FILE - Plastic bottles and other garbage are seen next to a beach at Fiumicino, Italy, near Rome, Saturday, Aug. 15, 2020. (Andrew Medichini / AP Photo, File)

We breathe, eat and drink tiny particles of plastic. But are these minuscule specks in the body harmless, dangerous or somewhere in between?

Emissions rise from the smokestacks at the Jeffrey Energy Center coal power plant as the suns sets Sept. 18, 2021, near Emmett, Kan. (AP Photo / Charlie Riedel, File)
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Environmental and public health groups hailed the new Environmental Protection Agency rule finalized Wednesday as a major step in improving the health of Americans, including future generations. 

Alaina Harkness, the executive director of the water tech nonprofit Current, appears at a Chicago news conference on Jan. 30, 2024, with Gov. J.B. Pritzker. (Dilpreet Raju  / Capitol News Illinois)

The U.S. National Science Foundation awarded the grant to Current Innovation NFP, a nonprofit “innovation hub” whose mission is to “solve pressing water challenges caused by climate change and pollution.” 

A still image from a video taken of the demolition of the Crawford Coal Plant smokestack, April 11, 2020. (Alejandro Reyes / YouTube)

In April 2020, a smokestack implosion in Little Village blanketed the community in dust, endangering the health of residents during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, eligible Little Village residents have until March 26 to file claims for compensation.

Using a glass or stainless steel container is a safer way to consume water, experts say. (Clara Margais / dpa / picture alliance / Getty Images)
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Nanoplastics are so teeny they can migrate through the tissues of the digestive tract or lungs into the bloodstream, distributing potentially harmful synthetic chemicals throughout the body and into cells, experts say.

Groot Industries operates a waste facility in West Chicago at 1995 Powis Road.
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West Chicago is currently home to the only waste transfer facility in DuPage County. Now a second one is looking to open and residents are pushing back. 

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the COP28 U.N. Climate Summit, Saturday, Dec. 2, 2023, in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. (Kamran Jebreili / AP Photo)

The EPA said the rule will sharply reduce methane and other harmful air pollutants generated by the oil and gas industry, promote use of cutting-edge methane detection technologies and deliver significant public health benefits.

File photo of homes in Cicero. (WTTW News)

The project involves sensors installed and monitored by the Cicero Independiente and MuckRock providing data to back up what many community members were already feeling.

(WTTW News)

A new report from the Brushwood Center found Lake County residents face significant race-based disparities in health outcomes, environmental quality and access to nature.

A still image from a video taken of the demolition of the Crawford Coal Plant smokestack, April 11, 2020. (Alejandro Reyes / YouTube)

Dave Graham, who a watchdog report said should be fired for “willful bureaucratic negligence” in the 2020 incident that covered Little Village in dust, is now in charge of environmental inspections and enforcement.

Chicagoans can bring their food waste to one of 15 locations across the city and dispose of it in a green bin, officials said. (Credit: City of Chicago)
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Less than 9% of the trash produced every year by Chicago residents is kept out of landfills — a rate that has been essentially unchanged for five years, despite repeated calls for the city to do a better job at recycling.

(WTTW News)

Meet Ellis Chesbrough, Chicago’s first city engineer and designer of the water delivery system we still use today. WTTW News Explains how water cribs work out on Lake Michigan. 

Lake Michigan. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)
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Representatives of Bayer, which now owns Monsanto, said Chicago's lawsuit was “meritless” because the company never manufactured or disposed PCBs in or near the Chicago area.

Olga Bautista, the executive director of the Southeast Environmental Task Force, lauded Mayor Brandon Johnson's proposal. (Heather Cherone/WTTW News)
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“The time to act on environmental justice is now,”  Mayor Brandon Johnson said.

FILE - A black plume rises over East Palestine, Ohio, as a result of a controlled detonation of a portion of the derailed Norfolk Southern trains, Feb. 6, 2023. (Gene J. Puskar / AP Photo, File)

Debate over vinyl chloride has simmered for years, but gained a new urgency after the Feb. 3 derailment of a 50-car Norfolk Southern freight train in East Palestine. Three days later, emergency crews released toxic vinyl chloride from five tank cars and burned it to keep them from exploding.

State Sen. Bill Cunningham, D-Chicago, speaks to members of the Illinois Pollution Control Board at the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules meeting on July 18, 2023. Cunningham is the co-chair of the bipartisan 12-member committee. (Andrew Adams / Capitol News Illinois)
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The change repeals existing language that allowed factories, refineries, power plants and other facilities to exceed their emission limits during shutdowns, startups, and malfunctions.