Springfield Climate Justice Coalition encourages residents to speak out at virtual Energy Facilities Siting Board hearing on December 14th as Eversource Gas pushes for permit required to build its proposed new gas system expansion project in Springfield and Longmeadow

MassWildlife | Division of Fisheries and Wildlife

"Eversource Gas has filed with the Energy Facilities Siting Board (EFSB) for approval to build its proposed 'Western Massachusetts Gas Reliability Project'. Eversource wants to build (1) a new 'point of delivery (POD)' meter station in Longmeadow, (2) a new 16” 200 psi pipeline beneath the streets of Longmeadow into Springfield to (3) an upgraded regulator station in downtown Springfield. The EFSB will hold only one remote public hearing despite the EFSB Handbook stating 'the Siting Board holds one or more public comment hearings in the project area where a facility is proposed.' Residents of the impacted communities are encouraging the public to take a stand against this dangerous and unnecessary proposed gas expansion project by testifying at the public hearing at 6pm on December 14th, or by sending a written comment to the EFSB by January 17th. For the Zoom link for the remote public comment hearing click here." Read More

Court upholds decision to revoke permits for Springfield biomass plant

Dharna Noor | The Boston Globe

"In a win for environmental justice and public health advocates, the state has delivered a major setback to a bitterly contested proposal to build a wood waste-burning power plant in Springfield. The plant’s developer, Palmer Renewable Energy, had promoted its plan for a $150 million 35-megawatt facility as a climate-friendly alternative to fossil fuels. But it received intense opposition from locals and environmental justice advocates who said it would spew soot and toxic pollution that could aggravate health problems in nearby poor communities while also warming the climate. [...] In its November 28 ruling, the Massachusetts Office of Appeals and Dispute Resolution upheld a decision last year by the state’s Environmental Protection Department to revoke a key permit it had issued the plant a decade before. The appeals office said 'recent societal context and heightened focus on Environmental Justice' played a role in the decision and noted that both the 2021 Massachusetts Climate Roadmap law and a 2021 update to the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs’ Environmental Justice policy mandated increased protections for low-income communities of color, which tend to be disproportionately impacted by pollution." Read More

Scientific 'breakthrough' in nuclear fusion could launch new era of clean energy

Stephenie Ebbs | ABC News

"The Department of Energy on Tuesday announced a scientific breakthrough in nuclear fusion at a national lab in California, marking a major step toward developing a new, sustainable form of energy that releases virtually no carbon dioxide or other types of air pollution. Scientists at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California successfully generated a fusion reaction between two hydrogen atoms and maintained that reaction in a controlled setting, marking the potential to use such reactions to generate huge amounts of energy without burning fuels. The announcement could mark a major step in creating a form of energy that would not release the gases that are warming the planet and contributing to climate change, but is still decades away from being ready for large-scale application." Read More

Renewables to overtake coal as world's top energy source by 2025, IEA says

Rachel Pannett| The Washington Post

"The world is set to add as much renewable energy in the next five years as it did in the past two decades, as a global energy crisis sparked by the war in Ukraine accelerates growth in renewables such as wind and solar, the International Energy Agency says.

Led by solar energy, renewables are poised to overtake coal as the largest source of electricity generation worldwide by early 2025, helping to keep alive the global goal of limiting Earth’s warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 Fahrenheit), according to the Paris-based agency’s latest forecasts. 'Energy security concerns caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have motivated countries to increasingly turn to renewables such as solar and wind to reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels,' the IEA said in a report on renewable energy published this month. Global renewable power capacity is now expected to grow by 2,400 gigawatts between 2022 and 2027, an amount equivalent to the entire power capacity of China today, according to the IEA report, the latest on the renewables sector." Read More

