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Is US Offshore Wind Dead in the Water—Or Just Poised for the Next Big Gust?
This story was originally published by Floodlight. In the early 2000s, a long-time Louisiana engineer and entrepreneur thought it would be natural for the oil and gas industry in the Gulf of Mexico to expand into offshore wind. The industry could use the same workforce, the same shipyards and possibly even the same platforms to generate renewable power.
Renewable Energy Wins for Now in Michigan as Local Control Measure Fails to Make Ballot
A 2023 Michigan law reduces local governments’ authority to block wind and solar projects, but the measure has been in limbo because of the possibility that opponents of development would obtain enough signatures to force a repeal vote. This period of uncertainty has now ended following an announcement that...
Pennsylvania’s Fracking Wastewater Contains a ‘Shocking’ Amount of the Critical Clean Energy Mineral Lithium
In 2007, a geoscientist at Penn State named Terry Engelder calculated that Pennsylvania could be sitting on more than 50 trillion cubic feet of accessible natural gas deposits. Engelder later revised his calculation upward, to 489 trillion cubic feet, enough to meet U.S. natural gas demand for 18 years. These massive numbers set off the fracking boom in Pennsylvania, leading to drilling across the state. Since the rush began, there have been 13,000 unconventional wells drilled in Pennsylvania.
Coastal Communities’ Living Barriers—Mangroves and Coral Reefs—Could Soon Collapse Due to Climate Change
Hundreds of thousands of “climate refugees” had to flee their homes following the devastating floods that hit the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil at the end of April, which I covered in last week’s newsletter. Around 1,000 miles north of this region, however,...
The Other Border Dispute Is Over an 80-Year-Old Water Treaty
This story was reported with a grant from The Water Desk at the University of Colorado Boulder. EL PASO—Maria-Elena Giner faced a room full of farmers, irrigation managers and residents in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas on April 2. The local agricultural community was reeling. Reservoirs on the...
To Incinerate Or Not To Incinerate: Maryland Hospitals Grapple With Question With Big Public Health Implications
Maryland’s two largest health systems have taken contrasting positions on their future dealings with a controversial medical waste incinerator in South Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Health System and University said it ended its dealings with the incinerator while MedStar Health gave no such assurance. “We have ended all dealings with...
In Arizona, an Art Installation Highlights the U.S.-Mexico Border’s Impact on Wildlife
Earlier in May, a towering image of a jaguar suddenly rippled into view on the border wall straddling Nogales, Arizona, and Sonora, Mexico. A striking Mexican wolf then shimmered in the big cat’s stead, followed by a brown bear, a pronghorn and a mountain lion. This menagerie of animal...
A Debate Rages Over the Putative Environmental Benefits of the ARCH2 ‘Hydrogen Hub’ in Appalachia
Backers of a planned “hydrogen hub”’ in the Appalachian region have issued a document responding to criticism by environmentalists, saying that carbon capture and sequestration technology would mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from the project and that the hydrogen it produced would ultimately protect “environmental justice” communities from pollution currently emitted by heavy industry.
After Five Years Without Drinkable Water, a Nebraska Town Asks: When Will Our Tap Water Be Safe?
This story was reported and originally published by the Flatwater Free Press, Nebraska’s nonprofit investigative newsroom. Kameron Runnels watches, frustrated, as a pair of Santee tribal members move a pallet of water bottles with a borrowed forklift. The source of Runnels’ frustration: They’re only moving three pallets of bottled...
On California’s Central Coast, Battery Storage Is on the Ballot
By some criteria, 1290 Embarcadero in Morro Bay, Calif. seems like a prime site for a facility to store renewable energy. The swath of coastal land houses a power plant that shuttered a decade ago and its still standing smokestacks. Vistra Corp.’s proposal for a 600-megawatt battery storage project on a portion of the site includes remediating the entire area and removing the plant and stacks, readying the land for future development. And the site’s history as a power plant means it’s well-positioned to connect to existing transmission lines.
