Hi Friend,
Thanks for all you do to protect the environment!
Jane, Rose, Jake, Noah, and Chelsey
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EPA to GE: Good to go on Housatonic River cleanup
Larry Parnass | The Berkshire Eagle
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"The Environmental Protection Agency's approach to removing toxins from the Housatonic River, first outlined in broad terms two years ago, now is official. [...] David W. Cash, the EPA's regional administrator, notified a GE executive in Pittsfield that, as of Tuesday, his agency's 'revised final permit' for the Rest of River project is 'fully enforceable.' That plan calls for about a decade of work to remove soils tainted with polychlorinated biphenyls due to releases from a former GE transformer plant in Pittsfield." Read More
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Western Conifer Seed Bugs Come Inside
Declan McCabe | Northern Woodlands
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"Even beyond human houses, the [western conifer seed bug] (Leptoglossus occidentalis) is considered invasive in the Northeast. [...] Sometimes entomologists choose good common names, and this one deserves a prize. Western conifer seed bugs are native to western North America, consume the seeds of several conifer species, and are true bugs (Hemiptera). The species was detected in 1992 in Pennsylvania and is now widespread throughout the eastern U.S. and seems to also be munching its way through South America, Europe, and Southeast Asia. When an insect species that can consume many, many seeds shows up in a new place, ecologists and foresters may have reason for concern. Trees produce huge numbers of seeds, but not all seeds fall on ground suitable to growing. Of those that do, not all germinate. The seeds that do manage to take hold must compete for light with seedlings of other species. The next generation of trees depends on very large numbers of seed production." Read More
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Berkshire Gas sees natural gas as part of its plan to meet state climate goals. Some observers disagree
Danny Jin | The Berkshire Eagle
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"Asked how it will help meet Massachusetts climate goals, Berkshire Gas said natural gas will remain a key part of its plans. [...] Berkshire Gas concluded in a Feb. 15 document that 'all scenarios taken together, including qualitative and feasibility considerations, envision an important role for natural gas in the energy transition.' Observers who have followed the process continue to voice one central concern. While the changes being floated continue to rely on burning gas, they wanted the process, which Attorney General Maura Healey requested in June 2020, to look at how companies could shift to a business model built around electrification. [...] Researchers have debated the merits of synthetic natural gas, hydrogen, and renewable natural gas. William Moomaw, a former International Panel on Climate Change scientist who lives in Williamstown, has said he believes that leaning on those gases, which all emit greenhouse gases when burned, delays an inevitable transition. [...] Rosemary Wessel, director of BEAT's No Fracked Gas in Mass. program, said she wants Healey or the Department of Utilities to reject the report and ask the companies to start from scratch. [...] Critics have argued that allowing the companies to hire and select the consultants gave them inordinate power over a process meant to change the industry." Read More
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25 Dams to Watch in 2022
Eric Boucher | American Rivers
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"Thousands of dams need to come down in the U.S., and there are opportunities for river restoration at every size and scale. American Rivers curated the following list of 25 dam removal projects to illustrate examples and highlight opportunities of the types of dam removal projects that exist across the country. 'The related crises of climate change, racial injustice, and biodiversity loss are further degrading our rivers and require us to accelerate river restoration through dam removals nationwide,' said Tom Kiernan, President of American Rivers. 'Congress, the administration, and the river restoration community need to significantly accelerate dam removal efforts nationwide if we are to prevent further declines in river health, prevent extinction of fish and wildlife, enhance communities, and safeguard the public from failing dams,' Kiernan said." Read More
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Climate Change is intensifying Earth's water cycle at twice the predicted rate, research shows
Donna Lu | The Guardian
