By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — For 25 years since I was first hired by newspapers to cover the environment as a news beat activists have begged, pleaded and prodded the federal government to pass and enforce laws and regulations to force polluting industries to do more to protect public health. Progress had been…
ENVIRONMENT
Biden Administration Announces Tough Auto-Emissions Standards to Combat Climate Change and Promote Electric Vehicles
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The stakes could not be higher for the future of the United States and humanity. There is a consensus based on an overwhelming amount of scientific evidence that continuing to burn fossil fuels for energy and transportation will doom the next generation of humans to living through a…
Interior Department Announces $195 Million in Spending on America’s National Parks
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Biden administration this week announced the allocation of $195 million in climate restoration and resilience projects over the next decade in America’s national parks. President Biden’s “Investing in America” agenda calls for national parks across the United States to use this funding to prepare for the impacts of…
Voyager 1 Goes Dark: First Craft in Interstellar Space Loses Contact
The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Space exploration occupies some of my thoughts of late. Wonder what’s become of Voyager 1? The first of its kind space probe launched in 1977 when I was right out of high school? Is it out there somewhere past Pluto, still transmitting? This is the…
Biden Administration Releases $1 Billion for Work at 100 Superfund Sites
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — In sharp contrast to the policies of the previous administration, the Biden administration is going all out to combat pollution of the natural environment. As part of this renewed effort and with funds provided by the $1.2 Trillion Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act passed in November, 2021, the Environmental…
Biden Administration Seeks Public Comments on Large Offshore Wind Project on Virginia Coast
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Biden administration is seeking public comments on a large offshore wind farm project along the coast of Virginia in the Atlantic Ocean. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the opening of a 30-day public comment period on Jan. 29 for a draft Clean Air Act Outer Continental Shelf…
NASA Analysis Confirms 2023 was Warmest Year on Record
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Earth’s average surface temperature for 2023 was the hottest ever recorded, according to an analysis by NASA, and the data shows no letting up in the trend toward a warming planet from climate change due to the burning of fossil fuels for energy and transportation. Global temperatures last year…
Biden Administration Proposes Historic Ban on Cutting Old Growth Trees in National Forests
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — On the heels of a historic agreement in Dubai calling for the first time for countries to transition away from fossil fuel use for powering energy and transportation, the chief cause of climate change due to global warming, the Biden administration just announced a proposal to conserve old-growth…
Climate Talks End With Call for Moving Away from Fossil Fuel Use
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — In the final weeks of the hottest year in recorded history, the United Nations climate conference in Dubai known as COP28 ended Wednesday with an agreement for the first time to call on countries to transition away from fossil fuels, the chief cause of climate change due to global…
National Park Service Announces Free Days for 2024
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The National Park Service announced Saturday that there will be six holidays in 2024 when entry fees will be waved. On these dates, the public is invited to experience the wonder of national parks for free. “National parks are places that awaken senses, inspire curiosity, encourage reflection, and foster…
Biden Administration to Require Replacing All Water Pipes Containing Lead in 10 Years
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — While the nations of the world gather in Dubai for the 28th United Nations Climate Change Conference, the Biden administration announced a comprehensive plan to replace all water pipes in the United States that contain the harmful pollutant lead. The Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposal on Thursday to…
North American Wolverine to be Protected as a Threatened Species under the Endangered Species Act
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — A distinct population of the North American wolverine is set to be listed as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which is seeking public comments on the proposal indicating the species faces increasing threats from habitat degradation and…
California’s Giant Sequoias Could Face Extinction Due to Climate Change
From the Editors of E – The Environmental Magazine – Dear EarthTalk: What is the status of California’s giant sequoias trees and what’s being done to save them from extinction? — M.L., Sacramento, CA Giant sequoias, which can grow upwards of 300 feet tall with circumferences of 90+ feet around at ground level, are among…
Return of the Wild Turkey, a Conservation Success Story
By Alonso Abugattas – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The wild turkey has made an incredible comeback. Not that long ago, wild turkeys were all but wiped out by a combination of overhunting and habitat loss. By the early 1900s, none remained in the District of Columbia and very few remained in the woods of Maryland, Virginia,…
New National Climate Assessment Documents Far-Reaching Perils of Global Warming
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Massive changes in the climate due to global warming from the burning of fossil fuels for energy and transportation is deadly and expensive, but some of the most extreme impacts could be prevented if there was the political will to take on the challenges, according to the new…
Biden Administration Accelerates Removal of Lead Pipes With $15 Billion in New Spending
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Are you better off than you were three years ago? That’s a perennial question that pops up like a weed every four years in Washington politics, or at least the media coverage of it. Think about it. Three years ago, in November 2020, the global Covid-19 pandemic was at…
PEPCO to Pay More than $57 Million for Polluting the Anacostia River
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — In one of the largest and most significant corporate pollution settlements in the history of electric power and the law, Potomac Electric Power has agreed to pay more than $57 million to help mitigate contamination of the Anacostia River from its power plants. We just received the press…
National Parks Set Visitation and Economic Impact Record: Biden Administration Addresses Funding Shortfalls
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — While the American public appears to be divided on political issues these days and sometimes disagree on the role of government, there is one federal program most people love no matter what political party they vote for at election time: National Parks. Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns called this “America’s…
New Report Shows Major Emissions Reductions in Electricity Sector from President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act
Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new report claims that President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, billed as “the largest climate investment ever,” spurs major carbon dioxide emission reductions from the electricity sector and across the economy in the United States. The report, released Tuesday by the Environmental Protection Agency, finds that the Inflation Reduction…
Summer 2023 Ranks as the Hottest on Record ‘By a Large Margin’
By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — It’s so hot in the middle of the day that the birds are not even moving around in the windless woods. The only thing moving are the yellow jackets and European hornets, looking for other bees to kill, the occasional blue-tailed lizard, going after the flies too hot…