article thumbnail

Ask a Scientist: Gas Plants Disproportionately Harm Marginalized Communities

Union of Concerned Scientists

Responsible for 12 percent of all US global warming emissions from human activities, methane traps significantly more heat per molecule than carbon dioxide, making it 86 times more harmful for the first 20 years after it is released into the atmosphere. EN: US infrastructure planning has a long history of discrimination.

article thumbnail

Groups Urge DEP To Temporarily Halt Operations At Shell Petrochemical Plant In Beaver County; File 2nd Notice Of Intent To Sue For Air Pollution Violations

PA Environment Daily

The Clean Air Council and the Environmental Integrity Project asked DEP to temporarily halt operations of the Shell Polymers Monaca plant in Beaver County until the company can demonstrate it can operate in compliance with pollution control laws. Click Here for BreatheCam.org footage of the February 13th event.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

The Supreme Court’s Latest Decision Is a Blow to Stopping Climate Change

Union of Concerned Scientists

Had the court ruled fully in favor of the EPA— or not taken the case at all —a much more meaningful dent in power plant carbon emissions would be within reach, while also delivering much greater reductions in other dangerous co-pollutants from burning fossil fuels such as particulate matter, mercury, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide.

article thumbnail

Ask a Scientist: Fighting Big Ag Pollution with Maps and Math

Union of Concerned Scientists

The Cuyahoga fire, along with a major oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara that same year, galvanized national attention and led to the first Earth Day, a slew of new air and water protection laws, and the creation of new federal departments to administer them, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

article thumbnail

Do We Dare Continue to Flare?

Vermont Law

Juris Doctor Candidate (VLGS '23) and Staff Editor for the Vermont Journal of Environmental Law April 8, 2022 The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) establishes air quality standards under the Clean Air Act. (1) 11) Global warming, in part, is a result of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere. Do We Dare Continue to Flare?

article thumbnail

Tackling Agricultural Methane: An Overview of the Science

Legal Planet

(This post was authored by Eric Peshkin, a JD candidate at NYU School of Law and CLEE summer research assistant). Methane emissions reductions up to 68% have been recorded as a result of anaerobic digestion, although increases in nitrous oxide emissions of up to 49% are possible.

article thumbnail

Identifying the Means to an End: The Role of the Social Cost of Carbon

Arnold Porter

The SCC is a metric that seeks to capture all of the costs that emitting a ton of carbon dioxide (or equivalent amounts of other greenhouse gases such as methane) imposes on society by contributing to climate change over the hundreds of years it remains in the atmosphere. What Are the Key Variables Affecting the SCC Amount?