Environmental
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In grade school, students commonly ran through the halls when teachers or other school staff weren't looking. Signs forbidding the act of sprinting past lockers did little to deter the practice, since there was no incentive not to run unless someone present was enforcing the rule. The same can be said for industrial polluters and environmental-law enforcement by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under President Donald Trump. DON'T MISS: EPA head: new report that climate change is manmade has 'no bearing' on plans to end climate action As the Trump administration abolishes dozens of...
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EPA chief Scott Pruitt: 'environmentalism' is use rather than preservation
EPA head Scott Pruitt will likely go down as one of the most controversial agency chiefs in that agency's history of almost 50 years. The former Oklahoma attorney general, who sued the EPA 14 times on behalf of fossil-fuel interests during the Obama administration, has a radically different view of...
Sean Szymkowski -
EPA to roll back Obama-era greenhouse gas policies on coal power plants
EPA head Scott Pruitt told miners in Kentucky on Monday that he intends to begin dismantling former President Barack Obama's signature climate-change agenda effort to curb greenhouse gas emissions from coal power plants. Standing alongside Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Pruitt told...
Andrew Ganz -
EPA gets 29,000 comments on proposed elimination of environmental rules
Much of the news out of Washington, D.C., these days has to do with the possibility of political scandal. But the wheels of government keep turning, and significant changes are happening at numerous agencies charged with missions as diverse as collecting intelligence, supporting education, and...
John Voelcker -
Green groups gird for battle with White House: is it 'war'?
Last Wednesday, a broad coalition of environmental groups sued the Trump Administration over an executive order that lifted a moratorium on issuing new leases for coal mining on federal lands. That order would have eliminated the requirement for an environmental impact study on the impacts of any...
John Voelcker -
How to curb climate change yourself: drive a more efficient car
Given the current political landscape in Washington, it's not unreasonable to worry about the future of U.S. efforts to combat climate change. The Trump Administration has embarked on an explicit mission to undo all Obama Administration efforts to reduce carbon emissions. Climate-science deniers in...
Stephen Edelstein -
While renewable energy gets significant press as an alternative to coal in electricity generation, it isn't the main factor in decreasing the use of that carbon-intensive fuel. Thanks to its generally lower cost, natural gas is quickly displacing other fuels in the nation's power plants. In addition to its cost benefit for electric utilities, natural gas comes with the environmental advantage that burning it to generate electricity generates significantly lower carbon emissions per kilowatt-hour than coal. DON'T MISS: Methane from livestock nearing worst-case scenario for climate change...
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Trump Administration goal: undo every climate-change effort
It was clear well before November's election that candidate Donald Trump did not believe in the accepted science of climate change. He referred to it using an excremental epithet, and also claimed that it was a Chinese hoax created to hurt the U.S. Scientists around the world and the majority of...
John Voelcker -
Bill making it harder for scientists to sit on EPA Science Board advances
Since the election of Donald Trump, considerable attention has focused on how a candidate who campaigned on promoting fossil fuels would treat the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies charged with regulating those industries. But potential changes to the EPA do not come solely...
Stephen Edelstein -
EPA's internal watchdog to check vulnerability to emission cheating
Even with a new leader apparently at odds with its mission, the Environmental Protection Agency continues to function on some level. On Thursday, EPA administrator Scott Pruitt said carbon dioxide released by human activity is not a major cause of climate change, directly contradicting the...
Stephen Edelstein -
Trump's EPA deletes 'science' from Science Office mission statement
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is emerging as one of the government entities most targeted by the new Trump Administration for change. In this case, if reports of the administration's draft budget proposal are accurate, change means wholesale elimination of staff, funding, and programs...
John Voelcker -
Coal industry hopes to don disguise as clean-power player via carbon capture
As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump vowed to "bring back coal" as part of a larger program to encourage greater production of fossil fuels. But the coal industry believes it needs more than an ostensibly friendly administration in Washington to survive. With coal production down and electric...
Stephen Edelstein -
Measuring the energy efficiency of a new vehicle is one thing, but ascertaining its overall environmental impact can be more complex. A debate still rages over the overall carbon footprint of electric cars compared to those powered by fossil fuels. But for the past 20 years, the the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy has tried to come up with some concrete answers. DON'T MISS: Hyundai Ioniq Electric beats Prius Prime, BMW i3 on energy efficiency (Nov 2016) Every year, the ACEEE issues rankings of the environmental impact of new vehicles sold in the U.S. Today, it issued its 2017...
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2016 was planet's hottest year on record, third new high in a row
Despite scientists having reached a consensus years ago, considerable debate still appears to be raging over the reality of climate change. Climate-science deniers can count several people appointed to key environmental-regulatory positions in the incoming presidential administration among their...
Stephen Edelstein -
Second Honda dealership achieves grid-neutral status
If you're planning on buying a green car, have you ever wondered if you'll be making the purchase at a green dealership? As cars get more efficient, the carbon emissions related to the infrastructure for manufacturing and selling them should be considered as well. Honda has made some efforts in...
Stephen Edelstein -
EPA finalizes emission rules through 2025; no change from existing levels
Seven days before the advent of a new presidential administration, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has locked in planned auto-emission standards through 2025. The emission limits tie directly to fuel-efficiency rules issued by the NHTSA, effectively requiring those rules to stay the same...
John Voelcker -
Methane from livestock nearing worst-case scenario for climate change: scientist
Methane emissions may rival carbon dioxide as a climate-change instigator, new research suggests.
Stephen Edelstein -
Global carbon emissions have been flat for three years now
A new study estimates global carbon emissions did not increase dramatically in 2016.
Stephen Edelstein -
West African nations are pushing back against European traders importing dirty diesel fuel.
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Trump's EPA head Pruitt: climate-science denier who sued the EPA many times
If there were any doubt that president-elect Donald Trump supports fossil fuels and does not believe in the scientific consensus of climate change, his pick to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency should put it to rest. Yesterday, he named Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt, a...
John Voelcker -
Why Africa gets filthiest diesel fuel: little regulation, global traders
All countries have to deal with emissions from diesel vehicles, but African nations have it worse than most. They often have few emissions regulations, something Swiss trading firms take advantage of by importing fuel that's too dirty for sale in other regions. These firms often serve as both...
Stephen Edelstein -
U.S. states agreed to keep Exxon climate-deception probe secret: here's why
A pact among state attorneys general investigating ExxonMobil mandates confidentiality.
Stephen Edelstein -
Diesel lobby group slams VW mitigation plan, says it will miss clean-air targets
The preliminary Volkswagen diesel settlement includes not only provisions for buybacks and vehicle modifications, but also funding for mitigation of the environmental damage caused by excess pollution from the affected TDI cars. A public comment period for the settlement—which received...
Stephen Edelstein -
Wealthy nations on fossil-fuel subsidies: we'll end them...later
The G20 nations will not commit to a deadline for phasing out fossil-fuel subsidies.
Stephen Edelstein