Panel: Methane leak capture could add millions to ...

Ohio oil and gas drillers could use existing technology to find and fix most methane leaks at little or no cost to their bottom lines, according to experts on a recent panel at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. Better still: leak detection could create new jobs and revenue, boosting the state’s economy and helping to curb a potent greenhouse gas responsible for about a quarter of manmade global warming...

Report: Cheap Natural Gas and Renewables Could Clo...

Under the most favorable market dynamics for coal, “we project at least 71 [gigawatts] of retirements by 2030, roughly 65% more than currently planned,” the firm wrote. That’s a higher rate of retirement than the 65 gigawatts by 2030 projected by the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s reference case. And it would require natural-gas prices rising to $4 per 1 million British Thermal Units (mmbtu), along with more rapid...

China files WTO challenge to US tariffs on solar p...

BEIJING (AP) – China says it is challenging a U.S. tariff hike on solar panels before the World Trade Organization, adding to its sprawling conflicts with President Donald Trump over trade and technology. The 30 percent tariffs announced in January improperly help U.S. producers in violation of WTO rules, the Commerce Ministry said. It said a formal complaint was filed Tuesday with the WTO in Geneva. The solar duties...

Fracking Water Use Skyrockets, Creating 1,440 Perc...

The controversial gas and oil drilling method threatens to exacerbate a looming crisis over water. Fracking companies used 770 percent more water per well in 2016 than in 2011 across all the United States’ major gas- and oil-producing regions, according to a new study. The number of new fracking wells decreased as gas prices fell, but the amount of water used per well skyrocketed, with up to 1,440 percent more toxic...

Plans to allow mining, logging and more all-purpos...

Debate is already underway through public meetings and on social media over draft plans to allow mining and logging of hundreds of acres and expanding by miles all-purpose vehicle trails in some of Ohio’s 21 forests. Ohioans have just under a month to submit any concerns or other comments in writing to the state’s Division of Forestry, which has published drafts online of annual work plans for the forests. Combined, the...

GUEST COMMENTARY: Want to create jobs? Reduce foss...

We’ve all heard claims that fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas are major job creators. President Trump says so all the time. But it turns out that developing and installing the technology to reduce fossil fuel use — known in the industry as “energy efficiency” — creates many more jobs than fossil fuels. Energy efficiency jobs in the United States totaled 2.18 million in 2016, more than double the total of fossil fuel...

Let’s keep mileage goals and clean up our air

Opinion/Editorial: Posted Aug 8, 2018 at 5:00 AM    Central Ohio got the worrisome news on Friday that air quality here is subpar. That came just two days after the new head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency defended a White House proposal to significantly relax fuel-economy standards for new cars. The irony is obvious, but not surprising; it falls right in line with President Donald Trump’s enthusiasm for backward...

Big Coal joins fight against Lake Erie green energ...

CLEVELAND, Ohio – Boaters and birders have been upfront about their opposition to the six-turbine Icebreaker Wind project planned for Lake Erie, but a new, powerful voice of resistance has recently emerged: Big Coal. In documents and sworn statements filed with the Ohio Power Siting Board on Thursday, the wind farm developers presented evidence that Murray Energy Corp. has been bankrolling anti-Icebreaker consultants,...

Trump Fuel Efficiency Proposal Is Attack on Global...

The Trump administration followed through on a move long dreaded by environmental groups and several states Thursday, publishing an official proposal to rollback Obama-era vehicle emissions standards and to revoke California’s waiver to set stricter air pollution standards under the Clean Air Act, E&E News reported. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Highway Traffic Safety...

(Ohio Rep.) Cera unveils new coal research project...

COLUMBUS — Ohio Rep. Jack Cera, D-Bellaire, announced Tuesday the approval of about $1 million in funding by the Ohio Coal Technical Advisory Committee on which Rep. Cera serves. The grants will go toward pilot programs that explore novel uses for coal and associated byproducts. Cera highlighted two projects that explore methods of extracting rare earth elements from coal. REEs have emerged as an essential component for...

Researchers reveal scope of damage to Appalachia f...

Between 1985 and 2015, an average of 21,000 acres was converted to bare earth and rubble. Surface coal mining, including mountaintop removal mining, was responsible for the clearing of more than 7 percent of the land in central Appalachia — or an area about three times the size of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — from the mid-1970s through 2015, according to new research. A total of almost 2,300 square miles of land...

Is there a conservative case for a carbon tax?

When a Republican congressman from Florida proposed a tax on carbon emissions, a conservative backlash followed. Yet many GOP voters and businesses support incentives for a clean-energy economy. – Amelia When Florida Congressman Carlos Curbelo proposed a federal tax on carbon emissions, he broke ranks with many Republicans who reject taxation on principle and who assert that human activity is not warming the planet. But his...

IEEFA op-ed: A U.S. coal bailout wouldn’t stop ele...

A blatant misuse of the law and a phony national-defense argument It seems a waste of time and resources to call on a nearly 70-year-old defense law to rescue certain failing and outdated sectors of the energy industry. Yet that is precisely what has been proposed. The Trump administration is floating a plan to use the Defense Production Act of 1950, enacted as a drastic national-security measure to be deployed in time of...

Banks Pivot Toward Greener Finance in Climate Acti...

Some of Europe’s largest banks are unveiling plans to lend and manage money in greener ways as pressure mounts to account for risks associated with climate change. “It is coming, it’s a trend that’s started,” said Louis Douady, head of corporate social responsibility at Natixis SA in Paris. “The intention is to adapt our balance sheet to climate transition, so clearly we want to have a change in our business mix.” Financial...

‘Climate Change’ Has Been Scrubbed Fro...

The Department of the Treasury removed mentions of “climate change” from an unpublished sustainability report it prepared for 2017, E&E News reports. Meanwhile, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health—which researches risks to workers’ health—has removed “climate change” from certain webpages, according to work from the Environmental Governance and Data Initiative, an...