Environment

Renewable Energy is Within Reach–Just Ask Holyoke, Mass.

COMMENTARY | Here's what a city that embraced green energy gained.

  • By Sylvia Broude and Elena Letona, Special to Route Fifty

Renewable Energy is Within Reach–Just Ask Holyoke, Mass.

COMMENTARY | Here's what a city that embraced green energy gained.

  • By Sylvia Broude and Elena Letona, Special to Route Fifty
Environment

Renewable Energy is Within Reach–Just Ask Holyoke, Mass.

COMMENTARY | Here's what a city that embraced green energy gained.

  • By Sylvia Broude and Elena Letona, Special to Route Fifty

The States That Gained and Lost The Most Solar Energy Jobs Last Year

Overall the industry shed about 8,000 positions in 2018.

  • By Bill Lucia

Care About Climate Change? Care About Scooters

COMMENTARY | Solving our biggest global crisis of a rapidly warming planet means considering everything through the lens of potential solutions, even something as small as the electric scooter.

  • By Andrew Savage, Special to Route Fifty

New Jersey Said 10 Years Ago It Would Rank Its Most Contaminated Sites. It Never Did.

The rankings were supposed to ensure that the most dangerous sites remained a priority even as the state gave private companies a bigger role in cleanups.

  • By Talia Buford, ProPublica

Sewage Case Will Get Airing Before U.S. Supreme Court

The controversy involves questions about when wastewater is subject to Clean Water Act permitting requirements.

  • By Bill Lucia

Invasive Species Have Some States Seeking Increased Federal Partnership

More than 5,000 invasive species—from plants like cheatgrass to rodents like nutria—inhabit the U.S. causing about $120 billion in economic damage annually.

  • By Dave Nyczepir

Cashing In on a Warming Arctic

In Maine, some see the melting ice to the north as an opportunity.

  • By Tatiana Schlossberg, The Atlantic

Entrepreneurs May Yet Save Us From Climate Change

COMMENTARY | Adapting to climate change will require new approaches at the local level. On the Chesapeake Bay, entrepreneurs are being incentivized to find the answers.

  • By Paul Robinson and Katerina Oskarsson, Special to Route Fifty

Logging, Money Battles Delay Wildfire Prevention Work

While the U.S. Forest Service is trying to work with states on projects to lower fire damage, more money is needed to comply with President Trump's "active management" mandate for public lands.

  • By Sophie Quinton

Streamlining Local Health Department Inspections and Permitting

No two agencies are alike, which made designing a software solution for preconfigured forms and procedures difficult in the past.

  • By Dave Nyczepir

Colorado Joins States Seeking to Boost Electric Vehicle Sales

Automakers are slow to sell EVs in places without zero emission vehicle mandates, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.

  • By Dave Nyczepir

A Regional Push to Clean Up Cars, Trucks and Mass Transit

Power plant emissions have fallen in the northeast. Could a new coalition do the same for transportation?

  • By Rebecca Beitsch

Cuomo Proposes Statewide Plastic Bag Ban in New York

The state would join California in implementing such a ban if it is enacted.

  • By Bill Lucia

County Leader Seeks to Stop Sewage Spills Along Border Amid Shutdown Fight

With tensions high over a wall, a San Diego County supervisor is focused on funding for waterworks.

  • By Bill Lucia

First-in-the-Nation ‘Skip the Slip’ Bill Introduced

STATE AND LOCAL ROUNDUP | Florida State Capitol sexual harassment settlement … Mayor De Blasio announces NYC Care … and Pennsylvania’s carbon goals.

  • By Michael Grass

A Terrifying Sea-Level Prediction Now Looks Far Less Likely

But experts warn that our overall picture of sea-level rise looks far scarier today than it did even five years ago.

  • By Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic

What Lies Beneath: To Manage Toxic Contamination in Cities, Study Their Industrial Histories

In a new book, the authors created maps of where and for how long hazardous industrial activities operated in four very different cities—New Orleans, Minneapolis, Portland and Philadelphia.

  • By James R. Elliott and Scott Frickel, The Conversation

Michigan’s New Governor Sends Strong Message to State Employees

STATE AND LOCAL ROUNDUP | Pennsylvania pension changes … N.Y. gov.’s about-face on marijuana ... San Diego scooter safety ... and Kentucky open-records lawsuits.

  • By Michael Grass

Democrats Establish a New House ‘Climate Crisis’ Committee

But it will likely lack the broad powers favored by supporters of a Green New Deal.

  • By Robinson Meyer, The Atlantic

States Eye Cap-and-Invest Transportation Policy to Reduce Emissions

Savings would be spent on public transit and zero-emission vehicles.

  • By Dave Nyczepir