When Louisiana launched the country’s liquefied natural gas export boom in 2016, LNG was touted as a cleaner, climate-friendly alternative to coal and oil. But the state’s first LNG terminal, Sabine Pass LNG, quickly became one of Louisiana’s largest sources of climate-warming pollution, releasing more greenhouse gases than the state’s...
This simple metal tube helps scientists predict drought before it happens
On a snowy February morning, Toby Rodgers strapped on a pair of snowshoes and trudged across a snowy field in Washington’s Cascade mountains. Rodgers, a hydrologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, had traveled into the mountains that morning to sample snow. He had also brought...
Trump wants to shutter FEMA. Will Markwayne Mullin get it done?
The first year of the Trump administration almost destroyed the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Elon Musk’s purge of the federal civil service was just one of many blows to FEMA. Former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem instituted a freeze on almost all disaster recovery and response spending, paralyzing the...
The spike in diesel prices is quietly costing you billions
The first thing drivers probably check when they go to the gas station is the cost of gasoline — especially with prices surging. What they might not pay as much attention to is diesel. Perhaps they should. The price of that essential fuel has climbed even more quickly, and new...
New York City unveils its first rest stop for delivery workers
The day’s forecast called for high winds, but around midday in downtown Manhattan, it felt like a perfect spring day. The sun shone high in the sky last Tuesday as people gathered on the sidewalk around the corner from City Hall. Municipal employees mingled about, chatting excitedly. The cause for...
Many companies want clean energy. Georgia Power will soon let them build it.
This coverage is made possible through a partnership between Grist and WABE, Atlanta’s NPR station. Many corporations have pledged to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, but when it comes to energy generation, they have struggled to meet those goals because they have to get power from the grid. Utilities and...
Texas is giving data centers more than $1 billion in tax breaks each year
This story was originally published by The Texas Tribune and supported by the Pulitzer Center. Texas will lose out on $3.2 billion in sales tax revenue over the next two years thanks to an exemption for the state’s booming data center industry, according to the comptroller’s office. That figure is likely...
Oil companies accused of massive accounting fraud in New Mexico
Oil companies ExxonMobil, Empire Petroleum, and their subsidiaries engaged in accounting fraud that could cost the state nearly $200 million, a lawsuit filed in New Mexico District Court alleges. If successful, plaintiffs say the case could change how old oil and gas assets are sold, leading to fewer orphan wells in the future....
The skylines of the future will be made of wood
Picture yourself in a wind-swept forest. Leaves are rustling and trunks are creaking as trees sway to and fro. This oscillation might seem precarious, but it’s actually an ancient adaptation: If pines and firs and all the others were perfectly stiff, a gust would snap them. So instead, they flex. ...
How the Trump administration’s climate math doesn’t add up
When President Donald Trump talks about climate change, he often recycles one well-known, shaky argument: that doing anything about it will be a financial disaster. After pulling out of the Paris climate agreement, he said it was costing the U.S. “trillions of dollars that other countries were not paying.” He’s...