"More than 100 coal ash waste sites, many unregulated, sit just feet from the Great Lakes, raising concerns for nearby communities and the 30 million people who rely on the lakes for drinking water."
"For years now, Native American tribes have sought more protections for the federal lands in the Mojave Desert in southern Nevada that are central to their core beliefs about creation. But advocates say the effort took on new urgency as renewable energy developers eyed pieces of the same land for projects that could fit into the Biden administration’s push for clean electricity."
"Federal law enforcement officials have arrested two people accused of conspiring to “completely destroy Baltimore” in what they described on Monday as a racist plot to demolish the power grid in a predominantly Black city."
In our annual analysis of what’s ahead on the environment beat in 2023, there are some things to count on: worsening climate disasters and continued politicking over energy transitions, but also regulatory action on greenhouse gas emissions (not to mention on “forever chemicals”). Other things are less clear: environmental rulings by a conservative U.S. Supreme Court, energy impacts of war in Europe and the effectiveness of COP28 and treaty talks on plastic pollution. Read the full overview and get more in our “2023 Journalists’ Guide to Energy & Environment” special report.
"Smartphones, computers and electric vehicles may be emblems of the modern world, but, says Siddharth Kara, their rechargeable batteries are frequently powered by cobalt mined by workers laboring in slave-like conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo."
"Extreme weather patterns have sparked several improvements to the climate resiliency of Tennessee Valley Authority electrical infrastructure over the past two decades. However, a report from a government watchdog found the huge utility still has work to do in mitigating climate hazards to the regional power grid."
"Last year permitting reform emerged as one of the most divisive climate policy debates in the United States. During my own reporting on geothermal energy, an underutilized source of renewable power, industry representatives insisted that the onerous permitting process is the single biggest challenge to expanding geothermal development."
"Gas stoves are coming under fresh scrutiny as a second federal agency has now stepped into the political firestorm with a proposal for new regulations for the appliances."
"A federal appeals court has sided with environmentalists, ruling that the U.S. government failed to consider the cumulative effects of greenhouse gas emissions that would result from the approval of nearly 200 drilling permits in an area surrounding Chaco Culture National Historical Park."
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