Environment

Firm contracted to make Postal Service trucks plans to do it at a non-union facility

7:27am April 11, 2022

by Chuck Quirmbach

The U.S. Postal Service has big plans to replace its aging fleet of 165,000 gasoline-burning delivery vehicles. And some are pushing for the electric trucks to be built by union labor in Wisconsin.

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Waterfowl and the raptors that dine on them, like this bald eagle and snow goose, have both been killed by the new bird flu virus.

A worrisome new bird flu is spreading in American birds and may be here to stay

3:09pm April 09, 2022

by Nell Greenfieldboyce

Scientists are tracking a deadly bird flu outbreak that has infected wild birds in more than 30 states. Purging the nation's poultry supply may not be enough to keep the virus from sticking around.

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Farmland is seen with standard solar panels from Cypress Creek Renewables, Oct. 28, 2021, in Thurmont, Md.

Solar panels that can generate electricity at night have been developed at Stanford

10:25am April 07, 2022

by Rina Torchinsky

While standard solar panels can provide electricity during the day, this device can be a "continuous renewable power source" during the day and at night.

The federal government is starting to forecast the budget impacts of climate change. Hurricane damage is a big driver, and could cause up to an additional $94 billion annually in coastal disaster response costs by 2100.

The future cost of climate inaction? $2 trillion a year, says the government

7:54am April 07, 2022

by Laura Benshoff

The federal government has begun tallying the damage climate change could do to the economy and its budget. This comes as scientists warn time is running out to avoid catastrophic global warming.

Contaminants from fertilizer mean some rural areas must pay millions for clean water

4:29pm April 06, 2022

by David Condos

In rural farming regions, dangerous chemicals from fertilizer have made their way into water sources. For some towns, it takes millions of dollars just to get clean water for a few hundred residents.

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Plastic debris is washed up at Depoe Bay, Ore., on Jan. 19, 2020.

For the first time, researchers find microplastics deep in the lungs of living people

3:03pm April 06, 2022

by Rina Torchinsky

Tiny plastic debris — some so small you can't see it — has previously been found in human blood, excrement and in the depths of the ocean.

A bald eagle is shown in 2020 in Philadelphia. NextEra Energy subsidiary ESI Energy was sentenced to probation and ordered to pay more than $8 million in fines and restitution after at least 150 eagles were killed over the past decade at its wind farms in

A wind energy company has pleaded guilty after killing at least 150 eagles

2:22pm April 06, 2022

by The Associated Press

NextEra Energy subsidiary ESI Energy pleaded guilty to charges over the deaths of eagles at three of its wind farms in Wyoming and New Mexico.

A 2014 photo of the offshore loading platform of Dominion Energy's Cove Point LNG Terminal, which exports liquefied natural gas.

How the war in Ukraine could speed up Europe's climate plans

11:07am April 05, 2022

by Laura Benshoff

There's concern the U.S. push to send more natural gas to Europe will increase climate warming emissions. But energy experts say the crisis might actually speed up the shift to cleaner energy.

The report finds the world's energy supply needs to shift to renewable sources, like this solar farm in Karnataka, India, but it's not happening fast enough.

Environment

It's not too late to stave off the climate crisis, U.N. report finds. Here's how

3:41pm April 04, 2022

by Lauren Sommer

The good news is that the world has solutions and technology to slow climate change. The bad news is that time is running out.

A photo of the the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Tracksite in Moab, Utah. A construction project at the site recently damaged some of the tracks and trace fossils.

A construction project caused damage to 100-million-year-old dinosaur tracks in Utah

3:24pm April 04, 2022

by Joe Hernandez

A project to replace the boardwalk at the Mill Canyon Dinosaur Tracksite in Moah, Utah, cause minor damage to tracks and trace fossils at the site, a Bureau of Land Management paleontologist found.