• Air

Making Plastic From Fracked Natural Gas Could Replace Coal and Steel in Ohio Valley

• air pollution
• ethane cracking
• fracking
• greenhouse gasses

Here in Madrid, the Mayor of Pittsburgh, Bill Peduto, touted his city as a green Phoenix, rising from the ashes of the failed steel and coal industries, with a growing economy based on high tech and health care companies and improved air and water quality — the city is turning a corner.  But he pointed out that just up the road Royal Dutch Shell is building a giant, greenhouse gas-spewing plant near Pittsburgh that will (using a process called “ethane cracking”) make tiny plastic pellets that can be turned into items like phone cases, auto parts, and food packaging according to The New York Times.

Why This Matters:  The Pittsburgh plant will be allowed to emit each year 2.25 million tons of carbon dioxide, 522 tons of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and 160 tons of particulate pollution or soot, according to local NGO the Breathe Project.

• Air

New Source Of Methane Leaks Identified—Eastern Cities

• climate change
• emissions
• EPA
• greenhouse gasses
• methane
• NOAA

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) flew reconnaissance flights over major metropolitan areas on the East Coast – Boston, Providence, New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C. and found that those cities were emitting nearly 950,000 metric tons of methane gas into the atmosphere, which was more than twice what EPA had estimated.

• Air

Nearly Half U.S. Governors Stand Up To Trump On Clean Cars

• air pollution
• Clean Car Rule
• climate change
• CO2
• fuel efficiency
• fuel efficiency standards
• greenhouse gasses

Twenty-four governors from across the country, including three Republicans and governors from states that voted for President Trump in 2016, have banded together to oppose one of Trump’s biggest climate policy rollbacks: the weakening of clean-car standards. The governors are calling for the Trump administration to require efficiency standard improvements every year, as well as asserting California’s legal right to implement its own clean air rules.

• Air

Trump Proposes Replacement for Clean Power Plan That Favors Coal

• air pollution
• Clean Air Act
• clean power plan
• climate change
• greenhouse gasses

The Trump Administration yesterday proposed to replace one of the signature domestic climate change achievements of the Obama Administration — the Clean Power Plan to cut emissions from coal plants — with the “Affordable Clean Energy” or ACE Rule — that essentially gives coal power plants more time and flexibility to cut toxic air emissions, which experts say could give those plants authority to increase their emissions in the short run.