While carbon dioxide is the greenhouse gas most often in the news, methane has greater warming power and accounts for a big chunk of the current increase in global warming. Now, growing regulatory pressure may help shift that focus and could drive more local environmental reporting, per the latest TipSheet. The backstory, plus reporting ideas and resources.
"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed restrictions that would block plans for a copper and gold mine in Alaska’s Bristol Bay region that is home to the world’s largest sockeye salmon run."
"Sixteen Puerto Rico municipalities filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court against major oil companies, alleging companies like ExxonMobil, Shell and Chevron colluded to suppress evidence of climate change that has devastated the island, including 2017’s Hurricane Maria."
"Pennsylvania’s most active gas driller pleaded no contest Tuesday to criminal charges, capping a landmark environmental case against a company that prosecutors say polluted a rural community’s drinking water 14 years ago and then tried to evade responsibility."
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expanding efforts to test wastewater to detect the polio virus in Philadelphia and the Detroit area, targeting communities at highest risk for the life-threatening and potentially disabling illness, officials said Wednesday."
"The canvassers are backed by the oil industry in its quest to stop a new law that bans wells near residential areas and imposes new environmental controls. If petition circulators succeed in gathering enough signatures, the law would be blocked until the 2024 election."
"Countries have begun to discuss a future global plastics treaty which would cut pollution, some hope entirely by 2040, at U.N. talks in Uruguay this week, with many states calling for curbs on plastic production as a way to reach that goal."
"Almost a million stillbirths a year can be attributed to air pollution, according to the first global study. The research estimated that almost half of stillbirths could be linked to exposure to pollution particles smaller than 2.5 microns (PM2.5), mostly produced from the burning of fossil fuels."
"The Justice Department today sued Jackson, Miss., for violating federal safe drinking water rules and floated a plan with the city and state to appoint a third-party manager to run the city’s beleaguered water plant as negotiations continue."
"The Great Barrier Reef in Australia, the world’s largest coral reef ecosystem and one of its most biodiverse, is under significant threat from climate change and should be placed on a list of world heritage sites in danger, a United Nations-backed mission has recommended."
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