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The great methane debate and what it could mean for North Carolina
By: Lisa Sorg, NC Policy Watch April 21, 2021 Environmental advocates want stronger regulation of the potent greenhouse gas, but ag and energy interests are touting biogas More than 2,200 industrialized hog farms and another 200-plus dairy operations in North Carolina are constantly belching untold amounts of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas and driver of climate change, into the air. Yet because of the EPA’s inertia and the livestock industry’s significant political power, these farms have eluded any meaningful regulations of their methane emissions and their contribution to the climate crisis. More than two dozen environmental groups recently petitioned the EPA to regulate industrialized swine…
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At Earth Day climate summit, Biden promises 50% reduction in US greenhouse emissions
By: Dierdre Shesgreen, USA Today April 22, 2021 WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden pledged to cut U.S. greenhouse gas pollution in half by 2030 at a virtual climate summit Thursday, outlining an aggressive target that would require sweeping changes to America’s energy and transportation sectors. “These steps will set America on a path of a net-zero emissions economy by no later than 2050,” Biden said as the White House opened the two-day summit, attended by 40 leaders from around the world. “Scientists tell us that this is the decisive decade, this is the decade…
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7 million Californians live near oil and gas wells. This bill could change that.
By: Alexandria Herr, Grist April 12, 2021 Despite its green reputation, California has a big fossil fuel problem on its hands: neighborhood oil and gas drilling. In California, there’s nothing preventing frackers or drillers from setting up shop right next to your home, school, or hospital — and indeed, this is the reality for 7.4 million Californians currently living within 1 mile of oil and gas drilling operations, who are disproportionately non-white and low-income. Now, a new state bill called S.B. 467, slated for a hearing in the California Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water on…
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Converting hog waste into energy: Not as neat and simple as it might sound
By: Lisa Sorg, NC Policy Watch April 2, 2021 Public comment period ends Sunday on Optima TH’s air pollution permit for facility at Smithfield slaughterhouse Optima TH has applied for a state air quality permit to operate a major biogas facility at Smithfield Fresh Meats in the Bladen County town of Tar Heel. If approved, Optima TH could emit 24,500 to 40,800 tons of greenhouse gases each year. Biogas, in the form of methane, would be collected from Smithfield’s wastewater treatment system, upgraded onsite at the Optima TH facility to meet natural gas standards, and then injected into a Piedmont Natural…
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‘The stakes are very high’: In North Carolina, more interest than ever in Duke Energy’s long-range plans
By: Elizabeth Ouzts, Energy News Network March 22, 2021 With North Carolina businesses, communities, and residents increasingly committed to climate action, Duke Energy’s 15-year power generation plan has drawn more attention than ever before. More than two dozen cities, counties and corporations have submitted comments on the utility’s plan, which will dictate whether and how they achieve their own ambitious renewable energy goals. A record number of stakeholders — from tech company Apple to the City of Charlotte — are formally intervening in the process by which regulators review and approve the document, in an effort to gain more leverage in the proceedings. A…
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Fractured: Distrustful of frackers, abandoned by regulators
By: Kristina Marusic, Environmental Health News March 1, 2021 WASHINGTON COUNTY, Pa.—For nearly a decade, Bryan Latkanich has been telling anyone who’d listen that allowing two fracking wells to be drilled on his farm is the worst mistake he’s ever made. He’s a single father on disability who leased his land in 2010 at the height of the fracking boom, thrilled to have two wells 400 feet from his home in exchange for what he thought would be millions of dollars in royalties, only to run into problem after problem. The drilling disturbed more land than had been agreed to or permitted, which…
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Environmental advocates cheer Delaware River Basin Commission’s ban on fracking
By: Lisa Scheid, The Reading Eagle March 1, 2021 A decision last week by the Delaware River Basin Commission would ban fracking through the Delaware River watershed, including Berks County. There had been a temporary moratorium instituted in 2010, but that was recently challenged in court. The ban is also likely to face legal challenges. Also last week, the commission voted unanimously to develop regulations for the management of drilling wastewater coming into the watershed and for water being taken out of the watershed for use in drilling operations. The proposed wastewater regulations are to be available by Sept. 30. Hydraulic fracturing, called fracking,…
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Gov. Cooper nominates Dionne Delli-Gatti, another EDF alum, to lead Department of Environmental Quality
By: Lisa Sorg, NC Policy Watch February 16, 2021 Dionne Delli-Gatti, who previously worked as for the Environmental Defense Fund, is Gov. Roy Cooper’s pick to head the NC Department of Environmental Quality, his office announced today. Delli-Gatti was EDF’s director of Regulatory and Legislative Affairs and Southeast Climate and Clean Energy Initiatives. Former DEQ Secretary Michael Regan, now on his way to becoming EPA administrator, had also worked for EDF, focusing on clean energy. According to her EDF bio, Delli-Gatti “focused on maintaining North Carolina’s position as a clean energy leader and on promoting clean energy goals in other…
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Activists See Biden’s Day One Focus on Environmental Justice as a Critical Campaign Promise Kept
By: Kristoffer Tigue, Agya K. Aning, Judy Fahys, Katie Surma – Inside Climate News January 24, 2021 Catherine Flowers remembers the moment she realized the environmental justice movement had entered a new era of acceptance and recognition. It came last spring, the environmental justice activist said, when then-candidate Joe Biden snatched the Democratic nomination from Sen. Bernie Sanders and shortly afterward announced the creation of a joint task force to shape climate change policy. “He talked about environmental justice,” said Flowers, recalling her sense of amazement. “He also mentioned ‘cancer alley.’ I’ve never heard a president mention ‘cancer alley’ before,” she said, referring…
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Biden Interior nominee discusses environmental injustice with tribal leaders
By: Justin Coleman, The Hill December 28, 2020 Rep. Deb Haaland (D-N.M.) discussed environmental injustice with tribal leaders on Monday in her first meeting after being named President-elect Joe Biden’s nominee to lead the Department of the Interior. In the meeting, Haaland committed to “fully” honoring the U.S.’s treaty obligations to tribal nations and working with leaders to address the “disproportionate harm” Native Americans face “from long-running environmental injustices” and climate change. Haaland, if confirmed, would become the first Native American Cabinet secretary in U.S. history. The New Mexico lawmaker told leaders at the meeting that she plans…
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