Environment

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

WASHINGTON — Harbingers of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change put out a new alarm this week that at the current rate of global emissions, the goal of limiting warming to 1.5°C to stave off severe climate disruptions that... Read More

WASHINGTON — Two U.S. senators urged President Biden on Friday to use sanctions against Russian gas shipments as an opportunity to develop a joint strategy with European nations to reduce global warming. President Biden announced last week a plan to... Read More

WASHINGTON — Government and industry representatives from Sweden and the United States came together to solidify an alliance to mitigate the impact of climate change at the Atlantic Council on Thursday. The two countries, which already have multiple collaborations to... Read More

PURCHASE, N.Y. — PepsiCo and Schneider Electric, a leading consultant on corporate purchasing of renewable energy, launched a new initiative Wednesday to increase access to green power for the soft drink giant’s value chain partners. Earlier this year, the company... Read More

BERLIN (AP) — The world must take “radical action” to shift away from fossil fuels, including investing $5.7 trillion annually in solar, wind and other forms of clean power this decade to ensure that global warming doesn’t pass dangerous thresholds,... Read More

WASHINGTON — In honor of World Water Day and to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Clean Water Act, Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-DC, joined representatives from the Potomac Riverkeeper Network at The Wharf’s District Pier, where... Read More

EASTLAND, Texas — Numerous wildfires that broke out last week are still being suppressed by firefighting crews in west-central and southwest Texas. Over the weekend, three new wildfire ignitions in Eastland County, west of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, were absorbed... Read More

WASHINGTON — A congressional panel revived disputes Wednesday over how to manage forests to avoid catastrophic wildfires weeks before springtime brings risks of devastation for more communities in western states. Environmentalists and lawmakers agreed good science should lead policy decisions... Read More

BERKELEY, Calif. — Organizations including the Breakthrough Institute and Third Way joined open data advocates in calling for the International Energy Agency to share its data hidden behind paywalls. In a letter sent on Thursday, a group of 64 organizations... Read More

A report was released this week from the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a collective of 270 authors from 67 countries that annually assess the impacts of climate change on ecosystems and human communities. The report — which is... Read More

WASHINGTON — Environmentalists told a congressional panel Wednesday nature knows best how to combat the global warming that increasingly is predicted to devastate human populations. Wetlands can protect against floods, more trees can get rid of greenhouse gas and plants... Read More

WASHINGTON — Trouble in the U.S. Senate for the Biden administration’s $1.7 trillion Build Back Better Act opened an opportunity Tuesday for a bill that seeks to protect disadvantaged communities from environmental hazards. As opposition to climate and social provisions... Read More

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management is awarding GE Gas Power’s front-end engineering design study “Retrofittable Advanced Combined Cycle Integration for Flexible Decarbonized Generation” $5,771,670 in federal funding, according to a GE... Read More

SAN ANTONIO — Exposure to harmful agents associated with hydraulic fracturing has been tied for the first time to increased mortality risk for elderly residents by a Harvard study. Hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, is the process in which... Read More

WASHINGTON — As global conservation and ecosystem protection efforts are gaining traction, discussions for creating dedicated areas for marine conservation around Antarctica are at an impasse, with nations unable to resolve conflicts between protection and rational use, and the future... Read More

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Environmental Protection Agency is taking a series of enforcement actions to address air pollution, unsafe drinking water and other problems afflicting minority communities in three Gulf Coast states, following a “Journey to Justice” tour by Administrator Michael... Read More

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) — As climate change pushes states in the U.S. to dramatically cut their use of fossil fuels, many are coming to the conclusion that solar, wind and other renewable power sources might not be enough to keep... Read More

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Their state budgets flush with cash, Democratic and Republican governors alike want to spend some of the windfall on projects aimed at slowing climate change and guarding against its consequences, from floods and wildfires to dirty... Read More

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — An undersea volcano erupted in spectacular fashion Saturday near the Pacific nation of Tonga, sending large tsunami waves crashing across the shore and people rushing to higher ground. A tsunami advisory was in effect for... Read More

WASHINGTON — California fire officials this week accelerated calls for drastic action to confront global warming when they blamed overhead power lines for the second biggest wildfire in the state’s history. The Dixie Fire burned nearly 1 million acres last... Read More

WASHINGTON — The blue economy is a critical subset of the ocean economy, according to Jason Scorse, director of the Center for the Blue Economy. And while some people may use the terms blue economy and ocean economy synonymously, he... Read More

WASHINGTON — Over 227 million Americans play video games, according to a survey of the Entertainment Software Association. But while people want to play games for fun, industry sees games as a powerful communication tool that can inspire players to... Read More