Climate 411

The path to zero-emission trucks and a 100% clean energy future

By Felice Stadler / Published: October 1, 2020

The transportation sector is at a crossroads: zero-emission trucks have the potential to cut pollution that causes climate change and harms human health. However, a transition away from diesel pollution will require strong leadership from policymakers and private sector executives alike.

That opportunity was front and center last week, when EDF hosted a Climate Week 2020 panel discussion on new initiatives that will spur electrification in the transportation sector. So, too, was the urgent need to act: The transportation sector accounts for one-quarter of global carbon dioxide emissions. And urban cargo trucks burning dirty diesel are fouling the air, causing the deaths of nearly 10,000 people annually in the U.S. alone.

Here are four major takeaways from the panel, which included representatives from Air Alliance Houston, Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management, and Ryder trucks.

Truck pollution hits vulnerable communities hardest

“On-road sources of air pollution disproportionately burden communities of color and low-income neighborhoods due to their proximity to roads and vehicular traffic,” Dr. Bakeyah Nelson, executive director of Air Alliance Houston, noted in her presentation. Read More »

Posted in News / Comments are closed

Coming Soon: Trump EPA is Expected to Sign a Final “Air Toxics Loophole” That Will Increase Public Health Risk

By Tomas Carbonell / Published: September 22, 2020

EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler is expected to soon sign a final rule creating an “Air Toxics Loophole” in the Clean Air Act. That loophole would allow large industrial facilities nationwide to avoid complying with rigorous limits on hazardous air pollutants such as benzene and mercury.

EPA’s own analysis indicates that this radical new policy would affect thousands of major pollution sources, such as refineries and chemical plants, located in almost every state. EPA’s analysis also shows this policy risks increasing harmful air pollution by millions of pounds each year.  Many of the facilities that could take advantage of the Air Toxics Loophole are located in low-income communities and communities of color that are already suffering disproportionate burdens from air pollution and are most vulnerable to the health impacts of poor air quality.

The signing of the final Air Toxics Loophole will be only the latest in a series of outrageous Trump administration attacks on fundamental climate, clean air, and health protections that have taken place just since the coronavirus pandemic began – and one of at least 100 attempted rollbacks of environmental and public health protections that have taken place since 2017. EDF will forcefully oppose any final rule that weakens our nation’s bedrock safeguards against hazardous air pollution from industrial facilities. Read More »

Posted in Clean Air Act, Health, Policy / Read 1 Response

COVID-19, protecciones ambientales debilitadas y violaciones a los derechos amenazan los territorios indígenas y las áreas protegidas de la Amazonía

By Breanna Lujan / Published: September 16, 2020

Esta publicación fue corredactada por Bärbel Henneberger.

English version.

Hombre Kichwa cruzando el Río Arajuno, Amazonia Ecuatoriana. Bärbel Henneberger

Los Pueblos Indígenas que habitan en la Amazonía son conocidos como “guardianes de los bosques” debido a su eficacia para mantenerlos intactos. Los territorios indígenas y las áreas protegidas conjuntamente cubren el 52% de la Amazonía y almacenan el 58% del carbono, superando así a las tierras circundantes en términos de almacenamiento de carbono y limitando las emisiones netas de carbono, según un estudio publicado en la revista Proceedings of the National Academy of Science a principios de año.

Aun así, los territorios indígenas y las áreas protegidas se enfrentan a nuevas amenazas. Los líderes indígenas de la Amazonía informan del incremento de casos de violación de sus derechos. Las invasiones por parte de los mineros, ganaderos y madereros ilegales que invaden las tierras indígenas protegidas quedan en la impunidad y, al parecer, todos ellos se sienten alentados por las declaraciones de los líderes políticos y los esfuerzos legislativos para permitir en los territorios indígenas nuevas concesiones mineras.

Las concesiones para la extracción de petróleo y minería otorgados por los gobiernos se superponen a cerca de una cuarta parte de los territorios indígenas reconocidos, lo que aumenta sustancialmente su vulnerabilidad a los impactos adversos.

Al momento el COVID-19 agrava estas amenazas en un escenario en que las autoridades nacionales no han podido patrullar las reservas naturales y territorios indígenas con la frecuencia requerida; situación que las organizaciones criminales y madereros ilegales han estado usando a su favor.

