Environment

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 …

NOAA reports: A typhoon, smoke from wildfires and increasing rain are not what most imagine when thinking of the Arctic. Yet these are some of the climate-driven events included in NOAA’s 2022 Arctic Report Card, which provides a detailed picture of how warming is reshaping the once reliably frozen, snow-covered region which is heating up faster than any other part …

The CBC reports: According to Earthquakes Canada, three seismic events were recorded Tuesday: a 5.8-magnitude quake and two 5.2-magnitude quakes. “A series of earthquakes has occurred in northwestern Alberta. The largest, a M 5.8 earthquake, was preceded by two M 5.2 earthquakes, and followed by several felt events,” reads a post on the Earthquakes Canada website. Earthquake reports are often …

Via press release from the United Nations: On 15 November 2022, the world’s population is projected to reach 8 billion people, a milestone in human development. This unprecedented growth is due to the gradual increase in human lifespan owing to improvements in public health, nutrition, personal hygiene and medicine. It is also the result of high and persistent levels of …

Variety reports: Robbie Coltrane, who played the lovable half-giant Rubeus Hagrid in the “Harry Potter” franchise, has died, his agency WME confirmed on Friday. He was 72. Coltrane featured in every “Harry Potter” movie, from “Sorcerer’s Stone” in 2001 to “Death Hallows -Part 2” in 2011, and was much beloved for bringing the character from J.K. Rowling’s book series to …

The Washington Post reports: Joseph Hazelwood, captain of the tanker Exxon Valdez when it ran aground in Alaska’s Prince William Sound in March 1989, leaking 10.8 million gallons of crude oil in a massive environmental catastrophe that ravaged maritime habitats and brought sweeping inquests into who was to blame, died on July 21. He was 75. The toll to the …

The Associated Press reports: Zombie ice from the massive Greenland ice sheet will eventually raise global sea level by at least 10 inches (27 centimeters) on its own, according to a study released Monday. Zombie or doomed ice is ice that is still attached to thicker areas of ice, but is no longer getting fed by those larger glaciers. That’s …

Reuters reports: Cineworld Group, the world’s second largest cinema chain operator, is preparing to file for bankruptcy, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, just days after warning that a lack of blockbusters would hit its liquidity in the near term. Shares in the London-listed company slumped more than 81% to a record low of 1.8 pence after the WSJ …

Bloomberg News reports: So you think it’s hot out there now? Consider the summer of 2053. That’s what researchers at First Street Foundation, a New York nonprofit that studies climate risk, have done in a report published today. They predict that in three decades, more than 100 million Americans will live in an “extreme heat belt” where at least one …

Science News reports: The Arctic is heating up at a breakneck speed compared with the rest of Earth. And new analyses show that the region is warming even faster than scientists thought. Over the last four decades, the average Arctic temperature increased nearly four times as fast as the global average, researchers report August 11 in Communications Earth & Environment. …