Environment

Environment

Climate change important to North Carolinians at state, national and global level

4:05pm February 23, 2024

A series of polls by High Point University’s Survey Research Center finds that climate change is a concern among North Carolina residents at a state, federal and global level.

FILE - A mechanized shovel loads a haul truck that can carry up to 250 tons of coal at the Spring Creek coal mine, April 4, 2013, near Decker, Mont. On Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024, a U.S. appeals court struck down a judge's 2022 order that imposed a moratorium on coal leasing from federal lands. (AP Photo/Matthew Brown, File)

Federal appeals court revokes Obama-era ban on coal leasing

6:45pm February 21, 2024

by Kirk Siegler

A U.S. appeals court struck down a judge's 2022 order that imposed a moratorium on coal leasing on federal lands.

Supreme Court hears arguments in important case about ozone pollution rule

6:11pm February 21, 2024

by Carrie Johnson

Supreme Court justices heard arguments in an important environmental case. Lawyers for a group of red states and businesses are trying to block a federal rule designed to limit ozone pollution.

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Scientists in the Florida Keys haven't had great success revitalizing coral reefs

5:44pm February 21, 2024

NPR's Ailsa Chang speaks with Katey Lesneski, research coordinator for coral restoration at the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. She's been checking on restored corals, which struggled in 2023.

Environment

EPA rule that limits pollution is being challenged in the Supreme Court

5:08am February 21, 2024

by Carrie Johnson

A key environmental effort to improve air quality and protect people from downwind pollution faces a legal challenge at the U.S. Supreme Court from several states and energy companies .

What this year's mild winter means for wildfire season in the western U.S.

6:06pm February 20, 2024

by Kirk Siegler

A mild and dry El Nino winter in parts of the West is stirring anxieties about the looming wildfire season, just as federal agencies are struggling to fill firefighting jobs.

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A new Indiana bill will weaken protections over wetlands

6:00pm February 20, 2024

by Ethan Sandweiss

The Indiana legislature has passed a bill that will reduce wetland protections. Environmentalists warn the policy will lead to more development, harm habitats and undermine natural flood abatement.

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Ryan Hendricks, who is a member of the Quinault Tribal Council, sits on a driftwood log on the Taholah, Wash., sea wall. The coastal tribe is working to move its villages away from the rising waters of the Pacific Ocean and its tsunamis.

How a Northwest tribe is escaping a rising ocean

3:15pm February 19, 2024

by John Ryan

The Quinault Indian Nation in Washington state is gradually moving the village of Taholah away from a rising Pacific Ocean. Other communities in the U.S. may need to take a similar approach.

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Boosted by a powerful jet stream over the Washington, D.C., area on Saturday night, a Virgin Atlantic Boeing 787 passenger flight arrived at London's Heathrow Airport 45 minutes ahead of schedule. A similar aircraft is seen in 2017, at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

Near-record winds over the Northeast push passenger planes to speeds over 800 mph

5:00am February 19, 2024

by Emma Bowman

A couple of planes got a big push from a jet stream with winds clocking 265 mph at cruising altitude this weekend, the National Weather Service said.

President Biden talks with East Palestine, Ohio Mayor Trent Conaway during a tour of the site where a train carrying toxic chemicals derailed a year ago.

Biden visits East Palestine a year after a train derailment changed the Ohio town

6:14pm February 16, 2024

by Franco Ordoñez

Biden had promised to visit soon after the derailment. He has faced criticism from some residents and from former President Donald Trump, who made a trip to the community shortly after the disaster.