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"Rising global temperatures have shifted at least twice the amount of freshwater from warm regions towards the Earth’s poles than previously thought as the water cycle intensifies, according to new analysis. Climate change has intensified the global water cycle by up to 7.4% – compared with previous modeling estimates of 2% to 4%, research published in the journal Nature suggests. The water cycle describes the movement of water on Earth – it evaporates, rises into the atmosphere, cools and condenses into rain or snow and falls again to the surface. [...] Last August, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s sixth assessment report concluded that climate change will cause long-term changes to the water cycle, resulting in stronger and more frequent droughts and extreme rainfall events. [...] 'We’re seeing higher water cycle intensification than we were expecting, and that means we need to move even more quickly towards a path of net zero emissions.' The team used ocean salinity as a proxy for rainfall in their research. [...] 'We developed a new method that basically tracks … how the ocean is moving around with reference to this freshening or salinification,' Sohail said. 'It’s kind of like a rain gauge that’s in constant motion.'" Read More
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Bitcoin less green since China ban, research suggests
BBC News
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"Bitcoin has become less green since China cracked down on mining the cryptocurrency, new research suggests. The share of renewable energy powering mining fell from 41.6% in 2020 to 25.1% last August as miners stopped using Chinese hydro and moved to the US, where gas supplies much of their power. [...] 'The US grid only has a small part of its entire system sourced from renewable energy sources,' Mr. De Vries said. He added that many of the states popular with crypto-miners, such as Texas, Kentucky and Georgia, performed worse than the national average in terms of the amount of power generated from renewables. [...] The net result of these shifts, the research estimated, was that the carbon intensity of Bitcoin increased by about 17%. Bitcoin, the research suggests, produces more than 65.4 megatonnes of carbon dioxide per year. By comparison, Greece produced 56.6 megatonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in 2019. 'The carbon footprint per single bitcoin transaction is going to be something like 669 kilograms of carbon dioxide,' said Mr. De Vries. He said it was comparable to the per-passenger carbon footprint of a flight from Amsterdam to New York." Read More
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Mass. building code draft renews push for local autonomy on natural gas bans
Sarah Shemkus | Energy News Network
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"Activists and municipal leaders say a bill allowing Massachusetts cities and towns to ban natural gas in new construction and renovations is needed more than ever in light of a new building code proposal. 'The proposal was just disappointing on every level,' said Lisa Cunningham, a climate activist and member of the town of Brookline's representative town meeting. 'They're allowing the installation of fossil fuels at every single level — they're driving us in the wrong direction.' Decarbonizing building operations, which account for 27% of the state's carbon emissions, is a major component of Massachusetts' plan for going carbon-neutral by 2050, but there is not yet any unified strategy for achieving this goal. [.".] State Rep. Tami Gouveia and state Sen. Janie Eldridge, who both represent Acton, filed their own legislation that would grant every city and town in Massachusetts the right to adopt a requirement for all-electric construction without petitioning the state legislature. 'It would allow any community to prohibit new fossil fuel infrastructure,' Eldridge said. 'It's an important tool in the toolbox at a time when you're seeing a lot of new development in Massachusetts.'" Read More
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A Sicker, Poorer, and Less Abundant World
Robinson Meyer | The Atlantic
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"The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published another one of its tomelike reports on the dangers of global warming. [...] 'The cumulative scientific evidence is unequivocal: Climate change is a threat to human well-being and planetary health,' this one concludes. In order to prevent the worst impacts of climate change, humanity must begin to significantly reduce carbon emissions during its "brief and rapidly closing window" to do so. [...] Although this report is more than 3,500 pages, it reaches three conclusions that can be spelled out here. First, global warming will be costly. [...] And the fount of wealth—human health—will also worsen. This is the report's second conclusion: A warmer world will be a sicker world. [...] But people are adaptable; we live in homes and have technology at our disposal. Other living things are not as lucky. And this is the report's third and final conclusion: Many of climate change's harms are uncountable, unquantifiable, impossible to know because they will happen in the natural world. As the planet warms, the natural world will degrade. [...] Technically, this report and the last one, which came out in August, are linked: They form Volumes I and II, respectively, of the Sixth Assessment Report on Climate Change. Volume I looked at the physical and scientific basis of global warming; this update examines its effects on human society and the natural world. A third volume, about how to stop climate change, is due out this spring." Read More
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Honolulu Scores A Win Against Big Oil In Climate Change Lawsuit
Christina Jedra | Civil Beat
