Demand Has Plunged 80% Since California Cut Home Solar Payments
"As rooftop solar projects have plummeted, about 17,000 workers could lose their jobs. Will this derail the state’s climate and clean energy goals?"
Source: CalMatters, 01/29/2024
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Texas Companies Released 1 Million Pounds Of Excess Pollution During Cold
"Frigid weather this month caused industrial facilities across Texas to release unplanned air pollution as machinery froze, power went out and icy conditions blocked service crews."
Source: Texas Tribune/ICN, 01/29/2024"Since Ohio Train Derailment, Accidents Have Gone Up, Not Down"
"The total number of accidents for the top five freight railroads increased, and Congress still hasn’t passed legislation to prevent similar disasters."
Source: NYTimes, 01/29/2024Avian Flu Devastates Farms In Calif. ‘Egg Basket,’ Roiling Poultry Industry
"Last month, Mike Weber got the news every poultry farmer fears: His chickens tested positive for avian flu. Following government rules, Weber’s company, Sunrise Farms, had to slaughter its entire flock of egg-laying hens — 550,000 birds — to prevent the disease from infecting other farms in Sonoma County north of San Francisco."
Source: AP, 01/29/2024"What Are The Odds That Extreme Weather Will Lead To A Global Food Shock?"
"Envision, for a moment, a multiyear period of extreme weather, including heat waves, freezes, droughts, floods, and windstorms, topped off by extreme weather during an El Niño event, leading to major crop failures in the U.S. A disruption of the global agricultural and food supply chain results, leading to panic buying and price shocks."
Source: Yale Climate Connections, 01/29/2024"The Push to Save the Coho at Dry Creek"
"The Warm Springs Dam isn’t coming down anytime soon. Conservationists want to use it to help save salmon."
Source: Sierra, 01/29/2024Megabats: Adelaide Adjusts To New And Growing Colonies Of Flying Foxes
"With wingspans over a metre and an insatiable love for fruit and nectar, grey-headed flying foxes have settled in massive numbers across South Australia".
Source: Guardian, 01/29/2024"Pollution Has Made Houston Ship Channel Communities A ‘Sacrifice Zone’"
"The average life expectancy in predominantly nonwhite communities along the Houston Ship Channel, the site of largely unregulated petrochemical production, is up to 20 years less than nearby predominantly white communities, according to a report released Thursday by Amnesty International"
Source: The Hill, 01/26/2024Brazil Orders Vale, BHP, Samarco To Pay $9.7 Bln Damages For Dam Disaster
"A Brazilian federal judge ruled that miners Vale, BHP and their joint venture Samarco must pay 47.6 billion reais ($9.67 billion) in damages for a 2015 tailings dam burst, according to a legal decision on Thursday seen by Reuters."
Source: Reuters, 01/26/2024"This Georgia Refinery Is Making Low-Carbon Jet Fuel From Alcohol"
"On Wednesday, LanzaJet marked the opening of its Freedom Pines Fuels facility, which uses novel technology to convert ethanol into sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF. The $200 million biorefinery is the first in the world to deploy an “alcohol-to-jet” process, one that the company claims can curb greenhouse gas emissions by over 70 percent compared to conventional jet fuel."
Source: Canary Media, 01/26/2024"The Biggest Solar-Plus-Storage Project In The US Just Came Online"
"The largest combined solar and energy-storage project in the U.S. is now online and operating in California’s Mojave Desert." "The new California installation has nearly 2 million solar panels, more than 120,000 batteries, and an enormous amount of clean energy capacity."
Source: Canary Media, 01/26/2024Canada Tar Sands Are Larger Source of Air Pollution Than Previously Thought
"Canada’s tar sands have gained infamy for being one of the world’s most polluting sources of oil, thanks to the large amounts of energy and water use required for their extraction. A new study says the operations are also emitting far higher levels of a range of air pollutants than previously known, with implications for communities living nearby and far downwind."
Source: Inside Climate News, 01/26/2024"What A Hand-Cranked Drill Just Revealed About The West’s ‘Megadrought’"
"A new study is part of an emerging field of tree-ring science that found the West’s two-decade drought is inextricably linked to rising temperatures".
Source: Washington Post, 01/26/2024NOAA, BOEM Lay Out Plan To Protect Endangered Whales Amid Wind Power Build
"The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) on Thursday finalized their strategy on the protection of endangered North Atlantic right whales in the offshore wind power development process."
Source: The Hill, 01/26/2024"Who Pays for Cleanup When a Solar Project Reaches the End of Its Life?"
"One of the objections to utility-scale solar power that I hear most often is that local communities will be left to cover the costs of cleanup at the end of a project’s life. But state and local rules in nearly all of the country are clear about who pays: The developer or the owner is responsible for restoring the land once a project is no longer operating."
Source: Inside Climate News, 01/26/2024
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