Sustainability
Scientists announce a fusion breakthrough with big implications for clean energy
Scientists at a U.S. national laboratory announced Tuesday that they achieved fusion ignition, a breakthrough decades in the making that could have major implications for clean energy. Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory near San Francisco said that on Dec. 5, for the first time anywhere in the world, they managed to produce more […]
Geothermal developer shrinks plans after toad’s endangered listing
A Nevada-based renewable energy company plans to significantly shrink the size of a planned geothermal power plant in order to ease federal criticisms of its potential impacts on an endangered toad. Earlier this month, federal wildlife managers announced the Dixie Valley toad, a species unique to Nevada, would be listed as endangered and provided permanent […]
Nevada delegation teams up to expand Fallon bombing range
Nevada lawmakers have secured legislation that would nearly triple the size of a Naval air station bombing range near Fallon. The bill is set to be included in the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), an annual appropriations bill that must pass in order to fund the military, and will grant the Navy’s request for nearly […]
Feds seek to hasten clean energy development on public lands in the West
Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland on Monday announced new steps to accelerate solar energy development on federal land in the West, a move that could further incentivize renewable energy development on Nevada’s vast public lands. During a visit to the Sonoran Solar Energy Project in Arizona – a project on public lands expected to […]
What nuclear microreactors have in common with conventional reactors: Risks and waste
Here’s a swell idea. We’ll bury a bunch of nuclear bombs on the North Slope right near the Chukchi Sea, detonate them and create an artificial harbor. Not really sure how it will affect people, animals, plants or water in the area…but we’ll find out afterwards. This was seriously advocated in the late 1950s and early 1960s […]
Feds list Dixie Valley toad, found only in Nevada, as endangered
A rare Nevada toad at the center of a lawsuit over a geothermal energy project will be listed under the Endangered Species Act, federal wildlife managers said Thursday. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced the Dixie Valley toad will be listed as endangered and provided permanent federal protections. The toad was protected under a […]
Biden moves Avi Kwa Ame a step closer to monument status
President Joe Biden on Wednesday pledged to designate Avi Kwa Ame in southern Nevada as the state’s fourth national monument. The move was part of a series of commitments made by the Biden administration to strengthen relationships and consultation between the federal government and First Nations. “There’s so much more that we’re going to do […]
Little appetite for Manchin permitting bill in congressional lame-duck session
Among the items on Congress’ lengthy to-do list by the end of the year is U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin’s proposal to speed up the federal government’s permitting process that certifies energy projects do not harm the environment. But the bill, which was a condition of the centrist West Virginia Democrat’s support for his party’s larger […]
COP27’s ‘loss and damage’ fund for developing countries: Breakthrough, or empty promise?
Developing nations were justifiably jubilant at the close of COP27 as negotiators from wealthy countries around the world agreed for the first time to establish a dedicated “loss and damage” fund for vulnerable countries harmed by climate change. It was an important and hard fought acknowledgment of the damage – and of who bears at […]
End of Title 42 a hard-won victory, but the work of creating a humane approach to migration remains
A Federal District Court judge in D.C. ordered the Department of Homeland Security to end the use of Title 42 at the U.S. border on Tuesday night. Frustratingly, in spite of the fact that it has been in place for close to three years, Title 42 never got the attention it deserved as a devastating […]
Coal plant operators shirking responsibilities on ash cleanup, report contends
In the wake of major coal ash spills from power plant containment ponds in Tennessee and into the Dan River along the North Carolina and Virginia border, the federal Environmental Protection Agency in 2015 laid out the first federal rules for managing the ash, one of the nation’s largest waste streams, and the toxins it […]
As a national monument, Avi Kwa Ame would also be a local refuge
On October 12, 2022, the Nation celebrated President Biden’s historic decision to designate his administration’s first National Monument at Camp Hale, 20 miles north of Leadville, Colorado. Deep in the Rocky Mountains at 9,200 feet elevation, the new Continental Divide National Monument, CDNM, spanning more than 53,800 acres, respectfully recognizes our World War II veterans. […]