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Bubbles of methane gas frozen into clear ice in Baikal Lake in Siberia. Streluk / iStock / Getty Images Plus
Russian scientists on an Arctic expedition have discovered, for the first time, methane "boiling" on the surface of the water that is visible to the naked eye. Forget high-tech detection devices, the methane is so pronounced that it can be scooped from the water in buckets, as Newsweek reported.
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Well Blowout
A fracked natural gas well in northwest Louisiana has been burning for two weeks after suffering a blowout. A state official said the fire will likely burn for the next month before the flames can be brought under control by drilling a relief well.
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EcoWatch Daily Newsletter
Pump jacks and a gas flare are seen near Williston, North Dakota on Sept. 6, 2016. ROBYN BECK / AFP / Getty Images
By Jake Johnson
Amid dire scientific warnings that the international community must act immediately to slash greenhouse gas emissions, President Donald Trump's U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reportedly set to take another step in the opposite direction Thursday by unveiling a rule that would gut restrictions on the fossil fuel industry's methane pollution.
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Fracking Boom in U.S. and Canada Largely to Blame for Global Methane Spike, Study Finds
15 August
Climate
A new study suggests that recent fracking in the U.S. and Canada is largely to blame for the rise of methane in the Earth's atmosphere. Jeff Wallace / Flickr
By Julia Conley
New research by a scientist at Cornell University warns that the fracking boom in the U.S. and Canada over the past decade is largely to blame for a large rise in methane in the earth's atmosphere — and that reducing emissions of the extremely potent greenhouse gas is crucial to help stem the international climate crisis.
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On Aug. 8 atmospheric scientists from NOAA and NASA got a rare look at "fire clouds" as they were forming. NASA Earth Observatory image by Joshua Steven
A bleak new federal report found that carbon dioxide in the atmosphere rose to levels the world has not seen in at least 800,000 years, highlighting the irreversible and mounting deleterious effects of human activity on the planet, as ABC News reported.
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Shift to Vegetarian Diets Is Needed to Save the World, Climate Scientists Say in Leaked Report
05 August
Climate
Agriculture and other land uses now account for nearly a quarter of greenhouse gas emissions. Chesapaeake Bay Program / Flickr
By Julia Conley
When some of the world's top scientists conclude an international summit in Geneva next week, they are expected to call for a major shift to vegetarian diets around the world in order to keep the warming of the globe under 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
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Trump's Drilling Leases on Public Lands Could Lead to 4.7B Metric Tons of Carbon Emissions
18 July
Climate
Pumpjacks on Lost Hills Oil Field in California. Arne Hückelheim, Wikimedia Commons
By Julia Conley
A national conservation group revealed Wednesday that President Donald Trump's drilling leases on public lands could lead to the release of more carbon emissions than the European Union contributes in an entire year.
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A pumpjack in the Permian Basin. blake.thornberry / Flickr
By Sharon Kelly
On Monday, The Wall Street Journal featured a profile of Scott Sheffield, CEO of Pioneer Natural Resources, whose company is known among investors for its emphasis on drawing oil and gas from the Permian Basin in Texas using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
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NASA scientists flew over the Kuskokwim river in southwest Alaska in 2017 to investigate how water levels in the Arctic landscape change as permafrost thaws. Peter Griffith, NASA
By Tim Radford
Scientists have identified yet another hazard linked to the thawing permafrost: laughing gas. A series of flights over the North Slope of Alaska has detected unexpected levels of emissions of the greenhouse gas nitrous oxide from the rapidly warming soils.
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Entergy Gas Plant Opponents Question Integrity of New Orleans City Council as It Gives Final Approval
01 March
Energy
Larry J. Morgan, a New Orleans resident who opposes Entergy's gas plant, holds up an American flag after he speaks to the city council at the Feb. 21 meeting. Julie Dermansky for DeSmog
By Julie Dermansky
On February 21, the New Orleans City Council unanimously voted to uphold approval of Entergy's proposed natural gas power plant, which faces a growing number of lawsuits, and passed a resolution to impose a $5 million fine on the company for its role in a paid-actors scandal.
Before the vote, in nearly three hours of often emotional testimony mostly against the plant, many contended that the $5 million fine was not a sufficient punishment. This was in light of the council's commissioned investigation, which concluded the company "knew or should have known" that a subcontractor was paying actors to support its proposed power plant at council meetings.
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Lab Grown Meat Could Be Worse for the Climate Than Farm-Raised Beef, Oxford Study
20 February
Climate
KarinaKnyspel / iStock / Getty Images
2018 saw a number of studies pointing to the outsized climate impact of meat consumption. Beef has long been singled out as particularly unsustainable: Cows both release the greenhouse gas methane into the atmosphere because of their digestive processes and require a lot of land area to raise. But for those unwilling to give up the taste and texture of a steak or burger, could lab-grown meat be a climate-friendly alternative? In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers from the Oxford Martin School set out to answer that question.
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