Fossil Fuels
Why a Natural Gas Storage Climate ‘Disaster’ Could Happen Again
On a November afternoon in 2022, a 57-year old well tapped into an underground natural gas storage reservoir in western Pennsylvania started leaking, fast enough that people a few miles away heard a loud, jet engine-like noise. By the time the leak was stopped nearly two weeks later, roughly 16,000 metric tons of methane had […]
Read MoreCOP28 Left a Vacuum California Leaders Aim to Fill
California delegates to the United Nations’ 28th climate talks called the summit’s progress “lackluster” and, at a briefing last week, resolved to show the world how bold policies can pave the way toward a climate-safe future. When the U.N. talks ended in December, world leaders called on countries to transition away from fossil fuels for […]
Read MoreIn a Steel Town Outside Pittsburgh, an Old Fight Over Air Quality Drags On
When the town of Clairton, Pennsylvania, was founded a few miles south of Pittsburgh at the start of the 20th century, the only thing there was a steel mill. “At the beginning of 1901, the town of Clairton was a field,” a newspaper article from 1904 explained. “The Clairton steel mill first began operations in […]
Read MoreWill Biden’s Temporary Pause of Gas Export Projects Win Back Young Voters?
The White House has announced that it is temporarily pausing the federal approval process for all pending export terminals of liquified natural gas, or LNG, marking a significant win for environmentalists who had been fighting the projects for years. President Joe Biden, in a statement released early Friday morning, cited the climate crisis for the […]
Read MoreCompanies in Texas Exploit ‘Loopholes,’ Attribute 1 Million Pounds of Air Pollution to Recent Freezing Weather
Frigid weather this month caused industrial facilities across Texas to release unplanned air pollution as machinery froze, power went out and icy conditions blocked service crews. Over four chilly days between Jan. 14 and 17, companies submitted reports to Texas’ environmental regulator, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, that attributed at least 36 instances of “unintentional” […]
Read MoreCanada’s Tar Sands Are a Much Larger Source of Air Pollution Than Previously Thought, Study Says
Canada’s tar sands have gained infamy for being one of the world’s most polluting sources of oil, thanks to the large amounts of energy and water use required for their extraction. A new study says the operations are also emitting far higher levels of a range of air pollutants than previously known, with implications for […]
Read MoreAt a ‘Climate Convergence,’ Pennsylvania Environmental Activists Urge Gov. Shapiro and State Lawmakers to Do More to Curb Emissions
HARRISBURG, Pa.—Barbara Brandom fought back tears as she contemplated the destruction of nature and a lost environment she fears her grandchildren will never experience as a result of climate change. “If we continue to consume fossil fuels as we did in the past, by 2050, the air temperature will have increased another five degrees,” she […]
Read MoreWhy New York’s Curbside Composting Program Will Yield Hardly Any Compost
Moving to New York can be a culture shock. When Liz French decamped from Indiana to Long Island City, Queens, in 1989—well before it was a trendy place to live—she was sad to learn she’d lost access to a beloved childhood ritual: composting. Her parents, “kind of hippies,” had introduced her to the practice growing […]
Read MoreShapiro Advisors Endorse Emissions Curbs to Fight Climate Change but Don’t Embrace RGGI Membership
After meeting for months in secrecy, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s working group on the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative on Friday endorsed participation in a “cap-and-invest” process to reduce utilities’ greenhouse gas emissions but stopped short of endorsing membership in RGGI. The group’s co-chairs said in a press release that they had “reached broad consensus” on […]
Read MoreWhy Maryland Is Struggling to Meet Its Own Aggressive Climate Goals
Climate and environmental activists are advocating an end to waste-to-energy trash incinerators and an accelerated transition to wind and solar energy as the Maryland Department of the Environment considers proposals for achieving the state’s ambitious climate targets ahead of next year’s legislative session. Maryland has committed to a 60 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions […]
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