Politics - Inside Climate News

Electric Vehicles Strain the Automaker-Big Oil Alliance

By Marianne Lavelle — Sun, 21 Jul 2024 09:05:00 +0000

In the clean car battle, the oil industry leans on friends—including Donald Trump—to keep gasoline transport alive, while carmakers steer toward an EV future.

By Marianne Lavelle

Politically Charged: Fourth is a series about how political polarization threatens the EV future.

The Barely Recognizable J.D. Vance as Trump’s Vice Presidential Running Mate

Interview by Steve Curwood, Living on Earth — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 09:05:00 +0000

Inside Climate News staff writer Dan Gearino, who lives in Columbus, Ohio, wonders what happened to the “Hillbilly Elegy” author and “public intellectual” who once touted “a climate problem in our society.”

Interview by Steve Curwood, Living on Earth

From our collaborating partner “Living on Earth,” public radio’s environmental news magazine, an interview by host Steve Curwood with Dan Gearino, a staff writer at Inside Climate News based in Columbus, Ohio.

Plastics Pollution Has Become a ‘Crisis,’ Biden Administration Acknowledges

By Marianne Lavelle — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 18:37:58 +0000

The White House strategy aims to cut pollutants, not cap production, and use government purchasing power to discourage single-use plastic.

By Marianne Lavelle

Single-use plastic would be phased out of all U.S. government operations by 2035 under a new federal plastics pollution strategy unveiled Friday by President Joe Biden’s administration, which cited a “crisis” of littered oceans and poisoned air due to plastics.

Trump’s Environmental Impact Endures, at Home and Around the World

By Marianne Lavelle — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 21:35:30 +0000

His break from the Paris accord inspires other populist leaders, while his reshaping of the federal courts and environmental rollbacks affect the air, water, wetlands and public lands, disrupting efforts to counter climate change.

By Marianne Lavelle

Former President Donald Trump dismantled the pillars of U.S. climate policy when he exited the Paris climate accord and rolled back more than 100 regulations to protect air, water, endangered species and human health.

Clean Energy Projects Are Stuck in a Years-Long Queue. Maryland and Neighboring States Are Pushing for a Fix

By Aman Azhar — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 09:10:00 +0000

The Moore administration supports a recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission order intended to help states achieve clean energy targets. The region’s grid operator wants FERC to reconsider.

By Aman Azhar

A Baltimore coal-fired power plant will be operating past its planned retirement date next year, pumping out pollution, while the cheaper clean energy projects that could help replace it are stuck in a queue to connect to the region’s electric grid.

New York’s Green Amendment Guarantees the Right to a ‘Healthful Environment.’ Activists Want the State to Enforce It

By Peter Mantius — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 08:45:00 +0000

"Our environmental rights are not discretionary": In a march at the state Capitol, advocates call for more action.

By Peter Mantius

This article previously appeared in WaterFront.

The Most Expensive Farm Bill Ever Is Stalled, Holding Back Important Funds Aimed at Combating the Climate Crisis

By Georgina Gustin — Sat, 13 Jul 2024 09:10:00 +0000

Lawmakers approved spending bills for agriculture this week, but bickered over environmental regulations and the lack of progress on the bill.

By Georgina Gustin

In an often-contentious hearing on Wednesday, members of the House Committee on Agriculture fired shots at each other over the Biden administration’s attempts to regulate farm pollution.

Clean Energy Is Booming in Purple Wisconsin. Just Don’t Mention Climate Change

By Kristoffer Tigue — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 09:00:00 +0000

As America’s culture wars rage on, Democrats are marketing renewable energy in battleground states as a win for the economy and labor unions. Will it work?

By Kristoffer Tigue

Scott Walker’s disdain for climate-friendly policies was no secret.

Sen. Britt of Alabama Confronted on Her Ties to ‘Big Oil’

By Lee Hedgepeth — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 22:46:14 +0000

A Sunrise movement activist approached the senator in the halls of Congress and asked about her campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry. Britt later thanked the activist for helping promote her bedrock belief in “energy dominance.”

By Lee Hedgepeth

Amalia Hochman isn’t from Alabama, but she’s willing to fight for it anyway.

Will the Nation’s First Heat Protection Standard Safeguard the Most Vulnerable Workers?

By Liza Gross — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 09:00:00 +0000

The long overdue federal heat standard proposal gets many things right but will take years to enact, and enforcement will be key, says climate health expert Juanita Constible.

By Liza Gross

The Biden administration finally proposed federal heat protection standards last week, more than half a century after federal experts first outlined the need for such rules.