Climate change may have contributed to the fall of North America’s first and largest pre-European city — and the proof may be in the poop, researchers said this week. A new study published in the journal Proceedings of the Natural Academy of Sciences details how fecal records linked to Cahokia, one of the most prominent […]
The Trump administration is planning to roll back Obama-era rules on methane emissions from oil and gas production, the New York Times reported Monday. Documents reviewed by the Times show that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is planning as early as this week to significantly relax two-year-old regulations on how often drillers must monitor and […]
California Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday signed a law to require that 100 percent of the state’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2045, making it the second state after Hawaii to set such a mandate. The measure also requires utilities to get half of their energy from renewables by 2026, four years ahead of […]
Schools across the northeastern U.S. are cutting the school days short this week as extreme heat and a lack of air conditioning combine to make dangerous conditions inside classrooms. Numerous districts in Connecticut and New Jersey, at least two districts in New York state, and one in the Washington, DC metro area sent kids home […]
A German court on Monday moved forward a case brought by a Peruvian farmer against a German utility alleging climate-related damages. Saul Luciano Lliuya claims in his suit that emissions from the German energy giant RWE have endangered his hometown of Huaraz by melting glaciers and swelling a mountain lake that threatens to flood the […]
Insured losses from fires in Northern California have topped $1 billion and are expected to rise “dramatically,” state insurance officials announced Thursday. The state estimates that the fires have now torched 8,400 buildings and left 42 dead, making these fires the deadliest in the state’s history. Fighting wildfire is now costing the U.S. billions of […]
The Trump administration announced Wednesday it would decline to list the Pacific walrus on the endangered species list, reversing an Obama-era finding that the walruses should be protected under the Endangered Species Act. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommended in 2011 that the walrus be considered for endangered species status in the near future […]
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) asked the state attorney general’s office Wednesday to hold the owners of the troubled Rover natural gas pipeline responsible for $2.3 million dollars in fines. Rover leaked more than 2 million gallons of drilling mud into protected Ohio wetlands this spring, leading the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to order […]
The White House convened a “big-picture” strategy meeting on climate and environment this week, Politico reported. At the meeting, deputy-level White House officials and representatives from agencies discussed how to frame President Trump’s larger environmental objectives beyond simply overturning Obama-era regulations. Per Politico, meeting attendees considered the possibility of highlighting job creation and new energy […]