"Some day in the next 12 months – maybe in late-August, maybe not until next spring – Lake Mead will drop below the critical threshold of 1,035 feet above sea level. That is the water-level elevation at which hydropower generating capacity at Hoover Dam, the largest in the Colorado River basin, will be cut by 70 percent."
"The Orlando plant had been scheduled for retirement in 2025. The order cited an energy emergency related to a shortage of facilities and proliferation of data centers."
"Renewable energy groups are suing the U.S. military because they say national security reviews for new wind farms on private land have been effectively frozen for months. The groups say this logjam jeopardizes $47 billion in investments and thousands of jobs in 21 states."
"More than 200 data centers are going up in dozens of competitive House districts — and neither party knows how to handle their political fallout heading into the midterms."
The news has been full of warnings about a larger-than-normal El Niño, the periodic weather pattern that portends drastic fluctuations in everything from temperatures and precipitation to ocean currents and hurricanes. The latest Issue Backgrounder takes a step back to help explain exactly how this phenomenon works and what its impacts may be, while offering a parting thought on smart coverage.
"In the days after Hurricane Helene devastated the southern Appalachians in late September 2024, Blue Ridge Parkway Superintendent Tracy Swartout went up in a helicopter to survey the damage. What she saw was deeply troubling. 'When Helene happened, we ended up with 58 landslides spread across 200 linear miles of the parkway,' Swartout says."
"Few public universities get more federal research funding than the University of Washington."
"The U.S. just hit a big milestone: It got more power from solar panels than from coal plants in May."
"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday said it was sending the Republican-controlled Congress landmark California vehicle emissions rules for potential repeal, its latest effort to prevent tougher state tailpipe requirements."
"Qcells has officially begun commercial production of silicon solar cells at its factory in Cartersville, Georgia, the company said Tuesday. That factory is the largest of its kind in the country — and a long-awaited boost to the U.S. solar supply chain."
