greenhouse gases

Today's Top 5

White House Eyes Plan to Cut EPA By a Fifth, Eliminating Key Programs

The plan to slash EPA’s staff from its current level of 15,000 to 12,000 is one of several changes for which the new administration has asked agency staff for comment by close of business Wednesday. The proposal also dictates cutting the agency’s grants to states, including its air and water programs, by 30 percent, and eliminating 38 separate programs in their entirety. Programs designated for zero funding include grants to clean up brownfields, or abandoned industrial sites; a national electronic manifest system for hazardous waste; environmental justice programs; climate-change initiatives; and funding for native Alaskan villages. - Washington Post

Senate Confirms Ryan Zinke As Interior Secretary

Democrats were wary of Zinke despite his declaration that he believes humans contribute to climate change. “Man has had an influence,” he said under questioning by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). Zinke’s assertion that the level of human contribution is unknown, despite the near unanimous opinions of climate scientists who say it’s overwhelming, didn’t help. Liberals worried that Zinke would open more land to exploitation at the expense of wildlife and their declining habitat. - Washington Post

Get Ready for the Trump Pipeline Boom

The rush to build massive pipelines began before the election of President Trump, spurred in part by Congress's repeal of a 40-year-old ban on oil exports in December 2015 (backed by then-President Barack Obama). Even before that decision, the United States was already the world's largest exporter of diesel, gasoline, and aviation fuel, and a net exporter of coal. With a glut of oil and gas discoveries in the Marcellus, Barnett, and Bakken shale formations, an increase in American large-scale fossil fuel production has long been in the works and is expected to flourish in the coming years. Pipeline construction will likely expand under President Trump's new infrastructure plan; maps of pending projects for crude oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids show just how extensive this development will be. - Mother Jones

Inside the Quest To Monitor Countries' CO2 Emissions

Nearly 200 nations pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions under the Paris Agreement on climate change. But how will we know if some don’t follow through. The current inability to verify that a nation has made its promised carbon cuts remains a long-standing loophole that experts say must be closed to make the global pact effective. - Climatewire

Massive Permafrost Thaw In Canada Portends Huge Carbon Release

Huge slabs of Arctic permafrost in northwest Canada are slumping and disintegrating, sending large amounts of carbon-rich mud and silt into streams and rivers. A new study that analyzed nearly a half-million square miles in northwest Canada found that this permafrost decay is affecting 52,000 square miles of that vast stretch of earth—an expanse the size of Alabama. - InsideClimate News

Today's Top 5 Trending

State Air Board Criticizes Southern California Smog Regulators Over Adoption of Industry-Backed Rules

The state Air Resources Board has criticized Southern California smog regulators for adopting industry-backed regulations to control emissions from the region's largest facilities, saying they may violate state law and will harm people's health. - Los Angeles Times

Battle Over Dominion Coal-Ash Ponds Heads to State Water Board This Week

After months of contentious debate, a state regulatory board will decide this week whether to allow Dominion Virginia Power to divert water from coal-ash ponds into a nearby creek after treating that water to remove pollutants. - Washington Post

Company Behind Methane Leak Is Ordered to Offset the Climate Damage

California Gov. Jerry Brown ordered Southern California Gas Co. to pay for a mitigation program to offset damage to the world's climate from a massive methane leak at an underground natural gas storage facility in Los Angeles. - InsideClimate News

El Niño Heat Peaks, But Impacts Still to Come

It looks like this El Niño — which will rank among the strongest on record — has passed its peak in terms of tropical ocean temperatures, but it’s not going away anytime soon. In fact, the biggest El Niño impacts on the U.S., like rain and snow for California, are probably still to come. - Climate Central

'Flaring' Wastes 3.5% of World's Natural Gas

The United States has the greatest number of flares, but Russia leads the world in the total volume of flared natural gas. In 2012, the 143 billion cubic metres of gas flared led to the emission of more than 350 million tonnes of carbon dioxide, around 10% of the annual emissions of European Union member states. - Nature

Today's Top 5 Trending

What Does the Paris Climate Agreement Mean for the World's 8 Million Other Species?

