Inside Climate News

Biden Announces Huge Hydrogen Investment. How Much Will It Help The Climate?

By Nicholas Kusnetz and Jon Hurdle — Sat, 14 Oct 2023 00:55:45 +0000

The Energy Department awarded up to $7 billion in grants for clean hydrogen “hubs,” but environmentalists warn some of the money could prop up fossil fuels and fail to cut emissions.

By Nicholas Kusnetz and Jon Hurdle

PHILADELPHIA—President Joe Biden traveled to a marine terminal here on Friday to announce billions in funding for new clean hydrogen projects that he said would help the nation meet its climate goals while generating thousands of new high-quality jobs. Surrounded by lines of shipping containers on a dock along the Delaware River, Biden positioned the program as a critical piece of his economic and climate platforms.

Texas Quietly Moves to Formalize Acceptable Cancer Risk From Industrial Air Pollution. Public Health Officials Say it’s not Strict Enough.

By Dylan Baddour — Fri, 13 Oct 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Without public hearings, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is proposing to adopt its 17-year-old standard that scientists and public health officials say fails to account for cumulative air pollution.

By Dylan Baddour

State of Denial: Third in a series about Texas’ environmental regulators.

As Alabama Judge Orders a Takeover of a Failing Water System, Frustrated Residents Demand Federal Intervention

By Lee Hedgepeth — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 20:02:41 +0000

The majority Black city of Prichard loses much of its purchased drinking water to leaking pipes, with water pressure so low firefighters have sometimes watched homes burn.

By Lee Hedgepeth

An Alabama judge on Wednesday ordered that the municipal water utility in Prichard, a Mobile suburb, be placed under receivership after witnesses described crisis conditions in the majority Black city due to failing water infrastructure that loses nearly 60 percent of its capacity each month to leakage.

A Reality Check About Solar Panel Waste and the Effects on Human Health

By Dan Gearino — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 13:00:00 +0000

The coming surge in photovoltaic panel waste is tiny compared to other categories, and most health concerns about solar equipment are unfounded.

By Dan Gearino

Having sat in many community hearings about solar power development, I am used to vivid descriptions of how photovoltaic panels might as well be dripping with harmful substances that will sicken people and livestock.

Fish and Wildlife Service to Consider Restoring Manatee’s Endangered Status

By Amy Green — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 01:32:47 +0000

Nearly 2,000 manatees died in Florida in 2021 and 2022 as water pollution killed the seagrass they feed on. The manatee was downlisted in 2017 from endangered to threatened, over the objections of scientists, environmentalists and citizens.

By Amy Green

ORLANDO, Fla.—The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will consider tightening protections on the West Indian manatee after concluding that a petition demanding that the animal’s endangered status be restored presented substantial scientific evidence, the agency said Wednesday.

Scientists Disagree About Drivers of September’s Global Temperature Spike, but It Has Most of Them Worried

By Bob Berwyn — Wed, 11 Oct 2023 09:00:00 +0000

The month’s shocking surge is likely to make 2023 the hottest year on record and drive extreme impact around the globe. It could also be a harbinger of even higher temperatures next year.

By Bob Berwyn

September’s stunning rise of the average global temperature is all but certain to make 2023 the warmest year on record, and 2024 is likely to be even hotter, edging close to the “red line” of 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming above the pre-industrial level that the 2015 Paris climate agreement is striving to avoid.

A Rural Pennsylvania Community Goes to Commonwealth Court, Trying to Stop a New Disposal Well for Toxic Fracking Wastewater

By Jake Bolster — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 22:51:51 +0000

The facility, in Plum Borough outside Pittsburgh, would be the state’s 15th “injection” well. Pennsylvania’s gas industry has never had a comprehensive plan for disposing of vast quantities of highly polluting produced water.

By Jake Bolster

Attorneys representing Plum Borough and an environmental group opposed to fracking said in arguments on Tuesday before Commonwealth Court in Pittsburgh that a proposed second “injection” well for disposing of toxic fracking wastewater would violate the borough’s zoning code.

Vessel Strikes on Whales Are Increasing With Warming. Can the Shipping Industry Slow Down to Spare Them?

By Kiley Price — Tue, 10 Oct 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Rising ocean temperatures and marine heat waves are pushing whales closer to busy shipping lanes. Flexible speed reduction areas could help prevent ship collisions, scientists say.

By Kiley Price

Last March, a California giant perished. The 49-foot humpback nicknamed Fran washed up on a beach in the coastal city of Half Moon Bay. Fran had visited these waters for the entirety of her 17-year life, easily recognized by Californians due to the distinctive markings and shape of her tail.

Making Solar Energy as Clean as Can Be Means Fitting Square Panels Into the Circular Economy

By Emma Peterson, Wyatt Myskow — Mon, 09 Oct 2023 09:00:00 +0000

As solar projects surge nationwide, the demand is increasing for recycling solutions that will keep photovoltaic panels out of landfills and their energy-producing elements in the sun.

By Emma Peterson, Wyatt Myskow

Even for the most enthusiastic boosters of renewable energy, it’s hard to argue that solar panels provide truly clean electricity if, at the end of their lives, many of them end up in landfills.

Tensions Rise in the Rio Grande Basin as Mexico Lags in Water Deliveries to the U.S.

Sun, 08 Oct 2023 09:00:00 +0000

In 2020, rebellious Mexican farmers occupied a dam in parched Chihuahua state to prevent the federal government from sending its reservoir water to Texas under a 1944 treaty. With the clock ticking toward another treaty deadline, the two sides are struggling for a solution.

By Martha Pskowski, Inside Climate News, and photos by Omar Ornelas, El Paso Times

This story, reported with a grant from The Water Desk at the University of Colorado Boulder, is published in partnership with the El Paso Times.