How Fossil Fuel Allies Are Tearing Apart Ohio̵...

With scare studies, policy drafts and political donations, industry groups turned Ohio lawmakers against policies they once overwhelmingly supported. This ICN story was also published in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. COLUMBUS, Ohio—On March 30, Bill Seitz, a charismatic Republican, took to the floor of the Ohio House to make a case for gutting a 2008 law designed to speed the adoption of solar and wind as significant sources...

Climate change impacts report presents risks, oppo...

Clean energy advocates hope the increased threats highlighted in the federal report will push the state to embrace climate action. Clean energy advocates say last month’s federal report on climate change underscores the need for action in Ohio, which faces increased risks from flooding, heat and pollution, according to the report. “There is dire certainty if we do not act on climate: loss of clean energy investment to other...

U.S. solar takes hit from Trump tariffs but is che...

(Reuters) – U.S. solar installations fell 15 percent in the third quarter as the Trump administration’s tariffs on overseas-made panels forced developers to put off large projects, according to a report commissioned by the industry’s primary trade group. Current weakness in the utility-scale market, however, will be offset by larger volumes of projects than had been expected over the next five years because solar...

Is nuclear energy the key to saving the planet?

A new generation of environmentalists is learning to stop worrying and love atomic power. Emma Redfoot stands at a whiteboard in a small conference room, sketching neutrons, protons and nuclei, her voice rising enthusiastically as she explains nuclear fission: A neutron blasted into a uranium-235 atom shatters the atom, releasing energy and yet more neutrons that split other uranium atoms, causing a frenetically energetic...

LG Fuel Cell Systems quitting Ohio after receiving...

NORTH CANTON, Ohio — LG Fuel Cell Systems is shutting the doors on its Fuel Cell Prototyping Center, laying off about 70 employees and unilaterally ending a 12-year relationship with the state of Ohio and Stark State College. The state spent $4.7 million to build the lab on the Stark State campus in 2006 for Rolls-Royce Fuel Cell Systems and SOFCo-EFS Holdings, a small Ohio company that had developed a fuel-cell and...

Green Energy Tide Sweeps Rural America Despite Pus...

The Trump administration may be denying that humans contribute to climate change. But the marketplace is fully accepting such scientific findings. It’s true even in Trump country — or the midwestern United States — that is placing its bets with renewable energy. The president’s skepticism of manmade global warming coincides with his support of fossil fuels — that they have comprised the preponderance of energy use and that...

‘Conceivably the Worst’: Groups, Lawma...

Bernard McNamee, a climate change denier who helped write the Trump administration’s failed coal and nuclear bailout plan, was confirmed Thursday as a commissioner on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The Senate approved the nominee on a straight party-line vote of 50-49 after Sen. Joe Manchin, the pro-coal Democrat of West Virginia, withdrew his support due to his concerns about McNamee’s stance...

Proposed Unconventional Oil & Gas Well Emissi...

Ohio EPA News Releases epa.ohio.gov 1 min read 11/20/18 PUBLIC INTEREST CENTER, (614) 644-2160 MEDIA CONTACT: Heidi Griesmer CITIZEN CONTACT: Mary McCarron Ohio EPA Requests Early Stakeholder Input for Potential Oil and Gas Rules Ohio EPA is requesting early stakeholder input until Dec. 19, 2018, on potential rules that would cover air pollution emissions from existing non-conventional oil and gas facilities that are not...

Greenland’s ice sheet is melting at its fastest ra...

The ice that sits atop Greenland spans an area more than three times the size of Texas and almost two miles deep at its thickest. If this frigid white expanse ridged with crystal blue rivers of meltwater were to thaw completely, it would raise global sea levels by more than 20 feet. Which is why it’s alarming that scientists are reporting this week that this sheet of ice is thawing, and doing so at an accelerating rate not...

IEEFA U.S.: A rough week for the American coal ind...

Momentum around declining consumption numbers, utility-company policy, export markets and internal assessments The economic problems facing the U.S. coal industry have been on manifest display this week. On Tuesday morning, the federal Energy Information Administration reported that coal use in the U.S. is on track to fall to its lowest level since 1979, and that by year’s end consumption will be 44% below the 2007 peak of...

‘A kind of dark realism’: Why the climate change p...

Smoke and steam billow from Belchatow Power Station, Europe’s largest coal-fired power plant, operated by PGE Group, on Wednesday near Belchatow, Poland. (Kacper Pempel/Reuters) In the daunting math of climate action, individual choices and government policies aren’t adding up. Solar panels are being nailed to rooftops, colossal wind turbines bestride the plains and oceans, and a million electric vehicles are on U.S....

AEP’s bid for Ohio’s largest solar far...

Business, construction and development leaders in Appalachia are rallying in support of AEP’s plan to build the largest solar farm in Ohio history. The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio held its first public hearing on AEP Ohio’s plan to build two significant solar farms in Highland County: Highland Solar Farm, which would come in at 300 megawatts, and Willowbrook Solar Farm, at 100 megawatts. If completed, the...

Why people become vegans: The history, sex and sci...

At the age of 14, a young Donald Watson watched as a terrified pig was slaughtered on his family farm. In the British boy’s eyes, the screaming pig was being murdered. Watson stopped eating meat and eventually gave up dairy as well. Later, as an adult in 1944, Watson realized that other people shared his interest in a plant-only diet. And thus veganism – a term he coined – was born. Flash-forward to today, and Watson’s...

Using Trump Tax Cut for Good: Patagonia Donates $1...

Outdoor retailer Patagonia is giving away the $10 million it made as the result of the “irresponsible” Republican tax cut. “Based on last year’s irresponsible tax cut, Patagonia will owe less in taxes this year—$10 million less, in fact. Instead of putting the money back into our business, we’re responding by putting $10 million back into the planet. Our home planet needs it more than we...

Weakening methane standards will hurt SE Ohioans

In mid-November, I traveled to Colorado to give testimony to the federal EPA regarding the rollback of methane standards that are vital to our community. I work for the Ohio Environmental Council as their southeast Ohio regional director, but I testified to amplify my own voice, as well as the voice of my neighbors as someone directly affected by methane pollution. Our region is at the epicenter of the Utica Shale deposit...