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"The Interior Department will soon publish a “categorical exclusion” that will rubber stamp oil and gas development in Alaska’s remote National Petroleum Reserve."
"As farmers balk at skyrocketing fertilizer costs and runoff threatens drinking water sources in Iowa, North American manufacturers are raking in cash." "The net earnings of North America’s top fertilizer producers raise questions about who benefits most from fertilizer use, an advocacy group says."
"In 2024, the Biden administration enacted wide-ranging regulations to protect communities near petrochemical plants from air toxics. The Trump administration has since granted exemptions to scores of polluting facilities and is working to rewrite the long-awaited rule."
"As the new school year kicks off, school districts are facing a challenging math problem: the high cost of diesel. The price of a gallon of diesel is up nearly $2 compared with this time last year. That is meaningful for schools, considering that around 90% of the United States' 480,000 school buses run on diesel."
"The largest planned AI datacenter in New Jersey is being accused of violating federal law after a visual investigation found the site running dozens of unpermitted gas-powered generators."
"A handful of mega data center projects would emit over 100 million tons per year of greenhouse gases, an enormous amount roughly equal to the annual emissions of a mid-sized industrialized country."
"Dr. Adam Kalkstein is suing the U. S. Military Academy, where he was a professor of geography and the only climate scientist, after being fired." "After 17 years of teaching science at West Point, Dr. Adam Kalkstein says he was suddenly ordered last year to cut from his curriculum information about the human causes of climate change, according to a new lawsuit filed against the U.S. Military Academy."
"The artificial intelligence race is creating demand for more than data centers and electricity. It is also creating a new market for the chemicals needed to keep increasingly powerful computer chips from overheating. Some of those cooling technologies rely on PFAS, a broad class of fluorinated compounds already responsible for widespread drinking water contamination in North Carolina."
"A major Canadian oil and gas company reported dozens of incidents at its pipelines after the provincial regulator exempted thousands of its pipelines from normal clean-up timelines."
"The country’s biggest energy market has a problem: It can’t build enough power plants to keep up with electricity demand." "More than 50 GW of solar, wind, and batteries can now connect to PJM’s grid. It could help drive down costs — if states, utilities, and hyperscalers make it happen."
"The Trump administration move is “politically motivated,” said the plaintiff, one of the nation’s leading environmental gr�oups."
"One of the nation’s largest environmental groups is challenging the Trump administration’s closure of a leading climate institute, filing a lawsuit Thursday [Aug. 20] in federal court saying the closure is unlawful.
"Canada announced retaliatory tariffs as high as 50 percent on hundreds of American products on Tuesday, just days after the collapse of trade talks triggered punishing tariffs from the Trump administration." "Canada said the higher levies, on items from aluminum foil to dishwashers to fish, would help protect workers, producers and manufacturers harmed by new Trump tariffs."
"The Trump administration is moving to make it harder for communities to weigh in on proposed data centers, even as a backlash against the behemoth projects grows across the country." "Under the proposal, states would no longer need to provide public notice or solicit comments on air pollution permits for data centers and other projects."
"At least 35,000 more people died during Europe’s four record-breaking, back-to-back heatwaves this summer than would normally be expected, according to incomplete figures from barely half the continent."
"A troubling trend has shown up in some communities around the U.S.: Public officials are being inundated with seemingly fake public feedback that aims to block renewable energy and promote fossil fuels."
