The mythical peril of divesting from fossil fuels

The mythical peril of divesting from fossil fuels Commentary 13 June, 2018 Published as part of our Sustainable Finance Leadership Series By Jeremy Grantham, Co-Founder, Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment I have met more investment committees than I care to think about. Perhaps a couple of thousand. There is a no more conservative group on the planet than an investment committee. You could be forgiven...

Group files suit against ODNR for details about pe...

Columbus, OH. Buckeye Environmental Network (BEN) has filed a lawsuit against the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) for withholding critical public information, violating Ohio law. Under public records law ORC 149.43, Ohio Department of Natural Recourses should have granted, but instead denied, a file review request by the group’s Executive Director of ODNR files on AquaSalina, a product of oil and gas waste. The...

Study Finds Health Threats Posed By Oil And Gas Wa...

STATE IMPACT PENNSYLVANIA – Spreading oil and gas wastewater has been a common and cheap way for municipalities to suppress dust on unpaved roads in parts of Pennsylvania for years. But a new study found the practice — which the state recently ended — could threaten environmental and public health by leaching metals, salts, and radioactive materials into surface or groundwater, nearby soil, and even the air. The study, from...

10 Tips for Traveling More Responsibly

Each year, almost 1.2 billion people travel abroad, making travel and tourism one of the largest industries in the world. Representing a whopping 10 percent of the global economy, it supplies millions of jobs and benefits countless communities. Yet while travel has many positive impacts, it can also take a heavy toll on the environment, from putting increased strain on fragile ecosystems and culturally significant sites to...

We just got a clear sign the trillion-dollar coast...

Climate change hits U.S. property values, new analysis finds Home buyers are starting to incorporate climate risk into the price of property in areas facing warming-driven extreme weather disasters, new research finds. And that’s bad news for the trillion-dollar coastal property bubble. “Homes in areas most exposed to flood and hurricane risk were worth less last year, on average, than a decade earlier,” according to...

Ohio lawmakers fine-tune renewable energy mandates

COLUMBUS — Ohio utilities would still have to find more of their power from renewable sources like solar and wind but not as much as required by current law under a bill that could soon see a Senate vote. A revised version of House Bill 114 rolled out last week would get rid of the House-passed concept of replacing the mandates with voluntary goals carrying no penalties for failure. The bill also seeks to resolve a four-year...

A new unity on solutions for climate change

Both parties in Congress now support incentives for capturing carbon emissions from oil, gas, and coal. The political shift from a divisive debate is welcome. Is the political climate over climate change finally changing for the better in Washington? Perhaps, if you listen to the buzz about a bipartisan effort in Congress to take action on carbon emissions from the use of coal, oil, and natural gas. In February, lawmakers of...

Coshocton County group opposes company’s effort to...

COSHOCTON — A company operating injection wells in Coshocton County has asked regulators to allow a change in its permitting to accept industrial and other nonhazardous waste fluids instead of just oilfield brine. If Buckeye Brine is successful, it would mark the first time an Ohio Class II injection well was switched to a Class I. Operators say they’ve been pumping oilfield fluids into rock formations deep underground for...

How the energy boom shaped a small town in rural A...

When a fracking company came to a small community in rural Pennsylvania, many people signed the lease that allowed the company to access the natural gas resources on their land. Among them was Stacey Haney, who at that time owned a small farm. Haney saw the lease as a way to support American energy, and like many other people, a way to get some extra money to support life. But money is not the only thing fracking brought to...

Solar Panel Tariff Will Cost Over $2.5 Billion In ...

June 7 (Reuters) – President Donald Trump’s tariff on imported solar panels has led U.S. renewable energy companies to cancel or freeze investments of more than $2.5 billion in large installation projects, along with thousands of jobs, the developers told Reuters. That’s more than double the about $1 billion in new spending plans announced by firms building or expanding U.S. solar panel factories to take advantage of...

Editorial: Trump bailout turns free market upside ...

Houston Chronicle: Americans of a certain age likely remember Tennessee Ernie Ford, a TV entertainer whose musical rendition of a coal miner’s lament, “Sixteen Tons,” sold millions of records in the mid-1950s. Written a decade earlier by a former Kentucky coal miner, “Sixteen Tons” opened with the evocative question: “You load sixteen tons, what do you get?” In his sonorous baritone voice, Ford offered up a doleful reply....

Trump Skipping G7 Climate Meeting on Climate, Clea...

President Donald Trump headed for the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Canada on Friday but will be leaving before Saturday’s meeting on climate change, clean energy and oceans. The White House said an aide will take Trump’s place, CNN reported. The announcement of his early departure comes amid a brewing war on tariffs. French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a joint...

TransCanada Pipeline Explodes in West Virginia

A newly installed TransCanada natural gas pipeline exploded early Thursday in the remote Nixon Ridge area of Marshall County in West Virginia. No injuries were reported but flames and smoke from the blast could be seen as far as 20 miles away, residents told local media. Area police told CBS News the fire was “very large—if you can see it from your house, evacuate.” “It sounded like a freight train coming...

Personal View: Clean energy is vital to the health...

The health of our community, environment and economy are directly linked. Clean energy is essential to all three, with benefits that ensure a thriving business community and a robust health care system here in Ohio. That is why Ohio businesses and health care institutions are increasingly embracing clean energy and calling on lawmakers to do the same. As the Ohio General Assembly considers policies that would undercut the...

17 Governors Renew Climate Pledges on Anniversary ...

A year ago today, President Donald Trump announced plans to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement. His action spurred Syria and Nicaragua, the only two holdout countries, to join the landmark deal to limit warming well below the dangerous threshold of 2°C. While the federal government falters, scores of businesses, institutions, cities and states across the nation are bucking Trump and remain committed to the...