Bright green environmentalism

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency released a historic climate policy proposal on Thursday. Through a new rule, the Biden Administration intends to set limits on coal- and gas-fueled power plants’ greenhouse gas emissions.California’s Snowpack Gets a Much Needed Boost | Extreme EarthGenerally, the EPA regulates polluting emissions like carbon monoxide and ozone. But the agency has exercised limited authority over planet-warming carbon dioxide in the past. Currently, the sole Clean Air Act provision on the books…

This story was originally published by Grist. Sign up for Grist’s weekly newsletter here.Making Paint Cool in the Face of HeatTwo decades ago, when the world was wising up to the threat of climate change, the Bush administration touted ethanol — a fuel usually made from corn — for its threefold promise: It would wean the country off foreign oil, line farmers’ pockets, and reduce carbon pollution. In 2007, Congress mandated that refiners nearly quintuple the amount of biofuels mixed into the nation’s gasoline supply over…

Most people in the U.S. pay private or investor-owned power companies—fueled by profit motives—for their electricity. It’s a system that makes advancing renewable energy secondary to advancing corporate revenue. But public utilities offer an alternative that divorces peoples’ energy needs from companies’ bottom lines. Often, these state or municipal run-entities offer more affordable rates, and they’re accountable to the taxpayers who fund them. As a result, environmental advocates and policy experts tend to agree that…

Fishermen in a boat on the Laguna Madre in front of giant wind generators on the mainland near Port Isabel, Texas.Photo: Jon G. Fuller / VWPics (AP)Electricity generated from renewable energy sources surpassed electricity created by coal for the first time ever in the U.S. in 2022, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) announced yesterday. Is This Product Actually Vegan?Coal-fired electricity generation dropped from 23% of total generation in 2021 to 20% in 2022. Meanwhile, the increase in renewable electricity…

The United Nations wants Big Oil to have a seat at the table when it comes to climate solutions—an idea kind of like inviting a fox into a henhouse.On Monday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released its blockbuster new report, which sets some firm goals. To stave off the worst impacts of climate change, we need emissions to peak over the next two years and to cut emissions a whopping 65% by 2035. We’ve, essentially, got a little over a decade to seriously move away fromfossil fuel use. Longer-term…

Photo: Drew Angerer (Getty Images)Several grassroots groups opposed to solar projects in local areas may have one thing in common: a Virginia-based group with powerful GOP connections advising them on strategy. National Public Radio and environmental news collective Floodlight published an expose Friday on a group called Citizens for Responsible Solar, a nonprofit founded in 2019, and its substantial influence in fighting renewable energy across the country—and connections to polluters and prominent climate deniers.The…

A coal plant burns in Cheswick, Pennsylvania.Photo: Jeff Swensen (Getty Images)Nearly all of the coal plants operating in the U.S. are now more expensive to keep online than it would be to build entirely new renewable energy facilities in their stead, according to a new analysis by Energy Innovation, an energy and policy firm. The analysis found that 99% of U.S. coal plants supply energy that would be cheaper if those plants were shut down and replaced with wind farms or solar fields.“Coal is unequivocally more expensive…

Photo: Edyta Blaszczyk/Odessa American (AP)Texas Republicans are messing with the state’s grid to fulfill their political ambitions. Again.Ahead of the 2023 legislative session, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick has made it clear that one of his priorities for the upcoming year is increasing natural gas production to, supposedly, stabilize the grid. Patrick has told multiple media outlets in recent weeks that he will push this spring for the legislature to form a plan to build more natural gas plants—potentially forcing…

IBEW Local 3 workers install a solar panel on top of LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Photo: Mary Altaffer (AP)A bill that would have substantially increased renewable power generation for the state of New York was killed at the 11th hour by politicians with deep financial relationships to corporate interests. It’s a classic political story—but this one involves factions of Democrats, and some of those corporate interests include the renewable energy industry. And even though the bill was defeated, there are signs from…