• Air

EPA IG Investigating Trump Team’s Clean Car Rule Replacement

• Clean Car Rule
• Environmental Protection Agency
• Inspector General
• SAFE Rule
• smog
• tailpipe

The internal watchdog (Inspector General or IG) of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced they had opened an investigation into the Safer Affordable Fuel Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles rule, Coral Davenport and Lisa Friedman reported in the New York Times last week.

Why This Matters: As Vickie Patton, general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund, told the NYT, “this is really serious…It’s rare for E.P.A.’s inspector general to conduct an investigation of the agency’s rule-making.”

• Air

Federal Judge Dismisses Trump Administration Lawsuit Over CA-Canada Cap and Trade

• #climatechange
• California
• cap and trade
• conservation
• greenhouse gas emissions
• science

A federal judge on Friday dismissed a challenge brought by the Trump administration against a greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program that creates a market for emissions credits between the state of California and the Canadian province of Quebec.

Why This Matters: The Trump administration challenged the program because it argued California had no authority to deal directly with the government of another nation — that its program usurps the federal government’s primacy in foreign affairs.

• Air

Climate TRACE Project Aims to Identify Carbon Emissions Everywhere In Real Time

• #climatecrisis
• CO2
• environment
• flaring
• fracking
• Google
• premature births
• science

To comply with the Paris Climate Agreement it is crucial to actually track the emissions of greenhouse gases from places like power plants and factories. One newly announced project, Climate TRACE (Tracking Real-Time Atmospheric Carbon Emissions) Coalition, a coalition of nonprofits and tech companies backed by Al Gore, is working to identify emissions from every single specific source, Adele Peters reported in Fast Company yesterday.

Why This Matters: Currently, emissions data is often self-reported, and, according to Fast Company, it “can sometimes take years for the data to be gathered.”

• Air

Aridification Spreading in North America a New Study Finds

• aridification
• California
• Drought

As we expand our understanding of climate change, scientists have begun to focus on the growing role warming temperatures are playing as a potent driver of greater aridity–which is different than drought. As NOAA describes it, drought is “a period of abnormally dry weather sufficiently long enough to cause a serious hydrological imbalance”. Aridity is […]

• Air

Greenhouse Gasses Declining Globally, But In U.S., Air Pollution Not Down As Much

• #climatechange
• #conservationist
• air pollution
• COVID-19
• environment
• greenhouse gasses

A study published yesterday in the journal Nature Climate Change found that greenhouse gas emissions are down by 17% globally compared to 2019 levels thanks to strict coronavirus lockdowns, which could result in as much as a 7% decline in emissions for the year. 

Why This Matters:  We need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 4-7% each year globally for the foreseeable future to keep global temperature increases in check.

• Air

Will We Ensure Environmental Justice in the COVID-19 Recovery?

• #climatejustice
• #environmentaljustice
• clean air
• clean water #COVID-19
• conservation
• environment

For many who live near refineries, incinerators, and other heavy industry, lockdowns and shelter in place orders like we have all experienced lately are a far too common occurrence.  The New York Times took a closer look at these communities to show why the residents are so vulnerable to the disease. 

Why This Matters:  Dr. Mustafa Santiago Ali explained to put the COVID deaths into context, “we know more than 100,000 people die prematurely in the U.S. every year because of air pollution.”