"The state of Louisiana has issued a series of key air quality permits for a gargantuan proposed petrochemical complex that would roughly double toxic emissions in its local area and, according to environmentalists, become one of the largest plastics pollution-causing facilities in the world."
"Oil, natural gas and petrochemical companies could release about 30 percent more greenhouse gas pollution by 2025 than they did in 2018, according to a new report."
"America’s oil companies are trying to rebrand themselves as part of the solution to the climate crisis, launching a campaign to counter top Democrats’ proposals to rapidly cut pollution from the power plants and cars that run on the industry’s petroleum and natural gas."
"Federal judges have vacated a permit for constructing an Atlantic Coast pipeline compressor station, dealing another setback to the embattled natural gas project. The move is an environmental justice win for local opponents of the project."
From Australia to the Arctic to your neighborhood, environment and energy news is already heating up as 2020 kicks off — and the election promises to add fuel to the fire. On January 24, attendees got a head start on the year's top stories at SEJ's 8th annual "Journalists' Guide to Energy & Environment" at the National Geographic Society's auditorium in Washington, DC. Watch the video recording here.
"Climate activists halted a coal train bound for one of New England's last large coal-fired power plants by building a barricade on the tracks and sitting on it for about eight hours this week. The delay was temporary, but it was the fifth time activists had stopped a coal train in the region in less than a month."
"Even a renewable energy leader like Xcel, one of the first to pledge net zero emissions by mid-century, is finding it hard to end coal without adding natural gas."
"U.S. emissions linked to climate change fell last year on a record drop in coal-fired power generation, but further declines are unlikely without rapid policy changes, according to an estimate released on Tuesday."
"The Trump administration on Monday took its first step toward tighter pollution controls on trucks, an anomalous move for a government known for weakening environmental policies but one that would pre-empt tougher state rules."
"With Congress in a partisan deadlock and the Trump administration rolling back environmental regulations, states are taking it upon themselves to tackle issues that could transform the electricity industry."
