The upward trends for renewable energy sources like wind and solar are a sure source of news for 2019, even if challenging political, economic and technical obstacles remain. This week’s TipSheet explains why, plus suggests stories to look for, notes the points of possible contention and offers a range of reporting resources to turn to.
"The Senate will not vote this year to confirm a new head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, lawmakers said this week. That leaves the agency responsible for understanding and predicting changes in the earth’s climate without a Senate-confirmed leader for the longest period since it was created in 1970."
"Scientific understanding of the risks greenhouse gases pose to public health and welfare has strengthened and broadened in the decade since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency made its landmark 'endangerment finding,' according to a new review of the latest science published Thursday."
''Negotiators from nearly 200 countries produced a draft text on Thursday on how to implement the Paris Agreement on combating global warming, but some disputes remain with only one day left before the official end of the conference."
"When the Trump administration laid out a plan this year that would eventually allow cars to emit more pollution, automakers, the obvious winners from the proposal, balked. The changes, they said, went too far even for them. But it turns out that there was a hidden beneficiary of the plan that was pushing for the changes all along: the nation’s oil industry."
Microgrid advocates have long touted the systems’ potential to help customers withstand extreme weather, a selling point that’s been stronger outside the Midwest in hurricane-prone areas along the East Coast."
"LANGDON, Missouri -- Richard Oswald did not need the latest US government report on the creeping toll of climate change to tell him that farming in the midwest is facing a grim future, and very likely changing forever."
"GALVESTON, Texas — The Army Corps of Engineers is urging public input on a sprawling proposal that could help protect Texas' coastal areas but whose details are far from certain."
"A growing number of House Democrats are backing the idea to create a special committee to fight climate change next year, but it likely won’t have the authority to pass any bills."
"KATOWICE, Poland — Global talks to combat climate change risked breaking up with little to show for them, participants here said Wednesday, with the hostile U.S. stance on aggressive action leaving a leadership void that other countries have been reluctant or unable to fill."
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