Environment

WASHINGTON — Though its primary mission remains warfighting, the U.S. Army is playing a leading role in an entirely different battle — the nation’s response to the challenges of climate change. The scope of this mission is laid out in... Read More

OVID, Colo. (AP) — Shortly after daybreak on the high plains of northeastern Colorado, Don Schneider tinkers with seed-dispensing gear on a mammoth corn planter. The day’s task: Carefully sowing hundreds of acres of seed between long rows of last... Read More

WASHINGTON — Countries have been negotiating limits on plastic use for years, but China’s 2018 announcement that it would stop accepting 24 kinds of plastic scrap import waste from foreign countries was undoubtedly a spark that ignited 175 countries of... Read More

WASHINGTON — Hydropower offers a promising clean energy option for producing electricity but only if the current regulatory obstacles can be overcome, according to energy industry and environmental officials who testified to Congress Thursday. Last year, hydroelectricity generation produced about... Read More

NEW YORK —The District of Columbia is hands down the most accessible metro in the DMV when it comes to charging your electric vehicle, a new study by the financial comparison site Forbes Advisor has found. The study, based on... Read More

WASHINGTON — While manufacturing and industry processes are cited as responsible for emitting the most greenhouse gases, food systems also account for a hefty portion — 31% — of global emissions, and the U.S. and China, as food superpowers, are... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Trust for Public Land, a park service nonprofit, recently released its 2022 ParkScore Index, and two major cities near the nation’s capital rank in the top — at No. 1 and No. 3, respectively — for their... Read More

MIAMI (AP) — Humans don't know what they're missing under the surface of a busy shipping channel in the “cruise capital of the world.” Just below the keels of massive ships, an underwater camera provides a live feed from another... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Justice Department announced Thursday it was opening a new Office of Environmental Justice to crack down on industrial polluters. Top priorities of the new program are reducing climate change and protecting low-income or disadvantaged communities, according to... Read More

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California’s attorney general announced Thursday he is beginning an investigation into the oil industry for allegedly causing and then covering up the harm from plastic waste. The oil industry promoted development of plastic products and then deceived... Read More

WASHINGTON — April 29 is the 150th anniversary of Arbor Day, a day that reflects appreciation of all trees, founded by J. Sterling Morton in Nebraska in 1872. Arbor Day is now celebrated on the last Friday of April across... Read More

WASHINGTON — Animal disease experts at a congressional hearing Thursday described a bleak future for preventing wildlife viruses from jumping to humans before ballooning into pandemics without stronger government intervention. Human encroachment into the habitats of wild animals along with... Read More

WASHINGTON — Late last year Delaware Gov. John Carney unveiled a state climate action plan that was two years in the making, and he made strides recently toward partnering with higher education to help reach communities that may be adversely... Read More

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — For the past year a company that “mines” cryptocurrency had what seemed the ideal location for its thousands of power-thirsty computers working around the clock to verify bitcoin transactions: the grounds of a coal-fired power plant... Read More

OLIVE, N.Y. (AP) — As western regions contend with drier conditions, New York City is under fire for sometimes releasing hundreds of millions of gallons of water a day from a key reservoir in the Catskill Mountains. The occasional releases,... Read More

WASHINGTON — The White House on Tuesday announced it is restoring provisions of a 1970 law that requires formal review of projects for their environmental impact before they can go forward. The Trump administration had abolished the need for the... Read More

WASHINGTON — American Rivers, a nonprofit environmental organization, published its annual Most Endangered Rivers list of the 10 most-threatened rivers in America. The organization contends that climate change and adverse industrial and human activity has caused the rivers’ situation to... Read More

AUSTIN, Texas — Energy scientists at the University of Texas at Austin contend in a new report that their state could strengthen its economy while eliminating carbon pollution within the next 30 years. The report maintains Texas is well-positioned to... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Biden administration plans to auction oil and gas leases this week in a policy reversal intended to bring down the price of fuel for consumers. The leases would open 144,000 acres to corporate oil and gas extraction,... Read More

LINCOLN, Ala. — Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing is bringing back its carbon-neutral Ford Mustang for NASCAR’s Geico 500 Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway on April 24. Roush Fenway debuted the carbon-neutral race car last year through its partnership with... Read More

WASHINGTON — National Park Week kicks off on April 16 with a day of free admission to any of America’s 423 National Park Service sites and other programs in communities across the country. The week continues with a variety of... Read More

WASHINGTON — Three Chinese manufacturers of motorcycles and recreational vehicles must pay a $1.6 million fine after a federal court in Washington, D.C., found they did not comply with U.S. environmental standards. The Environmental Protection Agency imposed the fines on... Read More

PALAU — The United States alone announced more than 100 commitments, worth more than $2.6 billion to tackle great threats to the Earth’s oceans at the 7th Our Ocean Conference held in Palau, April 13-14, 2022. Throughout six previous conferences,... Read More

Key members of the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council said Tuesday that the Biden administration hadn't done enough to make good on its promise that 40% of all benefits from climate investment go to disenfranchised communities. Speaking at a... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden is visiting corn-rich Iowa on Tuesday to announce he'll suspend a federal rule preventing the sale of higher ethanol blend gasoline this summer, as his administration tries to tamp down prices at the pump... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Securities and Exchange Commission on March 21 proposed rule changes that would require certain new climate-related disclosures on statements and periodic reports. Among the disclosures would be information about climate-related risks that are reasonably likely to have... Read More

WASHINGTON — In a rare show of bipartisan support, the Postal Service Reform Act of 2022 was signed into law this week, yet many aspects of USPS modernization, including the future of an all-electric postal fleet, appear to remain starkly... Read More

WASHINGTON — Under a new risk management process used for the first time under the 2016 Toxic Substances Control Act, the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed to completely ban the manufacture and import of asbestos.  The proposed rule would... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday reinstated for now a Trump-era rule that had curtailed the power of states and Native American tribes to block pipelines and other energy projects that can pollute rivers, streams and other waterways.... Read More

NEW YORK, N.Y. — Nations must dramatically speed up their shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy technologies if civilization is going to succeed in reining in the worst consequences of climate change, a new report from the United Nations... Read More