"President Joe Biden’s administration is tapping the brakes on offshore wind energy development in the Gulf of Mexico to make way for a new fast-tracked effort to open more federal waters to oil and gas drilling."
"A federal judge in Nevada on Monday upheld the federal government’s approval of the largest proposed lithium mine in the nation, dismissing arguments that the Thacker Pass project would degrade nearby aquifers, air quality, and habitat for the imperiled greater sage grouse."
"This week, the [Heartland Institute] sent copies of its book “Climate at a Glance” to 8,000 middle and high school teachers across the country, in order to provide them, it says, with “the data to show the earth is not experiencing a climate crisis.”"
"More than 100 coal ash waste sites, many unregulated, sit just feet from the Great Lakes, raising concerns for nearby communities and the 30 million people who rely on the lakes for drinking water."
"For years now, Native American tribes have sought more protections for the federal lands in the Mojave Desert in southern Nevada that are central to their core beliefs about creation. But advocates say the effort took on new urgency as renewable energy developers eyed pieces of the same land for projects that could fit into the Biden administration’s push for clean electricity."
"Federal law enforcement officials have arrested two people accused of conspiring to “completely destroy Baltimore” in what they described on Monday as a racist plot to demolish the power grid in a predominantly Black city."
In our annual analysis of what’s ahead on the environment beat in 2023, there are some things to count on: worsening climate disasters and continued politicking over energy transitions, but also regulatory action on greenhouse gas emissions (not to mention on “forever chemicals”). Other things are less clear: environmental rulings by a conservative U.S. Supreme Court, energy impacts of war in Europe and the effectiveness of COP28 and treaty talks on plastic pollution. Read the full overview and get more in our “2023 Journalists’ Guide to Energy & Environment” special report.
"Smartphones, computers and electric vehicles may be emblems of the modern world, but, says Siddharth Kara, their rechargeable batteries are frequently powered by cobalt mined by workers laboring in slave-like conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo."
"Extreme weather patterns have sparked several improvements to the climate resiliency of Tennessee Valley Authority electrical infrastructure over the past two decades. However, a report from a government watchdog found the huge utility still has work to do in mitigating climate hazards to the regional power grid."
"Last year permitting reform emerged as one of the most divisive climate policy debates in the United States. During my own reporting on geothermal energy, an underutilized source of renewable power, industry representatives insisted that the onerous permitting process is the single biggest challenge to expanding geothermal development."
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