environment
Washington (AFP) - The world is currently experiencing its second major coral bleaching event in 10 years, with reef systems from Australia to Florida teetering on the brink of disaster following months of record-breaking ocean heat, a US agency announced Monday. The consequences of coral bleaching are far-reaching, affecting not only the health of oceans but also the livelihoods of people, food security, and local economies. Severe or prolonged heat stress leads to corals dying off, but there is hope for recovery if temperatures drop and other stressors such as overfishing and pollution are...
AFP
New York (AFP) - Oil companies drilling on public lands must post larger bonds and pay higher royalties under a rule finalized Friday by the Biden administration. The bonding requirements for development increased to $150,000 from $10,000, a level set in 1960 that no longer covers potential cleanup costs, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) said in a press release. In another shift, the Department of the Interior lifted royalty rates for leases to 16.67 percent from the previous level of 12.5 percent. The changes were described by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland as the most significant reform t...
AFP
Washington (AFP) - US President Joe Biden's administration on Wednesday announced the first nationwide tap water standards to protect the public from toxic "forever chemicals" linked to serious health harms ranging from cancers to developmental damage in children. Invisible and present in the water, soil, air and food supply, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) accumulate inside our bodies and never break down in the environment. A new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule would reduce PFAS exposure in the water supply of some 100 million people, preventing thousands of deaths and...
AFP
Los Angeles (AFP) - The booming use of electric vehicles in parts of California is reducing CO2 emissions in those areas, a study showed Thursday, bolstering a key pillar of the state's drive towards net zero. Scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, say a network of sensors set up around the San Francisco Bay Area -- where Teslas and other EVs are a common sight -- has logged a small but steady drop in the volume of planet-warming carbon dioxide being pumped out every year. "We show from atmospheric measurements that adoption of electric vehicles is working, that it's having the ...
AFP
Washington (AFP) - Following last week's crackdown on car emissions, President Joe Biden's administration on Friday unveiled finalized pollution standards for trucks, placing vehicle tailpipes at the forefront of his climate crisis agenda. The new rules announced by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will apply to vehicles including freight trucks, school buses and waste haulers built between 2027 and 2032, and will prevent around a billion tons of greenhouse gas emissions from entering the atmosphere. Heavy goods vehicles account for 25 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the US tra...
AFP
Washington (AFP) - The US administration of President Joe Biden on Thursday announced further protections for endangered species and their habitats, restoring a set of regulations weakened by Donald Trump. The new rules were touted as evidence of Biden's commitment to tackling climate change, though some environmental groups said the changes fell short of fully resurrecting necessary protections. "These revisions underscore our commitment to using all of the tools available to help halt declines and stabilize populations of the species most at-risk," Martha Williams, director of the US Fish a...
AFP
Houston (AFP) - Pointing to the still paltry share of renewable energy in global supply, the head of Saudi Aramco described the current energy transition strategy as a misguided failure on Monday. "In the real world, the current transition strategy is visibly failing on most fronts," Saudi Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser said at the CERAWeek conference in Houston. Fossil fuels accounted for 82 percent of global consumption last year, according to a report from consultancy KPMG cited by Nasser, who noted that the International Energy Agency has said oil demand could hit a record this year. "...
AFP
New York (AFP) - President Joe Biden's administration announced Wednesday revised pollution standards for cars and trucks meant to accelerate the US auto industry's shift to electric to mitigate climate change. The rules set ambitious emission reductions for 2032 but are moderated compared with preliminary standards unveiled last April. Following carmaker criticism, the final rules give manufacturers greater flexibility and ease the benchmarks in the first three years. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Michael Regan said the updated policy would lead to a future "powered by cleaner...
AFP
Washington (AFP) - President Joe Biden's administration on Monday finalized a rule banning the last remaining form of asbestos in the United States, half a century after the government first targeted the cancer-causing mineral. Chrysotile asbestos -- used in industrial processes, vehicle brake linings, pipe gaskets and more -- has already been prohibited in more than 50 countries, with the US a notable outlier. "While the use of asbestos in the United States has been declining for decades, use of chrysotile asbestos has continued to this day," Environmental Protection Agency chief Michael Rega...
AFP
Los Angeles (AFP) - The US Coast Guard is investigating a two-mile-long oil spill just off the California coast near Los Angeles, officials said Friday. The spill is located close to two oil rigs off the shore of Huntington Beach, a popular beach city known for its world-famous surfing, but the source is not yet known, the Coast Guard said in a statement. "The Coast Guard is contacting all potential spill sources in the area, but no source has been identified," it said. Authorities are "working to identify possible impacts to the shoreline and environmental protection strategies" but so far "n...
AFP
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