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"A City and County of Honolulu effort to hold oil companies accountable for climate change impacts that threaten Oahu overcame a major legal obstacle this week. Hawaii Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Crabtree ruled in favor of the city amid an attempt by Chevron, Sunoco, ExxonMobil, and other defendants to dismiss the lawsuit. The move is a key step in allowing the case to proceed to trial. [...] The Honolulu Board of Water Supply filed the state court case in 2020 with the help of Sher Edling, a national firm that is pursuing similar cases across the country. The plaintiffs argue that the fossil fuel industry engaged in a decades-long campaign of deception to discredit climate science and sow doubt in the mind of the public that fossil fuel production was harming the planet. And now, the lawsuit complaint says, the public is paying the price." Read More
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Panama Enacts a Rights of Nature Law, Guaranteeing the Natural World's 'Right to Exist, Persist and Regenerate'
Katie Surma | Inside Climate News
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"...Panama now joins Bolivia, New Zealand, Bangladesh, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, and Mexico, among other countries, which have either issued court decisions, enacted laws, or amended constitutions recognizing the legal rights of nature. [...] Legislation that defines nature as 'a unique, indivisible and self-regulating community of living beings, elements and ecosystems interrelated to each other that sustains, contains and reproduces all beings.' The legislation includes six paragraphs of rights extended to nature, including the 'right to exist, persist and regenerate its life cycles,' the 'right to conserve its biodiversity,” and the “right to be restored after being affected directly or indirectly by any human activity.' [...] The legislation also imposes new obligations on Panama’s government, including a requirement that its plans, policies, and programs respect the rights of nature. It instructs the government to develop manufacturing processes and energy policies that safeguard ecosystems, and it requires the government to promote the rights of nature as part of its foreign policy. 'Panama is one of the 25 most megadiverse countries globally, playing a pivotal role in preserving biodiversity and mitigating climate change,' said Constanza Prieto Figelist, Latin American legal director at the Earth Law Center, which helped draft the legislation. 'The approval of this Law is fundamental because it joins the efforts of Colombia and Ecuador to recognize the rights of nature, creating a conservation corridor in the region that opens the doors for holistic and joint governance of forests, rivers, and the ocean.'" Read More
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Bald Eagles Give & Take
Mary Holland | Naturally Curious
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"Although a Bald Eagle is massive, has excellent eyesight, powerful leg muscles, and strong talons to grip prey with, their predilection for foraging for live prey (mostly fish but also mammals, birds, and reptiles) isn't as great as one might imagine. Often they (particularly immature eagles who lack experience foraging) resort to scavenging dead animals or stealing prey from other birds rather than capturing live prey." Read More
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COMMUNITY CALENDAR
We list events from a variety of local and regional organizations and individuals.
Events with BEAT:
Check back next week!
Community Calendar:
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2
THURSDAY, MARCH 3
FRIDAY, MARCH 4
SATURDAY, MARCH 5
SUNDAY, MARCH 6
MONDAY, MARCH 7
TUESDAY, MARCH 8
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9
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JOBS
We list jobs related to the environment from a variety of organizations.
Housatonic Valley Association (HVA) | Stockbridge
Park Ranger | Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy | Boston | deadline 3/31
***Are you a non-profit environmental organization looking for willing, capable, and *free* summer interns?
The Center for Environmental Studies at Williams College provides funding to students to pursue unpaid environmental summer internships with non-profit organizations and governmental agencies, supervised research, and creative endeavors. Learn more about this summer program and how you can get involved here.
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Environmental Monitor
February 23, 2022
The Environmental Monitor provides information on projects under review by the Massachusetts Environmental Policy Act (MEPA) office, recent MEPA decisions of the Secretary of Energy & Environmental Affairs, and public notices from environmental agencies.
Berkshire Index:
Pioneer Valley Index:
Statewide Index:
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Public Notices
Public Notices listed here are from a variety of sources, from town conservation commissions and select boards to state and federal agencies. These listings are for Berkshire, Hampshire, Hampden, and Franklin counties. Listings are only posted if they are environmental in nature. You can find all public notices for Massachusetts here.
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Berkshire Environmental Action Team
20 Chapel St., Pittsfield, MA 01201
(413) 464-9402
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