Washington, DC -- Tonight, Donald Trump will be coronated as the Republican nominee for president after a primary process which changed rules to prevent serious challengers. During the Republican National Convention (RNC), the climate crisis was mentioned only in brief passing. Meanwhile, in the middle of a pandemic that has killed more than 180,000 in the United States alone, the country is facing deadly wildfires across the West and a historic hurricane that brought “unsurvivable storm surge” struck the Gulf.
Philadelphia, PA — The Third Circuit Federal Court of Appeals rejected the Environmental Protection Agency’s approval of a weak air pollution rule today that would allow coal-fired power plants in Pennsylvania to exceed pollution limits.
San Francisco, California-- Today, in a 5-0 vote, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) unanimously approved Southern California Edison’s (SCE) Charge Ready 2 program, a $436 million electric vehicle (EV) infrastructure program that will support deploying up to 38,000 new charging stations across Southern California over the next four years.
Today, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) unanimously passed the Ocean-Going Vessels At-Berth regulation, which will clean up pollution from idling ships in California’s ports by requiring all ships to either plug into shore power or to capture emissions over the next decade.
Los incendios que afectan a toda California se están amainando y se han eliminado las órdenes de evacuación en varias partes del estado, aunque no en todas. El humo de los incendios continúa creando condiciones insalubres en todo el estado y el Oeste del país —un riesgo aún mayor para la salud pública en medio de una pandemia.
Current wildfires burning across California are slowly coming under control and evacuation orders have been lifted in several parts of the state, though not all. Smoke from the fires continues to create dangerously unhealthy air across the state and the West-- an increased health risk in the midst of the pandemic.
These fires in California killed seven people and burned hundreds of homes and businesses.
Dozens of large fires continue to burn across the West, including several in Colorado. While fire is a natural part of the landscape, the climate crisis has lengthened the fire season and raised the risk of unnaturally large and more dangerous fires across the country.
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Last week, reports emerged that the new acting director of the National Park Service, Margaret Everson, told regional directors that staff shortages related to the COVID-19 pandemic should not limit public access to national parks. The Trump administration has repeatedly encouraged Americans to travel to national parks during the pandemic.
NORTH CAROLINA -- Yesterday, after years of incinerating PFAS waste, the federal government acknowledged the hazards and announced a technical challenge to design a safer way to destroy toxic fire fighting foam. The challenge will reward new technologies that can destroy at least 99 percent of the PFAS in fire fighting foam, despite EPA typically requiring even greater levels of breakdown for other highly toxic wastes. Due to PFAS chemicals’ intense toxicity and persistence, 99 percent destruction is a low bar and wastes would still contain far more PFAS than can be safely emitted into air or waterways.
MVP asked FERC for two more years to complete the project
La Comisión Especial sobre la Crisis Climática del Senado emitió hoy su reporte titulado “Razones para la Acción Climática: Construir una Economía Limpia para el Pueblo Estadounidense”, el cual detalla un plan de los demócratas del Senado para atacar la crisis climática alcanzando la meta de cero emisiones para el 2050, además de incrementar las inversiones climáticas en comunidades vulnerables y en desventaja.