On first day, Massachusetts Gov. Healey names climate chief

Steve LeBlanc | AP News

"Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey marked her first full day on the job Friday by issuing an executive order creating what she says is the nation’s first cabinet-level state climate chief. Healey said the climate chief will be charged with working with state officials and city and town leaders to help Massachusetts meet its climate goals. She named Melissa Hoffer to serve in the role. The Democrat said Hoffer will be responsible for driving climate policy across executive department agencies under Healey’s control and ensuring climate change is considered in all relevant decision-making. Hoffer has served as principal deputy general counsel for the Environmental Protection Agency and as chief of the Energy and Environment Bureau at the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office.

The executive order also creates an Office of Climate Innovation and Resilience within the governor’s office." Read More

Carolina Wrens Move North

Susan Shea | Northern Woodlands: The Outside Story

"...Carolina wrens have gradually expanded their range northward over the past 125 years or so. Bird guides now show their core range extending from Mexico and Texas, across the Southeast and Midwest, north to Chicago, and east to Boston. Birders have also reported sightings on eBird during all months of the year around northern New England. These sightings are concentrated in warmer areas such as the Connecticut River Valley, the Champlain Valley, and the coasts of New Hampshire and southern Maine. According to Kent McFarland, a conservation biologist with the Vermont Center for Ecostudies, Carolina wrens have steadily gained in abundance in Vermont and moved northward in the state over the past 30 years. Climate warming and the proliferation of backyard bird feeders have enabled these feisty, non-migratory wrens to make their homes farther north. However, severe winters with lots of snow and ice that cover ground-feeding areas can drastically reduce local populations. For example, the Vermont Breeding Bird Atlas shows that the exceedingly snowy winter of 1976-77 eliminated most Carolina wrens from the state. The winter of 2014-15, with its deep snows, devastated the Massachusetts population. But this resilient species usually recovers within a few years." Read More

The EPA wants more 'renewable' fuel. But what does that actually mean?

John McCracken/Grist | Popular Science

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed new standards for how much of the nation’s fuel supply should come from renewable sources. The proposal, released last month, calls for an increase in the mandatory requirements set forth by the federal Renewable Fuel Standard, or RFS. The program, created in 2005, dictates how much renewable fuels — products like corn-based ethanol, manure-based biogas, and wood pellets — are used to reduce the use of petroleum-based transportation fuel, heating oil, or jet fuel and cut greenhouse gas emissions. The new requirements have sparked a heated debate between industry leaders, who say the recent proposal will help stabilize the market in the coming years, and green groups, which argue that the favored fuels come at steep environmental costs. [...] Under the new EPA proposal, renewable fuels would increase by roughly 9 percent by the end of 2025 — an increase of nearly 2 billion gallons. [...] While renewable fuel standards have gained a stamp of approval from industry producers and the federal government, environmental groups see increased investment in ethanol, biomass, and biogas as doubling down on dirty fuel. 'It’s not encouraging because it continues on the false premise that biofuels, in general, are a helpful pathway to meeting our climate goals.'" Read More

EPA moves to toughen standards for deadly soot pollution

Matthew Daly | The Berkshire Eagle

"The Biden administration is proposing tougher standards for a deadly air pollutant, saying that reducing soot from tailpipes, smokestacks and wildfires could prevent thousands of premature deaths a year. A proposal released Friday by the Environmental Protection Agency would set maximum levels of 9 to 10 micrograms of fine particle pollution per cubic meter of air, down from 12 micrograms set a decade ago under the Obama administration. The standard for particle pollution, more commonly known as soot, was left unchanged by then-President Donald Trump, who overrode a scientific recommendation for a lower standard in his final days in office. Environmental and public health groups that have been pushing for a stronger standard were disappointed, saying the EPA proposal does not go far enough to limit emissions of what is broadly called 'fine particulate matter,' the tiny bits of soot we breathe in unseen from tailpipes, wildfires, factory and power plant smokestacks and other sources." Read More

Congress Urges EPA to Maintain Clean-Air Regulations on Chemical Recycling of Plastics

Tamakoce Wilderness Programs

"In a report tied to the massive $1.7 trillion federal budget bill signed last week by President Joe Biden, Congress has signaled to the Environmental Protection Agency that it should not loosen regulations around the chemical recycling of plastic waste. The advice from lawmakers was included in wording in a House Appropriations Committee report on the federal budget urging the EPA to continue to regulate chemical recycling as incineration with its stricter clean air requirements. It was not in the budget bill itself. The Congressional language 'encourages' EPA to take into account the environmental impacts of chemical recycling during an ongoing rule-making process by the agency. While not having the force of law, such report language can help document the omnibus budget bill’s legislative history, help people and courts interpret Congress’ intent, and may send a message, experts said this week. 'This is sending a very clear message to the (Biden) administration, to the EPA, to industry, saying chemical recycling is not recycling,' said Anja Brandon, associate director for U.S. plastics policy with the Ocean Conservancy, an environmental group that worked with Rep. Jared Huffman, D-California, to secure the language in the report. 'These technologies emit dangerous greenhouse gases and toxic chemicals while enabling industry to continue unfettered plastics production.'" Read More

Planetary Justice: Climate liability and nature's legal rights

Earthrise | Al Jazeera

"In Huaraz, in the Peruvian Andes, we meet farmer and mountain guide Saul Luciano Lliuya whose home is at risk of flooding due to glacial melt. Together with the environmental justice NGO, Germanwatch, Saul is taking one of the Global North’s largest polluters to court, claiming it holds some responsibility for the threat to his home. If successful, a precedent would be set which could open the way for similar cases. One legal precedent already having a global impact is the move to grant nature legal rights. Initiated by Ecuador in its 2008 constitution, nature’s legal personhood has been recognised in Europe for the first time. We learn how residents campaigned for the Mar Menor in Spain to be granted rights in order to protect it from being destroyed by human activity." Read More