Articles on or after 4/24/2024: |
 |
Organizations |
 |
Organizations |
|
| Legal Planet,Eric Holthaus (The Correspondent),Drilled News,Heated World,New York Times - Climate Forward,New York Times - Climate Section,Washington Post - Energy 202,Washington Post - Climate and Environment,Grist Climate and Energy |
|
Grist Climate and Energy:
|
|
|
How should Georgia elect key utility regulators? US Supreme Court asked to weigh in - Grist Climate and Energy (Apr 24) |
|
Apr 24 · This coverage is made possible through a partnership with WABE and Grist, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.
In a case that could impact other lawsuits on voting rights, Black voters who sued over Georgia’s elections for key utility regulators are appealing their case to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Those elections for the Georgia Public Service Commission have been on hold for years and while last week a federal appeals court lifted an injunction blocking the elections from taking place, there is little chance the elections will happen this year.
Public Service Commissioners have enormous ... Read more ...
|
|
Heated World:
|
|
|
Behind the billionaire climate tax - Heated World (Apr 25) |
|
Apr 25 · The climate crisis is extremely unaffordable. That’s the conclusion of a new study published in Nature last week, which found that global warming will cost $38 trillion every year by 2050. For comparison, the entire global economy is about $100 trillion per year.
But one economist has a novel idea about how to pay for at least part of the bill. At a meeting of the world’s wealthiest countries and banks last week, Esther Duflo proposed that the richest people should compensate poor people for the climate damages they disproportionately caused. That money would be raised through a climate tax on billionaires and large corporations.
Duflo is the youngest person and second ... Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Nobel Prize-winning economist calls for climate tax on billionaires - Heated World (Apr 24) |
|
Apr 24 · For the first time, the world’s most powerful countries are considering a proposal that would tax the super rich and send the money directly to the people on the front lines of the climate crisis.
The proposed climate tax is the brainchild of Nobel Prize-winning economist Esther Duflo, who presented it to the Group of 20 summit in Washington D.C. last Wednesday. Duflo suggested taxing global corporations and the world’s top billionaires to raise money for climate adaptation in countries that are most impacted by the climate crisis. The funds would be directly sent to the poorest individuals in those countries to help them prepare for climate disasters.
“Richer citizens ... Read more ...
|
|
Legal Planet:
|
|
|
EPA’s New Power Plant Rules Have Dropped. What Happens Next? - Legal Planet (Apr 25) |
|
Apr 25 · EPA has just issued a cluster of new rules designed to limit carbon emissions from power generators. Once upon a time, the presumption would have been that the rules would quietly go into effect, until someday a court rules on their validity. These days, we can expect a lot of action to be begin almost right away.
First, we are likely to lawsuits filed before opponents have even had a chance to read the new rules. Opponents see the new rules as vulnerable because the Supreme Court struck down Obama’s earlier rules in West Virginia v. EPA. (Here’s a brief explanation of that decision.) EPA believes - and I agree - that it has avoided the fatal flaw the Court saw in the ... Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Why the New Climate Reg for Coal is a Perfectly Normal EPA Rule - Legal Planet (Apr 25) |
|
Apr 25 · Is EPA’s new climate rule a sneaky effort to eliminate coal or a valid pollution standard? Some new arguments made by EPA convince me that it’s pursuing a time-tested approach to pollution control. It’s not that EPA is trying to grind down the industry. It’s that the economics of coal-fired plants are so fragile that a mild breeze would give them pneumonia.
Opponents are sure to legally challenge EPA’s new rule to limit carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants. And they are equally certain to argue that EPA is just trying to do indirectly what the Supreme Court said it couldn’t do directly: push coal out of the U.S. energy mix. ... Read more ...
|
|
New York Times - Climate Section:
|
|
|
Breaking Down New Rules About 'Forever Chemicals’ - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 24) |
|
Apr 24 · Lisa Friedman, who covers climate change, discussed the fight to regulate toxic chemicals found in nearly half of America’s tap water.
Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.
Cookware. Dental floss. Shampoo.
Perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, can be found in those items and hundreds of other household products. Nicknamed “forever chemicals” because they do not fully degrade, PFAS are resistant to heat, oil, grease and water. (One of the first uses of PFAS chemicals was as a nonstick agent in Teflon cookware in the 1940s.) But exposure to PFAS has been ... | By Josh Ocampo Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Energy Dept. Aims to Speed Up Permits for Power Lines - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 25) |
|
Apr 25 · The Biden administration has expressed growing alarm that efforts to fight climate change could falter unless the electric grids are quickly expanded.
Reporting from Washington
The Biden administration on Thursday finalized a rule meant to speed up federal permits for major transmission lines, part of a broader push to expand America’s electric grids.
