Environment

SEATTLE — Alaska Airlines announced Wednesday it is eliminating in-flight plastic cups. The West Coast-based airline is the first U.S. carrier to completely transition to paper cups as a planet-friendly alternative. Alaska Airlines estimates that this move will eliminate more... Read More

WASHINGTON — Forget a weeklong vote to get a House speaker, when all is said and done, the biggest news of the month may well be how electric vehicles dominated center stage at the Washington, D.C., Auto Show. The annual... Read More

WASHINGTON — Devastating hurricanes, deadly flooding and prolonged record-setting drought in much of the U.S. were just a few of the 18 natural disasters that cost taxpayers roughly $165 billion last year, according to a new federal report. The sobering... Read More

WASHINGTON — A report from a trio of entities specializing in energy efficiency and sustainability quantifies their impact across key sectors of the American economy and demonstrates how efficiency investments reduce carbon emissions, lower energy bills and improve public health.... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Climate Action Campaign, a coalition of national environment and climate action groups, met new members of Congress on their way to work to call for more congressional climate action at the opening of the 118th Congress. Greeting... Read More

ST. LOUIS (AP) — President Joe Biden’s administration on Friday finalized regulations that protect hundreds of thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways, repealing a Trump-era rule that federal courts had thrown out and that environmentalists said left waterways vulnerable to... Read More

WASHINGTON — Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is looking for answers after a rupture in the Keystone Pipeline released nearly 588,000 gallons of oil into a Kansas waterway. The Dec. 7 spill was... Read More

DALLAS (AP) — A destructive storm marched across the United States, spawning tornadoes that touched down in parts of Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana, where the deaths of a young boy and his mother were reported, and it delivered blizzard-like conditions... Read More

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) — Much of the central United States from the Rocky Mountains to the Midwest was braced Tuesday for blizzard-like conditions, while states farther to the south saw tornadoes from a massive storm blowing across the country.... Read More

Populations of a vulnerable species of marine mammal, numerous species of abalone and a type of Caribbean coral are now threatened with extinction, an international conservation organization said Friday. The International Union for Conservation of Nature announced the update during the... Read More

MOMBASA, Kenya (AP) — Scientists around the world are warning governments that will be gathering in Montreal, Canada, this week for the United Nations' biodiversity summit to not repeat past mistakes and are urging officials to “avoid trade-offs” between people... Read More

BOSTON (AP) — Prince William capped a three-day visit to Boston by meeting with President Joe Biden to share his vision for safeguarding the environment before attending a gala event Friday evening where he sounded an optimistic tone about solving... Read More

The 60-day jail sentence a Montgomery County, Maryland, judge imposed this week on a climate activist appears to be part of a trend among courts to get tough on environmental protesters as they become more aggressive. William Regan, 43, received... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Interior Department on Thursday announced a proposed rule to address the waste of natural gas during the production of oil and gas on federal and tribal lands. Officials with the department’s Bureau of Land Management said the... Read More

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The Biden administration declared the northern long-eared bat endangered on Tuesday in a last-ditch effort to save a species driven to the brink of extinction by white-nose syndrome, a fungal disease. “White-nose syndrome is decimating... Read More

WASHINGTON — The Department of the Interior has issued a final guidance for tribes on how to apply for the first $50 million in grant funding available under the bipartisan infrastructure law to clean up orphaned oil and gas wells.... Read More

LONDON (AP) — Prince William and the Princess of Wales will be looking to focus attention on their Earthshot Prize for environmental innovators when they make their first visit to the United States in eight years this week, a trip... Read More

HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii’s Mauna Loa, the world’s largest active volcano, has started to erupt for the first time in nearly four decades, prompting volcanic ash and debris to fall nearby, authorities said Monday. The eruption began late Sunday night in... Read More

PALMERSTON NORTH, New Zealand (AP) — How do you stop a cow from burping? It might sound like the start of a humorous riddle, but it's the subject of a huge scientific inquiry in New Zealand. And the answer could... Read More

WASHINGTON — Climate change is creating harm to the United States that is 68% worse than most of the rest of the world, according to a federal report announced this week. “The things Americans value most are at risk,” a... Read More

As the world warms and extreme weather events mount, governments and corporations have been called on to address climate change by top officials, climate scientists and activists and to curb levels of heating. The planet's temperature has already risen by about 1.1 degrees Celsius (2 degrees... Read More

IRVING, Texas — ExxonMobil and CF Industries, a global manufacturer of hydrogen and nitrogen products, have entered into what the parties describe as the “the largest commercial agreement of its kind” to capture and permanently store up to 2 million... Read More

MISSOULA, Mont. — An environmental group is suing the U.S. Forest Service for the flame retardant it drops on western wildfires, saying the chemical pollutes waterways and violates the Clean Water Act.  The Forest Service dropped more than 761,000 gallons... Read More

NEW YORK — A first-of-its-kind study has found that 83% of the 114 waterways tested across the country were contaminated by dangerous per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.  Over the course of the study, 113 local Waterkeeper groups collected samples from 114... Read More

LAPLACE, La. — The Environmental Protection Agency is warning Louisiana officials that their failure to protect residents from air pollution in a two-county industrialized area might be a violation of civil rights laws. The area known as “Cancer Alley” is... Read More

WASHINGTON — Tuesday marks the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Clean Water Act.  In observance of that milestone, President Joe Biden on Monday signed a proclamation celebrating how it revolutionized “America's responsibility to protect and restore the vital... Read More

MONTREAL — Rio Tinto is partnering with the Canadian government to invest up to $537 million over the next eight years to decarbonize its operations in Sorel-Tracy, Québec, and to position the business as a center of excellence for critical... Read More

PARIS — French energy multinational TotalEnergies and Belgium-based building materials manufacturer Holcim are collaborating on the full decarbonization of a cement production facility in Obourg, Belgium. The project will see the two companies assess a wide array of solutions and... Read More

TRENTON, N.J. — Lawmakers in the state of New Jersey on Wednesday unveiled a new initiative aimed at helping the Trenton Water Works produce safe drinking water that meets all requirements of the state’s Safe Drinking Water Act. The new... Read More

WASHINGTON — A total of $4.9 billion in funding is available to bolster the activity in the carbon management industry and ultimately help significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power generation and industrial operations.  The funding, which is being made... Read More