Regulation - 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.

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.

When a Retired Scientist Suggested Virginia Weaken Wetlands Protections, the State Said, No Way

By Sarah Vogelsong — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 09:05:00 +0000

After the Supreme Court weakened federal protection of wetlands last year, a Trump transition team member from Fairfax County urged the state to follow suit. But Virginia’s top environmental regulator stood his ground.

By Sarah Vogelsong

A little over a year after the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the range of wetlands the federal government can protect, a Virginia board turned down a petition that would have similarly limited local officials from regulating certain wetlands within the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

In Alabama’s Bald Eagle Territory, Residents Say an Unexpected Mining Operation Emerged as Independence Day Unfolded

By Lee Hedgepeth — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 09:05:00 +0000

Aside Lake Guntersville, bald eagles are royalty. But locals say a planned chert pit is already changing that status.

By Lee Hedgepeth

LANGSTON, Ala.—In a state-owned lodge atop Taylor Mountain in Lake Guntersville State Park, the walls are covered with paintings of bald eagles. Busts of the national bird carved in stone adorn end tables in the wood-paneled lobby.

Tribes and Environmentalists Press Arizona and Federal Officials to Stop Uranium Mining Near the Grand Canyon

By Noel Lyn Smith — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Activists hope to shut down an existing mine within a new national monument and to prevent the transportation of uranium on state and federal roads across Navajo Nation lands.

By Noel Lyn Smith

PHOENIX—Members of environmental groups stood together in the lobby of the Arizona State Capitol Executive Tower late last month to deliver a petition to Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, requesting that she stop uranium mining activities near the Grand Canyon National Park.

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.

Jaguars, Macaws and Tropical Dry Forest Have a Right To Exist, a Colombian Court Is Told

By Katie Surma — Sun, 14 Jul 2024 09:10:00 +0000

The “rights of nature” lawsuit follows at least eight Colombian court rulings that have recognized the rights of ecosystems, including the country’s portion of the Amazon rainforest. But enforcement of those decisions has been lagging, and some activists face retaliation.

By Katie Surma

A new lawsuit asks Colombia to recognize that jaguars, military macaws and the nation’s tropical dry forest have legal rights to “life, health and integrity.”

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.