding legend after a yearlong journey across seven continents to see more than half the world’s 10,000-plus bird species. He speaks this month in Chicago about the adventure and his new book “Birding Without Borders.”

Public and abandoned properties in the Chicago area might appear a little less cluttered. The Illinois EPA collected 598.5 tons of used tires in December as part of a state program to mitigate hazards associated with them.

Chicago public health officials have signed off on a Southeast Side company’s updated plan to cut emissions of brain-damaging manganese dust that regulators say pose a health risk to nearby residents.

A Southeast Side company must install air monitors to detect levels of dust emissions from heavy metals processed on-site, according to a letter issued by the city this week.

Children on Chicago’s Southeast Side have higher levels of manganese in their toenails than children in other parts of the city, according to preliminary results of a study aiming to measure the impact of toxic metals on children’s health. 

Former Wisconsin politician Cathy Stepp “will bring a fresh perspective” to the EPA, agency chief Scott Pruitt said Tuesday. But the announcement drew blunt criticism from the group’s national employee union.