U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Plan to stash planet-heating CO2 under national forests alarms critics
This story was originally published on Floodlight, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powerful interests stalling climate action. A proposal that would allow industries to permanently stash climate-polluting carbon dioxide beneath U.S. Forest Service land puts those habitats and the people in or near them at risk, according to opponents of the measure. Chief among […]
After Clean Water Act ruling, states that want to protect affected wetlands need millions
This story was originally published on Stateline. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court stripped federal oversight from millions of acres of wetlands long protected under the Clean Water Act. Now, erecting safeguards to ensure those waters are not polluted, drained or filled in by developers falls to the states. They’re finding that it’s not easy. “States and tribes […]
Ahead of climate conference, U.S. House panel tussles over curbs on emissions
Republicans on a U.S. House panel argued Wednesday against aggressive moves to meet carbon reduction goals, saying U.S. fossil fuel companies are working to make their products cleaner. Democrats on the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on the Environment, Manufacturing and Critical Minerals countered that to achieve further reductions, federal policies should be continued […]
Climate grief and the stark choice that confronts us
This commentary was originally published on NC Newsline. If the five stages of grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance, Americans can be found at all points along the continuum when it comes to global climate change and the environmental crisis that accompanies it. Like many who’ve contemplated a grim healthcare diagnosis that seems […]
New life for old coal: Minelands and power plants are hot renewable development spots
PETERSBURG, Ind. — AES Indiana’s Petersburg Generating Station, which towers over the White River here in southwest Indiana, has been burning coal to generate electricity since the late 1960s. That era, though, will come to an end soon. Two of the power plant’s four coal-burning units have already retired and the last is planning to […]
Reliability v. sustainability: Inside the debate over the EPA’s proposed carbon rules
Electric reliability has been a hot topic lately — from congressional hearings to regulatory agencies and at the regional transmission organizations that run the electric grid in much of the country. The American electric grid is undergoing a major change, prodded by state and federal decarbonization policies, market forces pushing cheaper and cleaner forms of […]
Alabama Emergency Response Commission urges coordination of farmers’ co-ops, local planners
Members of a state commission Tuesday urged members of farmers’ cooperatives to work with local emergency planning groups to manage dangers from chemicals stored at co-ops. Sharon Cunningham, who works in risk management with the Alabama Farmers Cooperative, told the Alabama Emergency Response Commission that along with feed and farm supplies, the co-ops also offer […]
The danger upstream: In disposing coal ash, Alabama is not like other states
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News, a nonprofit, independent news organization that covers climate, energy and the environment. It is republished with permission. Sign up for their newsletter here. At an EPA meeting in Montgomery, a cup of water took center stage. In a modest hotel a stone’s throw from the Alabama River, dozens of […]
Report faults EPA for not enforcing limits on toxic benzene emissions at oil refineries
The federal Environmental Protection Agency must do a better job ensuring that oil refineries that exceed emissions limits for benzene, a toxic, carcinogenic pollutant, cut those concentrations, the agency’s inspector general found. “Thirteen of the 118 refineries we reviewed had benzene concentrations above the action level in 20 or more weeks after the initial exceedance,” […]
U.S. House Dems want data on impact of Supreme Court ruling on wetlands protection
Top Democrats on the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee asked federal agencies Monday to track possible negative effects from a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that limited federal authority to regulate clean water. Washington’s Rick Larsen, the ranking Democrat on the committee, and Water Resources and Environment Subcommittee ranking member Grace Napolitano of California, […]
EPA again proposes power plant carbon rules
The Obama administration’s 2015 Clean Power Plan — intended to cut carbon emissions from power plants — was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court. The Trump administration’s much-criticized replacement, the Affordable Clean Energy rule, derided as a “tortured series of misreadings” of the U.S. Clean Air Act, was also tossed by a federal court. […]