Read More »

Posted in Forest protection, Indigenous People, International / Comments are closed

Environmental remediation and infrastructure policies offer crucial opportunities for fossil fuel communities in transition

By Jake Higdon / Published: September 15, 2020

This second report in a joint research series by Environmental Defense Fund and Resources for the Future examines U.S. federal environmental remediation and infrastructure policies that can create jobs and restore communities that have been historically reliant on fossil fuels. Daniel Raimi of RFF authored the report described in this blog post. All views expressed here are EDF’s.

When a fossil fuel plant or mine shuts down, jobs and economic prosperity are lost — but often, the pollution stays. Communities across the U.S. reliant on fossil fuels — and those located near them — have dealt with the dangerous air and water pollution that abandoned oil and gas wells, coal mines and coal-powered plants can leave behind. In Montana, for example, residents in the small town of Belt were surprised to discover dissolved aluminum in their local creek that was 144 times the surface water quality standard; it was coming from an abandoned coal mine upstream.

This is just one example of a massive problem: There are millions of sites in the US in need of environmental remediation, and there will be many more as the US transitions to a clean economy in the coming years.

Furthermore, the closure of a local power plant, mine or other high-carbon industry can result in a loss of government revenue that keeps crucial infrastructure that communities rely on, like roads and clean water, safe and intact. And both consequences of this loss — pollution and aging infrastructure — further worsen the potential for new economic opportunities that can revitalize a town.

This next report in our research series on fairness for fossil fuel workers and communities aims to give federal policymakers an understanding of how environmental remediation and infrastructure policies can support communities affected by the transition to a clean economy. Policymakers can also harness some of these policies to immediately create jobs in communities hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. Below, we summarize Raimi’s key observations from a review of the largest existing federal programs focused on environmental remediation and infrastructure.

Read More »

Posted in Jobs / Comments are closed

COVID-19, weakened environmental protections, and rights infringements threaten the Amazon’s Indigenous territories and protected areas

By Breanna Lujan / Published: September 14, 2020

This post was coauthored by Bärbel Henneberger.

Versión en español.

Kichwa man crossing Arajuno River, Ecuadorian Amazon. Bärbel Henneberger

Indigenous communities living in the Amazon rainforest are known as the ‘guardians of the forest’ because of their effectiveness in keeping forests intact. Indigenous territories and protected areas, which cover 52 percent of the Amazon and store 58 percent of the carbon, outperform surrounding lands in terms of storing carbon and limiting net carbon emissions, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science earlier this year.

But now Indigenous territories and protected areas are under threat. Indigenous leaders in the Amazon are reporting increasing instances of a violation of their rights. Miners, ranchers and illegal loggers who encroach on protected Indigenous land face impunity, and are apparently encouraged by statements from political leaders and legislative efforts to open territorial land to new mining concessions.

Further, government concessions for oil extraction and mining overlap almost a quarter of all recognized territorial land, substantially increasing their vulnerability to adverse impacts.

COVID-19 is compounding these threats, as authorities haven’t been able to patrol nature preserves and Indigenous territories as often— a situation that criminal organizations and illegal loggers have been using to their advantage.

Read More »

Posted in Forest protection, Indigenous People / Comments are closed

Is the media making the connection between wildfires and climate change?

By Keith Gaby / Published: September 10, 2020

With entire towns in Oregon and Washington razed, ash raining down on Denver and the skies over San Francisco an apocalyptic orange, the unprecedented wildfire season in the Western U.S. is getting plenty of coverage. But much of it seems to ignore a central fact: This devastation — more frequent, bigger wildfires, and a longer fire season — is largely a consequence of climate pollution produced by burning fossil fuels.

The way it works is easy to understand. Rising temperatures, a key component of climate change, evaporate more moisture from the ground, drying out the soil and making vegetation more flammable. At the same time, winter snow-packs are melting about a month earlier, meaning that the forests are drier for longer periods of time. Meanwhile, shifting meteorological patterns can drive rain away from wildfire-prone regions, a phenomenon scientists previously discovered in California and have linked in certain cases to human-made climate change.

Even before this year’s devastating season, we’ve seen a dramatic increase in the damage caused by wildfires. The average wildfire season in the West is three and a half months longer than it was a few decades back, and the number of annual large fires has tripled — burning six times as many acres. Read More »

Posted in News / Read 1 Response