Congress Tackles Farm Bill As Ag Emissions Rise, Climate Batters Farms
"The legislation represents a major chance to tackle emissions, but some lawmakers vow to keep climate measures out. Advocates call for more climate-focused conservation."
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"The legislation represents a major chance to tackle emissions, but some lawmakers vow to keep climate measures out. Advocates call for more climate-focused conservation."
"Government regulators Thursday granted California’s largest utility an unusual exemption that could allow the state’s last nuclear power plant to continue running after the expiration of its federal operating licenses, a key piece of a contentious proposal to keep the reactors producing electricity for years to come."
"Chronic coastal contamination from the Tijuana River can end up in the atmosphere as “sea spray aerosol” — spreading far beyond the San Diego County beaches where it has long polluted the water, a new study has found."
"Communities around the world emitted more carbon dioxide in 2022 than in any other year on records dating to 1900, a result of air travel rebounding from the pandemic and more cities turning to coal as a low-cost source of power."
"President Biden on Tuesday nominated Julie Su to be the next labor secretary ... . If confirmed by the Senate, Su would face a major challenge: a shortage of workers in the clean-energy industry that threatens to derail the administration’s ambitious climate agenda."
"A new 9-month long cross-border investigation exposes the flaws of “green” forestry labels. Environmental auditors overlook harm by “sustainable" companies, hindering climate efforts."
"Wildfires pushing tigers towards Sumatran villages. Drought prodding elephants into African cropland. Hotter ocean temperatures forcing whales into shipping lanes. Humans and wildlife have long struggled to harmoniously coexist. Climate change is pitting both against each other more often, new research finds, amplifying conflicts over habitat and resources."
"The US Senate passed a measure to block the US Labor Department from enforcing its new ESG retirement investing rule, guaranteeing a showdown with the White House on a resolution the Biden administration has pledged to veto."
"Railroads including the one whose train derailed and caught fire in Ohio would have to follow new safety rules under bipartisan legislation introduced Wednesday by the state’s two U.S. senators, even as regulators plan to step up inspections on tracks carrying the most hazardous materials."
"Six fossil fuel companies funneled more than $700m in research funding to 27 universities in the US from 2010 to 2020, according to a new study. Such funding at universities that conduct climate research can shift not just research agendas, but also policy in the direction of climate solutions the industry prefers, the report’s authors argue."
"For the last four years Brazil’s rainforests bled. “They bled like never before,” said Felipe Finger as he prepared to venture into the jungle with his assault rifle to staunch the environmental carnage inflicted on the Amazon under the former far-right president Jair Bolsonaro."
"The Inflation Reduction Act offered bigger grants under a rural clean energy program. Now, advocates want Congress to bring the rest of the program in line with those ambitions as part of the latest Farm Bill reauthorization."
"A new group aims to spend up to $10 million to sway Congress to loosen federal rules for both fossil fuel projects and green power. A major element: putting "the right pressure" on vulnerable Senate Democrats."
"The plan to stop companies from fudging their climate goals is fundamentally flawed."
"A settlement between environmental groups and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency could for the first time impose regulations on hundreds of coal ash sites nationwide that are not covered by 2015 federal coal ash rules."