Audubon Invites Volunteers to Join the 123rd Christmas Bird Count

National Audubon Society

"For the 123rd year, the National Audubon Society is organizing the annual Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC). Between December 14 and January 5, tens of thousands of bird-loving volunteers will participate in counts across the Western Hemisphere. The twelve decades’ worth of data collected by participants contribute to one of only two large existing pools of information notifying ornithologists and conservation biologists of what conservation action is required to protect birds and the places they need. Find your local count here. The Audubon CBC is one of the longest-running wildlife censuses in the world. [...] When combined with other surveys like the Breeding Bird Survey, the Audubon CBC provides a picture of how the continent’s bird populations have changed in time and space over the past hundred years. The long-term perspective is vital for conservationists. It informs strategies to protect birds and their habitat and helps identify environmental issues with implications for people as well. [...] Audubon CBC data are also used to measure how birds are already responding to climate change. A 2022 Audubon study used 90 years of Christmas Bird Count data to show how birds have shifted amid a century of major environmental changes. By tracking how bird ranges have moved over time, conservation efforts can be prioritized in areas that are important for birds today and in a climate-altered future. With two-thirds of North American bird species at increasing risk of extinction by the end of this century, Audubon CBC data is more important than ever for effective conservation." Read More

Why American Aluminum Plants Emit More Climate Pollution Than Some of Their Counterparts Abroad

Phil McKenna | Inside Climate News

"...Century Aluminum Sebree, a series of long, metal buildings built along the Green River nearly half a century ago, is the largest emitter of perfluorocarbons (PFCs) from aluminum production in the United States. Though considered non-toxic by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, tetrafluoromethane (CF4) and hexafluoroethane (C2F6), PFCs that are unwanted byproducts of aluminum production, are among the most potent and longest-lasting greenhouse gases on the planet. They belong to a class of synthetic, fluorine-containing chemicals known as 'the immortals' because of how long they remain in the atmosphere. Once the gases are released, they are 'essentially permanent additions to the atmosphere,' the Environmental Protection Agency notes. PFCs threaten 'the public health and welfare of current and future generations,' according to a 2009 determination by the EPA as part of a sweeping 'endangerment finding' on greenhouse gases. However, unlike carbon dioxide and methane, the EPA does not regulate PFCs." Read More

Analysis: Protecting 30% of the planet to save nature is not as simple as it sounds

Gloria Dickie | Reuters

"...the world needs to set aside a third of all land and sea territories to save them, U.N. experts say. The call is central to the global agreement being hashed out this month at the U.N. biodiversity summit in Montreal. If approved at the end of the summit next week, governments would be agreeing to set aside 30% of their land and sea territories for conservation by 2030 – doubling the amount of land area and more than tripling the ocean territory currently under conservation. More than 110 countries have come out in support of the 30-by-30 goal, including Canada, the United States and France. [...] But as is often the case with science-based policy, the details matter to whether a 30% global conservation goal can truly save the world's imperiled species and places. [...] This driving question ultimately comes down to quantity versus quality. There is not a strong scientific argument behind 30% as the threshold for staving off species loss, experts said. In reality, it could take a much greater percentage of land or sea — or a lower percentage — depending which areas are selected. [...] There is a temptation ... to conserve vast tracts of land that are already without many people, but also have relatively little biodiversity, such as the Arctic tundra or Saharan desert. But it is important to protect areas with lots of different species, known as biodiversity hot spots, even if they are more challenging to conserve because people live there or there are extractive industries." Read More

What are keystone species and why do we need them?

Stuart Braun | Deutsche Welle (DW)

"From wolves to elephants to green moss, keystone animal and plant species are vital facilitators of healthy and biodiverse ecosystems. When wolves were hunted to near extinction in parts of the US and Europe, the environment rapidly changed. Deer or elk no longer had a predator, allowing them to overgraze and trample vegetated areas where they once dared not tread. Higher populations of the hoofed mammal altered landscapes and destroyed habitats that supported other species such as songbirds. Soil erosion caused rivers to change course, impacting marine ecosystems. This outsized impact on biodiversity is the common trait of keystone species. But as many become endangered through hunting or habitat loss, the environment they once regulated is suffering." Read More