Administration officials are increasingly worried that their plans to fight climate change could falter unless the nation can quickly add vast amounts of grid capacity to handle more wind and solar power and to better tolerate extreme weather. The pace of construction for high-voltage power lines has sharply slowed ... | By Brad Plumer Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Five Major Climate Policies Trump Would Probably Reverse if Elected - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 26) |
|
Apr 26 · He has called for increased oil production and said that electric vehicles will result in an 'assassination’ of jobs.
Former President Donald J. Trump has vowed to “cancel” President Biden’s policies for cutting pollution from fossil-fuel-burning power plants, “terminate” efforts to encourage electric vehicles, and “develop the liquid gold that is right under our feet” by promoting oil and gas.
Those changes and others that Mr. Trump has promised, if he were to win the presidency again, represent a 180-degree shift from Mr. Biden’s climate agenda.
When he was president, Mr. Trump reversed more than 100 environmental protections put in place by the Obama ... | By Lisa Friedman Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Five Things to Know About Biden’s New Power Plant Rules - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 25) |
|
Apr 25 · The Biden administration released a major climate regulation aimed at virtually eliminating carbon emissions from coal, the dirtiest of the fossil fuels and a driver of global warming.
The Biden administration has effectively moved to end the use of coal to keep the lights on in America. On Thursday, the Environmental Protection Agency released four major regulations designed to slash multiple forms of toxic and planet-warming pollution from coal-fired power plants, the nation’s dirtiest source of electricity.
The most consequential of the new rules is aimed at nearly eliminating carbon dioxide emissions from the coal plants. The other three rules would cut the emission ... | By Coral Davenport and Lisa Friedman Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Honda Commits to E.V.s With Big Investment in Canada - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 25) |
|
Apr 25 · The Japanese automaker, which has been slow to sell electric vehicles, said it would invest $11 billion to make batteries and cars in Ontario.
Honda Motor on Thursday said it and several suppliers would invest $11 billion to build batteries and electric cars in Ontario, a significant commitment from a company that has been slow to embrace the technology.
Like Toyota and other Japanese carmakers, Honda has emphasized hybrid vehicles, in which gasoline engines are augmented by electric motors, rather than cars powered solely by batteries. The Honda Prologue, a sport-utility vehicle made in Mexico, is the company’s only fully electric vehicle on sale in the United ... | By Jack Ewing Read more ...
|
|
|
|
How Abrupt U-Turns Are Defining U.S. Environmental Regulations - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 26) |
|
Apr 26 · The polarization of politics means that rules are imposed, gutted and restored with each election. Experts say that’s bad for the economy.
The Biden administration’s move on Thursday to strictly limit pollution from coal-burning power plants is a major policy shift. But in many ways it’s one more hairpin turn in a zigzag approach to environmental regulation in the United States, a pattern that has grown more extreme as the political landscape has become more polarized.
Nearly a decade ago, President Barack Obama was the Democrat who tried to force power plants to stop burning coal, the dirtiest of the fossil fuels. His Republican successor, Donald J. Trump, effectively ... | By Coral Davenport Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Key Solar Panel Ingredient Is Made in the U.S.A. Again - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 25) |
|
Apr 25 · REC Silicon says it will soon start shipping polysilicon, which has come mostly from China, reviving a Washington State factory that shut down in 2019.
Reporting from Moses Lake, Wash.
A factory in Moses Lake, Wash., that shut down in 2019 will soon resume shipping a critical ingredient used in most solar panels that for years has been made almost exclusively in China.
The revival of the factory, which is owned by REC Silicon, could help achieve a longstanding goal of many American lawmakers and energy executives to re-establish a complete domestic supply chain for solar panels and reduce the world’s reliance on plants in China and Southeast Asia.
REC Silicon ... | By Ivan Penn Read more ...
|
|
|
|
New Biden Climate Rules Could Shutter Remaining American Coal Plants - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 25) |
|
Apr 25 · Limiting power plant pollution is the last major climate rule expected from President Biden. Donald J. Trump has already vowed to “cancel” it if re-elected.
The Biden administration on Thursday placed the final cornerstone of its plan to tackle climate change: a regulation that would force the nation’s coal-fired power plants to virtually eliminate the planet-warming pollution that they release into the air or shut down.
The regulation from the Environmental Protection Agency requires coal plants in the United States to reduce 90 percent of their greenhouse pollution by 2039, one year earlier than the agency had initially proposed. The compressed timeline was welcomed by ... | By Lisa Friedman and Coral Davenport Read more ...
|
|
|
|
The fight over the future of plastics - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 25) |
|
Apr 25 · Subscriber-only Newsletter
Climate Forward
As countries negotiate a landmark agreement to reduce plastic pollution, the industry is fighting a battle over regulations and over its image.
