Climate Climate & Energy
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The Maine Event
Meanwhile, Maine is several steps ahead of the federal government when it comes to combating climate change: Today, the state will become the first in the nation to enact a law establishing specific goals and deadlines for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Other New England states have addressed carbon dioxide emissions through different means — such […]
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Idle Trucks Are the Devil’s Playthings
New gadgetry at truck stops could help slash pollution from idling big rigs. Most truck drivers across the U.S. leave their vehicles’ engines running all night while they’re parked at truck stops because it’s the only way to keep the heating or air conditioning on while they get some shuteye. Between 840 million and 2 […]
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When Irish Eyes Are Smiting
Meanwhile, in nuclear news from elsewhere on the globe, Ireland has gone to international court in The Hague to try to shut down Britain’s Sellafield nuclear power plant. The Irish, who have been fighting the plant for decades, claim that it violates the U.N. Convention of the Law of the Sea by polluting the Irish […]
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Tilling Me Softly
The U.S. Department of Agriculture is encouraging farmers and ranchers to fight climate change with techniques that reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Speaking in Kansas on Friday, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman announced new incentives and technical support programs to help farmers increase carbon sequestration, though her speech was notably short on specifics. Farmers are being […]
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Our Gorge Is Rising
China yesterday blocked the flow of the Yangtze River by closing gates at the massive Three Gorges Dam and began to fill up what will be the world’s largest reservoir. It’s a joyous occasion for government engineers and Communist Party faithful who have long touted the coming benefits of hydroelectric power and flood control, and […]
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Wow We
For the second time in the last two weeks, a major utility company has reached a settlement with the U.S. EPA to clean up its act under the New Source Review rules of the federal Clean Air Act. Last week, it was the Richmond, Va.-based Dominion Resources; now, it’s We Energies, a Wisconsin electric company […]
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Monoxy, Oxy, Oxycuted
Lest you think environmental news is all gloom, all the time, here’s a little pick-me-up: Thanks to the Clean Air Act, the U.S. has all but eradicated carbon monoxide pollution, one of the most hazardous air emissions, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences reported yesterday. In 1971, when the act set federal standards for carbon […]
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The Progress of Engines
Bulldozers, tractors, irrigation equipment, and other diesel-powered off-road machines will be subject to stricter emissions standards under a new plan announced yesterday by the U.S. EPA. The plan calls for cutting emissions by up to 95 percent, a move that would bring the standards for off-road vehicles in line with those for cars and trucks […]
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West Virginia activist Julia Bonds takes on mountaintop-removal mining
The ancient mountains of Appalachia are corrugated with deep, narrow valleys, some of them no wider than a football field. Coal-mining families, who have lived in these valleys for generations, are now being driven out of their homes by the latest innovation of the very industry that has sustained them for so many years. That […]
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Bangladesh Slowly
Life could get even worse in already disaster-prone Bangladesh if global warming continues unchecked, scientists say. Flooding, which already affects about one-fifth of the country, could increase by 40 percent as heavier rainfall triggered by climate change swamps riverbanks, according to a report in the current issue of New Scientist. Low-lying Bangladesh sits at the […]