In December, the world’s nations agreed on an aggressive plan to combat climate change. But what, if anything, will the landmark Paris agreement do for thousands of species already under threat from global warming? - The Guardian

Politics of Climate Unlikely to Change in 2016

In 2016, Americans will go to the polls to elect a new president, 34 senators, 435 representatives and 12 governors, not to mention countless state and local leaders. And despite this happening during what many scientists believe will be the hottest year on record and the stakes for the planet growing ever higher, climate change won't crack the list of top political issues. - InsideClimate News

The Lawyer Who Became DuPont's Worst Nightmare

Rob Bilott was a corporate defense attorney for eight years. Then he took on an environmental suit that would upend his entire career — and expose a brazen, decades-long history of chemical pollution. - New York Times Magazine

BA Blames UK Government for Scrapping of £340m Green Fuels Project

A groundbreaking plan to turn London’s rubbish into green jet fuel has been abandoned due to a lack of UK government support, British Airways says. - The Guardian

As If Slavery Weren't Enough, Six Other Reasons to Avoid Shrimp

For all its abundance, the diminutive shellfish carries some heavy baggage you might want to consider before consuming your next shrimp cocktail. Since its inception, the farmed-shrimp industry has been plagued by reports of unsavory working conditions and ecological destruction. - Mother Jones

Today's Top 5 Trending

The Toxic Chemical in San Francisco's Fog

Fog rolling in off the Pacific brings iconic beauty to San Francisco, but scientists say it also carries with it something much less pleasant: toxic mercury. Scientists who studied the fog along the coast of California found that it deposits a neurotoxin called monomethyl mercury — at a concentration about 20 times that of rain — as it sweeps across the city. -- San Francisco Chronicle

The Italian Mob's Toxic Waste Dumping is Giving People Cancer

According to a new report released last week by the Italian National Institute of Health, a few local Italian mobs have been slowly killing dozens of innocent people for decades by way of a multibillion dollar toxic waste disposal racket. -- Vice Motherboard. 

Has the Organic Movement Left Black Farmers Behind? 

A history of discrimination, mass land loss, lack of start-up capital, lack of collateral for loans, and a multi-generational distrust of federal programs have put Black farmers behind in the organic movement. -- Civil Eats

California's 'Staggering' Leak Could Spew Methane for Months

A leaking natural gas storage field continues to belch thousands of tons of methane into the air every week, causing health and climate concerns. -- InsideClimate News

Where Is the Most Cycle-Friendly City in the World?

The Dutch and Danish cycling utopias of Amsterdam, Groningen, Utrecht and Copenhagen are high up the list – but what about the rest of the world? -- The Guardian

Today's Top 5 Trending

Our Deadened, Carbon-Soaked Seas

We can’t see this massive amount of carbon dioxide that’s going into the ocean, but it dissolves in seawater as carbonic acid, changing the water’s chemistry at a rate faster than seen for millions of years.  -- New York Times

Rising Seas Overwhelm Delaware Tidal Gates

Southbridge, although far from the beaches of Delaware’s bay and the Atlantic, is vulnerable to the effects of sea level rise. The neighborhood already faces chronic flooding, due to a combination of its low-lying location and aging infrastructure, and the flooding is likely to get worse as sea levels rise. -- Al Jazeera

US Announces New Moves to Limit Super Greenhouse Gases

New administrative measures and private sector pledges to phase down the use of hydrofluorocarbons, potent greenhouse gases used in refrigeration and air conditioning, will reduce its consumption by the equivalent of 1 billion metric tons of CO2 through 2025, the White House said Thursday. -- Reuters

Kasich Energy Plan Would Repeal Obama Rules, Boosting Drilling

GOP presidential hopeful John Kasich wants to repeal impediments to oil and natural gas production, including Obama administration regulations and limits on offshore drilling. -- The Hill

Oil Bosses Fight For Relevance Before Climate Talks

In an unprecedented public appearance, the bosses of Europe's top oil companies, who earlier this year jointly called on governments to introduce a global carbon pricing system, will be joined by the heads of the national oil companies of Saudi Arabia and Mexico who will lend their support to the initiative. The rare show of unity at a time when companies are all struggling with a sharp drop in oil prices also highlights a deep rift with American oil companies such as Exxon Mobil and Chevron who stayed away from the initiative. -- Reuters