Earlier this week in Ottawa, the Vinyl Institute, a major plastic industry group, hosted a reception for delegates who are negotiating what would be the first global treaty to tackle the world’s mounting plastic waste problem.
There were cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. And signs with the message that plastics save lives.
Scientists have increasingly raised the alarm over the risks that the chemicals used in plastic pose to human health and the environment. Ahead of the ... | By Hiroko Tabuchi Read more ...
|
|
|
|
What to Know About the Breakup of Scotland’s Coalition Government - New York Times - Climate Section (Apr 25) |
|
Apr 25 · The power-sharing agreement between the Scottish National Party and the Scottish Green Party ended abruptly on Thursday, marking a fresh period of turmoil for the S.N.P.
Reporting from London
Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, on Thursday abruptly ended a coalition agreement between his Scottish National Party and the Scottish Green Party, creating a new set of challenges for an embattled leader whose party has been engulfed in a funding scandal since last year.
A decision by the Scottish government to soften climate change targets, and a disagreement within the coalition over trans rights policies, had increased tension between the two parties, which have ... | By Stephen Castle Read more ...
|
|
Washington Post - Climate and Environment:
|
|
|
Heavy rains and flooding kill dozens as extreme weather racks Kenya - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 25) |
|
Apr 25 · NAIROBI - Devastating floods during Kenya’s rainy season, aggravated by climate change, have killed at least 38 people and displaced thousands as rivers burst their banks and inundated low-income neighborhoods.
Social media sites were awash Thursday with images and videos of people on rooftops of submerged houses. Residents across Nairobi neighborhoods used boats to rescue those stranded by the rising floodwaters.
Venant Ndighila, the emergency response manager of the Kenya Red Cross, said 38 deaths and 11,275 displaced people have been reported across the country. He warned about accompanying risks, including disease outbreaks and the disruption of goods and ... | By Thursday evening, Kwamboka said, the volunteers had managed to get some clothes and blankets for most of the displaced in her area. “Now we have to see how the women and children will have dinner as we wait for tomorrow,” she said. Read more ...
|
|
|
|
How groups execute the new plan could mean the difference between saving what’s left on Florida’s 360-mile-long coral reef and another summer of catastrophic loss. - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 26) |
|
Apr 26 · In Florida, swaths of coral paint a colorful landscape across the ocean floor and serve a key role in its ecosystem.
But last summer, amid the longest marine heat wave in decades, many were scorched - drained of color and their survival left in question. It’s a scenario becoming much more common.
KEY LARGO, Fla.
With milk crates of corals in hand and scuba tanks strapped to their backs, Sam Burrell and his team disappeared under the water’s choppy surface. Heavy, breaking waves crashed against the charter boat anchored miles off the coast.
With each breath they let out, they descended beneath the surface and felt a sense of relief: On this November morning, ... Read more ...
|
|
|
|
Nearly 2 in 5 Americans breathe unhealthy air. Why it’s getting worse. - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 24) |
|
Apr 24 · A rising number of Americans - nearly 2 in 5 - has been living with unhealthy levels of air pollution, while the United States experienced a record number of days between 2020 and 2022 with very unhealthy or hazardous air, according to a new report.
More than 90 million people are living in places where the air quality is worse than a new U.S. standard, the American Lung Association reported Wednesday in its annual State of the Air assessment, which detailed a significant increase based on the stricter national particle pollution standard.
The total includes 72 million people who would not have been counted under the looser federal standard - reflecting the dramatic ... Read more ...
|
|
|
|
New rules will slash air, water and climate pollution from U.S. power plants - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 25) |
|
Apr 25 · The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday finalized an ambitious set of rules aimed at slashing air pollution, water pollution and planet-warming emissions spewing from the nation’s power plants.
If fully implemented, the rules will have enormous consequences for U.S. climate goals, the air Americans breathe and the ways they get their electricity. The power sector ranks as the nation’s second-largest contributor to climate change, and it is a major source of toxic air pollutants tied to health problems.
Before the restrictions take effect, however, they will have to survive near-certain legal challenges from Republican attorneys general, who have been emboldened ... Read more ...
|
|
|
|
U.S. solar companies, imperiled by price collapse, demand protection - Washington Post - Climate and Environment (Apr 24) |
|
Apr 24 · Several of the biggest American solar manufacturing companies are demanding aggressive action against cheap imports, arguing in a petition filed Wednesday with the Commerce Department that firms in four Asian countries are illegally flooding the U.S. market with Chinese-subsidized panels.
Though the panels are not produced in China, the petitioners allege many are made in factories linked to Chinese-based companies that benefit from massive price supports.
The complaint comes amid a glut of solar panels on the global market that has driven prices down by 50 percent over the past year, with the International Energy Agency projecting prices will fall even further. ... Read more ...
|
|
|