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Forests, especially old, undisturbed ones, not only contribute to replenishing our groundwater but also act as the first source of filtration for streams, ponds, and reservoirs. 150 million people in the United States have some of their drinking water filtered by forests. Forests, especially old, undisturbed ones, not only contribute to replenishing our groundwater but also act as the first source of filtration for streams, ponds, and reservoirs. Approximately 74 percent of all water in the U.S. is sourced from above-ground water sources. Prioritizing the protection of old-growth forests is an easy way to ensure that we continue to supply Americans with clean drinking water.
I watched the late afternoon sun sparkle and dance across the water of a Rio Grande tributary in northern New Mexico. I marveled at the healing this small river has undergone. Today, the riverbed is reconnected to its floodplain and flowing in numerous interconnected channels and wetlands. But a few years ago, this view was dramatically different as this river was eroded six feet below its bank and there were no beavers in sight. What Was Taken from Our Rivers Prior to European colonization, North American rivers contained millions of beaver dams and large amounts of woody debris, such as large dead trees. Soon, however, people began to rapidly remove woody debris and beavers were indiscriminately trapped to provide for the European fur trade. Prior to trapping, the North American beaver population was estimated to be around 400 million. It’s roughly 12 million today, and most experts believe beavers are functionally extinct, meaning they do not exist in numbers that result in ecosystem improvements.
Ohio is letting the oil and gas industry put more toxic waste underground despite community concerns — even as the state defers to local opponents of of clean energy.
The Trump administration's "energy dominance" council and a bipartisan group of governors unveiled a plan on Friday to address rising prices in the nation's largest power grid. Why it matters: It's the latest sign that the administration is taking seriously the voter angst over skyrocketing electricity bills due in part to huge demand from AI-driven data centers. Driving the news: Administration officials and the governors of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and other states are urging grid operator PJM Interconnection to hold an emergency auction for tech companies to bid on 15-year contracts for new electricity generation capacity.
The Trump administration is continuing its all-out assault on public lands and waters in Alaska’s Arctic to maximize oil and gas drilling for the benefit of corporate polluters. Earthjustice has spent decades fending off oil and gas drilling proposals in the region’s most sensitive landscapes to protect irreplaceable ecosystems, traditional ways of life, and our planet. By fighting to keep fossil fuels in the ground in Alaska and elsewhere, we are helping to rein in a worsening climate crisis that is warming the Arctic nearly four times faster than anywhere else. Alaska needs ways to power its economy that respect its lands and people – not this. Now this work is more urgent than ever.
This document provides instructions for the use of the Environmental Screening and Permitting Tracking Tool (ESAPTT) for Eligible Entity users. Link to Resource
NASA released its findings on 2025 temperatures, but unlike previous agency statements, this one does not mention climate change—in line with the Trump administration's sweeping war on science.
Thirty-one people died. More than 16,000 homes, businesses and other structures burned between Altadena, Pacific Palisades and Malibu a year ago. Just 10 homes have been rebuilt – one of the numbers that tell a powerful story. But climate reporter Dorany Pineda and photographer Jae C. Hong report on a less visible struggle – people whose homes are standing but were contaminated with toxic smoke, soot and ash. What lurks inside has been a secondary trauma. The environmental difficulties in California are frequently seen following major disasters, particularly in flooding, which can expose people to all kinds of toxins carried by the waters.
Hangzhou-based startup DeepSeek has emerged as a key player in China's push to build its own AI ecosystem and bolster the domestic chip sector, drawing global attention after Silicon Valley executives praised its DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1 models. Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is expected to launch its next-generation AI model V4, featuring strong coding capabilities, in mid-February, The Information reported on Friday citing people familiar with the matter.
The frozen edges of Antarctica are less stable than they appear. Beneath the wide, seemingly immovable shelves of ice, the ocean is at work. Currents carry heat into hidden cavities, silently reshaping the foundation of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Most of what lies below the ice remains out of reach. Or at least, it did. In recent years, scientists have begun to penetrate these spaces using advanced autonomous vehicles. These underwater robots are deployed beneath the shelves to map terrain, measure melt, and study how seawater and glacial ice interact in places satellites cannot see. One such mission, conducted beneath the Dotson Ice Shelf, returned with the most detailed images yet of an Antarctic glacier’s underside. Then the robot disappeared. But, before contact was lost, it had recorded unexpected structures beneath the ice.
BOSTON – The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries has declared certain areas of Boston Harbor safe for shellfishing for direct human consumption for the first time in a century. In 1925, a national typhoid epidemic caused by the consumption of contaminated oysters led to the closure of almost all of Boston Harbor to shellfishing. Since that time, only specially-licensed harvesters have been permitted into certain areas to access moderately-contaminated softshell clams, which then go to a purification facility.
