Environment

The New York Times reports: Global temperatures are likely to soar to record highs over the next five years, driven by human-caused warming and a climate pattern known as El Niño, forecasters at the World Meteorological Organization said on Wednesday. The record for Earth’s hottest year was set in 2016. There is a 98 percent chance that at least one …

NBC News reports: Five environmental and cultural heritage groups are suing the Federal Aviation Administration, alleging that the agency violated the National Environment Policy Act when it allowed SpaceX to launch the largest rocket ever built from its Boca Chica, Texas facility without a comprehensive environmental review. SpaceX’s Starship Super Heavy test flight on April 20 blew up the company’s …

Nexstar Media reports: Bits of the Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt – a 5,000-mile-wide seaweed bloom – have started to wash up in Florida, but we’re likely months away from peak activity, researchers said Sunday. Photos show piles of the algae starting to accumulate on beaches in Fort Lauderdale, and videos posted by Fox Weather show it piling up in marinas …

CNN reports: A fire that started Tuesday afternoon at a recycling plant in the eastern Indiana city of Richmond was emitting toxic smoke and has forced evacuation orders for about 2,000 people as it is expected to burn for days, officials said. Early air monitoring results are expected early Wednesday, Wayne County officials said. Plastics were among the items burning …

The Orlando Sentinel reports: With less than 2 inches of rain this year, Orlando is enduring its second driest stretch from Jan. 1 to April 5 since the late 1800s and also its hottest on record for that period. The city, Central Florida and much of the state’s peninsula are experiencing a widening severe drought, according to the U.S. Drought …

USA Today reports: The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday proposed limiting the amount of harmful “forever chemicals” in drinking water to the lowest level that tests can detect, a long-awaited protection the agency said will save thousands of lives and prevent serious illnesses, including cancer. The plan marks the first time the EPA has proposed regulating a toxic group of …

The Associated Press reports: The House on Thursday voted to overturn the Biden administration’s protections for thousands of small streams, wetlands and other waterways, advancing long-held Republican arguments that the regulations are an environmental overreach and burden to business. House Republicans used the Congressional Review Act, which allows Congress to block recently enacted executive-branch regulations. The measure now heads to …

The Hill reports: Norfolk Southern will pay for temporary relocation for people who live within a mile of the site of a train derailment that spilled hazardous chemicals, amid ongoing cleanup efforts. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said in a Sunday update that the company will provide “additional financial assistance” that may include “ temporary lodging, travel, food, clothing, and …

Politico reports: Speaker Kevin McCarthy and his team have spent weeks assembling a marquee energy package designed to unite their fractious conference and accomplish one of their biggest pledges from last year’s gas-price-obsessed midterms. The energy package — which they aim to pass the last week of March — is set to include some of the party’s most popular pitches …

The Texas Tribune reports: As Gov. Greg Abbott signals stronger support for the creation of a new program to replace a multibillion dollar corporate tax break program that expired last year, he’s also drawing a clear line in the sand: wind and solar energy projects need not apply. Renewable energy has proliferated in Texas: The number of wind turbines has …

The Hill reports: A Youngstown, Ohio-based law firm has announced a class-action lawsuit against Norfolk Southern Railroad over the derailment of a train in East Palestine, using a strategy it says echoes the state’s 1990s lawsuit against tobacco companies. The firm, Johnson and Johnson, is partnering with class-action law firm Hagens Berman on behalf of all residents within 30 miles …

NBC News reports: The Environmental Protection Agency announced a sweeping enforcement action against Norfolk Southern on Tuesday, compelling the rail company to conduct and pay for cleanup actions associated with the Feb. 3 derailment of a train carrying toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio. “The Norfolk Southern train derailment has upended the lives of East Palestine families, and EPA’s order …

Reuters reports: West Virginia and 23 other Republican-led states sued the federal government on Thursday, alleging the Biden administration’s rule establishing protections for seasonal streams and wetlands under a landmark environmental law violates the U.S. Constitution and sows confusion for landowners. “This is a textbook case of federal overreach,” said Patrick Morrisey, West Virginia’s attorney general, during a press conference. …

The Associated Press reports: Arkansas filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging the Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to reject its plan to comply with federal rules that are supposed to assure that the state’s coal-fired power plants and industrial sites don’t pollute the air in other states. The state filed a petition with the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals over the …

Pittsburgh’s CBS affiliate reports: The Ohio village upended by a freight train derailment and the intentional burning of some of the hazardous chemicals on board has invited affected residents to a town hall meeting Wednesday evening to discuss lingering questions. Hours before the town hall meeting, rail operator Norfolk Southern said it will not be in attendance. In a statement …

Politico reports: Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) is looking to permanently repeal the Biden administration’s waters of the U.S. — or WOTUS, which Republicans say is overreaching and will burden farmers and businesses. The WOTUS rule determines which waters and wetlands fall under federal protection, and is a decades-long battle in Congress, the courts and federal agencies. Capito expects a …

The New York Times reports: A new study published Thursday in the journal Science found that over the decades, Exxon’s scientists made remarkably accurate projections of just how much burning fossil fuels would warm the planet. Their projections were as accurate, and sometimes even more so, as those of independent academic and government models. Yet for years, the oil giant …

The New York Times reports: The world remained firmly in warming’s grip last year, with extreme summer temperatures in Europe, China and elsewhere contributing to 2022 being the fifth-hottest year on record, European climate researchers said on Tuesday. The eight warmest years on record have now occurred since 2014, the scientists, from the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, reported, …

The BBC reports: Single-use items like plastic cutlery, plates and polystyrene trays will be banned in England, the government has confirmed. It is not clear when the ban will come into effect but it follows similar moves by Scotland and Wales. Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey said the move would help protect the environment for future generations. Campaigners welcomed the ban, …

The New York Times reports: The protective ozone layer in the upper atmosphere could be restored within several decades, scientists said Monday, as recent rogue emissions of ozone-depleting chemicals from China have been largely eliminated. In a United Nations-sponsored assessment, the scientists said that global emissions of CFC-11, a banned chemical that has been used as a refrigerant and in …