Q&A: New Legislation in Vermont Will Make Fossil Fuel Companies Liable for Climate Impacts in the State. Here’s What That Could Look Like
From our collaborating partner “Living on Earth,” public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by host Paloma Beltran with Pat Parenteau, an emeritus professor of law at Vermont Law and Graduate School. Vermont’s House and Senate have approved a bill that would make fossil fuel companies financially...
NOAA 2024 Hurricane Forecast Is for More Storms Than Ever Before
ORLANDO, Fla.—Get ready for an active hurricane season. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is predicting the greatest number of named storms this hurricane season since the forecasts began in 1998. NOAA expects above-normal hurricane activity this season, with 17 to 25 named storms including eight to 13 hurricanes...
Seniors More Vulnerable to Heat Waves and Hurricanes, Both Forecasted to Be Severe this Summer
When Hurricane Ian whipped through Florida in 2022, it left a path of devastation in its wake. Cars sank alongside boats on flooded streets, while once-extravagant houses were reduced to piles of jagged wood by the time this category 4 storm finally relented. The hurricane claimed the lives of 156...
A Walk in the Woods With My Brain on Fire: Spring
PLEASANT VALLEY, Mass.—Two visits to this wildlife sanctuary. One week apart. I came to report the arrival of spring, an under-covered story. In the hope, too, that the new season might extinguish the fire in my brain, ablaze in the Anthropocene: The accelerating heat with its cascading catastrophes; the barbaric wars with their crimes against humanity; scorching hatreds shared instantly everywhere. Our raging modern inferno.
Virginia Has the Biggest Data Center Market in the World. Can It Also Decarbonize Its Grid?
RICHMOND—While short-lived, the denial came as a surprise. This March, Loudoun County, a suburb of Washington, D.C. in Northern Virginia that is home to the greatest concentration of data centers in the world, made an unexpected move: It rejected a proposal to let a company build a bigger data center than existing zoning automatically allowed.
EPA Formally Denies Alabama’s Plan for Coal Ash Waste
MOBILE, Ala.—The Environmental Protection Agency has formally denied Alabama’s plan to allow Alabama Power and other utilities to continue storing toxic coal ash in unlined pits at sites across the state. The decision, formalized Thursday, is the culmination of months of back-and-forth between state and federal environmental regulators...
Want to See Community Solar Done Right? A Project in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula Can Serve as a Model
Even small community solar projects can be used as a tool to make energy more affordable for less affluent households, as a project in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula shows. The solar array near the village of L’Anse has 340 panels and a generating capacity of about 110 kilowatts. It produces power for about 50 households or organizations that signed up as subscribers.
New NASA Mission Tracks Microscopic Organisms in the Ocean and Tiny Particles in the Air to Monitor Climate Change
From more than 400 miles above Earth, NASA is tracking some of the planet’s smallest life forms drifting just beneath the ocean’s surface to monitor how global warming affects ocean health. The microscopic organisms known as phytoplankton fuel the entire aquatic food web. They provide food for small...
As New York’s Offshore Wind Work Begins, an Environmental Justice Community Is Waiting to See the Benefits
On a pair of aging piers jutting into New York Harbor, contractors in hard hats and neon yellow safety vests have begun work on one of the region’s most anticipated industrial projects. Within a few years, this expanse of broken blacktop should be replaced by a smooth surface and covered with neat stacks of giant wind turbine blades and towers ready for assembly.
In Southern Brazil, Rescue Efforts Continue as Ongoing Flooding Leaves Hundreds of Thousands Displaced
At the end of April, the floodgates opened in southern Brazil. For days, heavy rains pummeled the Rio Grande do Sul state, triggering widespread flooding that has killed at least 150 people and displaced more than 600,000. Some areas saw more than 20 inches of precipitation—equivalent to the amount of rain typically seen over several months in this region.
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