Trump administration policies and AI needs are fueling a growing mismatch between energy supply and demand. That’s a huge problem, but there may be a way out. Almost a year ago, President Donald Trump declared that the United States was experiencing an “energy emergency.” At the time, the U.S. was beating national and world-historical records for oil and gas production, as well as for wind and solar generation. But since then, the threat of an energy emergency really has emerged, in large part thanks to Trump’s own interventions in the power sector. The Trump administration has blocked construction of renewable power sources, rescinded billions of dollars allocated by Congress to expand the grid and clean energy, and helped pass a law that vaporized federal tax credits for wind and solar projects.
In a rational world, the conversation about the island would be about the melting ice sheet that could easily add a foot or more to the level of the ocean before the century is out.
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Pennsylvania contains almost 83,000 miles of rivers and streams, ranging from small trickles to large rivers. These waterways are important because they provide water for people, farms, and industries; provide habitat for many kinds of wildlife and fish; and also provide us with great places to fish, swim, and boat. As our landscape changes, it begins to have an impact on stream health. What we do on or to the land affects both the quantity (volume) and quality (pollutant levels) of the water in our streams and lakes. The land area through which any water moves, or drains, to reach a stream is called a watershed.
Drivers exposed to several types of life-threatening oil and gas waste are now asking the Department of Transportation to enforce regulations to protect them.
Here's what to know about proposals for enormous new data centers, and what Earthjustice is doing to control their pollution, climate impacts, and your energy bill.
Sure, coal had a comeback in 2025. But the year also marked the first time Texas got more power from solar than from the increasingly expensive fossil.
It started with an order to restore climate funding for blue states, and ended today with yet another judge saying Trump can't halt offshore wind construction.
Methane was in the spotlight at COP30, the major climate conference held in early November in Belém, Brazil. Since the creation of the Global Methane Pledge in 2021, many countries have set targets to reduce methane emissions by 30% from 2020 levels. At a methane summit convened at the conference, the United Kingdom and 10 other countries endorsed a commitment to achieve near-zero methane emissions across the fossil fuel sector.
Out in the fertile yet water-constrained farmlands of California’s western Central Valley, a massive solar, battery, and power grid project that could provide a quarter of the state’s clean energy needs by 2035 has taken a critical step forward. In December, the board of directors of the Westlands Water District, the agency that manages water delivery to more than 600,000 acres in California’s agricultural heartland, approved the Valley Clean Infrastructure Plan.
A federal judge is allowing a major wind project to resume construction off Rhode Island's coast while the court battle over the Trump administration's recent stop-work order plays out. Why it matters: The preliminary injunction is a win for the nearly complete Revolution Wind project, which would provide power to Rhode Island and Connecticut. The project is jointly owned by Ørsted and BlackRock's Global Infrastructure Partners. - It could signal that other recently halted projects will be able to proceed as well.
Nvidia and various auto suppliers are forming strategic partnerships to overcome challenges and accelerate the development of self-driving vehicles, amid skepticism from established automakers regarding fully autonomous technology. The role of AI and evolving partnerships aims to reshape the autonomous driving landscape.
For the first time in 25 years, the US Drought Monitor shows that no area of California is experiencing unusually dry or drought conditions. The Drought Monitor tracks and reports on the development or recovery of short and long-term drought patterns across the U.S.
Key indicators, from the cost of fossil gas to the number of heat pumps sold, signal building decarbonization will march onward in the U.S. despite challenges. It might seem like a dicey time for building decarbonization in the U.S., where edifices and the energy they consume account for about a third of the nation’s annual carbon pollution. Republicans in Congress have cancelled tax credits that would have helped households save big on clean energy upgrades. The Trump administration is dismantling federal building-decarbonization policies and trying to block states and cities from setting rules that restrict fossil fuel use in homes and businesses. Even some Democrats who once championed such mandates U-turned last year: Los Angeles’ mayor repealed an ordinance that most new construction go all-electric, and New York’s governor delayed a similar statewide law previously slated to go into effect last week.
Last month, Ofcom, the United Kingdom’s telecom regulator, granted Amazon’s Kuiper Systems a license to provide low-Earth-orbit-based (LEO) broadband Internet in the country. The move places Kuiper systems in a rival position with the industry leader, and SpaceX subsidiary, Starlink Services. And while more specialized LEO broadband Internet interests are also emerging—in the public and private sectors—Ofcom’s decision signifies an important shift in consumer LEO Internet providers. The game is shifting, in other words, from a single-player to a multiplayer one. Which is not to say, however, that the game today is evenly matched. As one analyst from Copenhagen-based Strand Consult recently put it in the industry publication Broadband Breakfast, Kuiper now is just “a burger bar, while [Starlink Services] runs an interstellar McDonald’s.” In fact, “burger bar” is being charitable
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