Across the country, state leaders are racing to fast-track wind and solar projects before the expiration of federal tax credits to support clean energy. Colorado is directing state agencies to prioritize permits for projects that might qualify for the credits. Maine regulators are moving up timelines to purchase new power,...
Nobody wants this gas plant. Trump is forcing it to stay open.
The Trump administration, citing an ongoing “energy emergency,” has once again saddled a community already overburdened by pollution with a dirty, obsolete power plant it doesn’t want or need. The decision has confounded residents and environmental justice advocates, who called the move an abuse of federal law and a lost...
The words we use to talk about nature are disappearing. Here’s why that matters.
Once upon a time, the English language was full of stories with “blossoms,” “rivers,” and “moss.” But these words are disappearing from our vocabularies — and along with them, our connection to the natural world they describe. A study published in the journal Earth earlier this summer found that the...
Waterlogged and contaminated: In rural Florida, locals suspect a mining company is to blame for their flooding troubles
The storm had passed, but the water kept rising. In September 2017, Hurricane Irma slammed into Florida, causing tides to surge and dumping about a foot of water across much of the state. A few days later, Jane Blais stood on a bridge with her neighbors near her High Springs...
Your home has a 1 in 4 chance of being at severe risk from extreme weather
This story is part of The Disaster Economy, a Grist series exploring the often chaotic, lucrative world of disaster response and recovery. It is published with support from the CO2 Foundation. Extreme weather disasters — made larger, longer, and more intense by climate change — are taking an heavier toll on...
A fiber optic cable spied on Greenland’s glaciers. It found an alarming problem
One of the buzziest technologies in modern science may be running right under your feet. Fiber optic cables bring you the internet as data-rich pulses of light, but they also detect signals from the surrounding environment: Researchers can analyze the light that’s scattered when a volcanic eruption or tsunami jostles...
American Samoa says no to deep-sea mining. The Trump administration might do it anyway.
In early August, in the village of Utulei on the eastern shore of Tatuila, the largest of seven islands that make up American Samoa, more than two dozen local residents gathered in an auditorium. They were there to learn about a proposal to allow deep-sea mining across more than 18...
Puerto Ricans are devising the food system of tomorrow
The rats scurried into the shed. Flinching at the sound of a horde of tiny claws scratching at the ground, Migdalia Mass Llorens kept vigil over her sleeping family huddled together under a single blanket. The 35-year-old mother of three couldn’t bring herself to join her kids in peaceful slumber....
How much carbon can we safely store underground? Much less than previously thought.
Drawing down carbon from the air and stashing it in underground rock formations has been framed as an essential way to slow and reverse global warming. But new research published Wednesday in the journal Nature finds there are far fewer suitable places to do this than previously thought. After screening...
Josh Hawley’s ‘huge win’ will be a big loss for clean energy — and ratepayers
It’s only been a few weeks since the Trump administration and lawmakers like Missouri Senator Josh Hawley succeeded in derailing the Grain Belt Express, a high-voltage transmission line that would have brought clean energy to much of the upper Midwest. It’s not clear whether the project will go forward, but...