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As Hurricane Harvey bears down on Texas, oil refineries are shutting down

Aug 25, 2017
It's a long process that starts 48 hours before the storm makes landfall. Starting back up can take even longer.
A local resident photographs the beach as Hurricane Harvey approaches in Corpus Christi, Texas, today.
MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

Exxon's public statements about climate change were misleading, Harvard study shows

Aug 23, 2017
Harvard University researchers say a review of Exxon Mobil documents show the company misled investors and the public about how much it knew about climate change. That’s already the subject of investigations by the attorneys general in New York and Massachusetts. Their report says that the internal communication between scientists at Exxon Mobile was drastically […]

Canceled coal study means less data on health risks of mountaintop removal

Aug 22, 2017
The Interior Department is stopping a two-year study on the health risks of mountaintop-removal coal mining for people who live nearby. The study was looking at the connection between mining waste and reported increases in heart and lung disease, cancer and birth defects. Some see an end run around industry regulation. Industry says there’s not […]

Coal under Trump: one miner’s perspective

Aug 18, 2017
"When somebody has something good to say about you, you’d say, 'You know what? That’s great.'”
Don Stahly, a third-generation coal miner, has been working underground in Colorado's West Elk Mine since 1999. He says he understands his job will not last forever, but is happy with what President Trump is doing to bolster the coal industry.
Dan Boyce

U.S. carbon emissions are down since 2005. Here’s why.

Aug 17, 2017
Despite a growing fossil fuel export business, the U.S. economy has actually seen its emissions of carbon dioxide fall the last two decades. A new analysis lists the specific reasons, and there are many: more natural gas burned instead of coal, more wind and solar power, more efficient factories and cars. But tomorrow’s path to […]

Solar industry grapples with possibility of tariffs on imported panels

Aug 15, 2017
The U.S. International Trade Commission, an independent federal agency, starts hearings Tuesday on whether U.S. solar manufacturers are being hurt by foreign competition. The hearings could lead to tariffs being put in place on all foreign-made panels. Such tariffs could have consequences for the entire solar industry.  Click the audio player above to hear the […]

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What a West Coast gas terminal could mean for the Rockies

Aug 9, 2017
It would provide direct access to overseas markets. With a new administration in place, the project could be revived.
A liquefied natural gas importation terminal on the Isle of Grain, England.
Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

What the leaked climate change reports tells us about the carbon economy

Aug 8, 2017
The White House has until next week to finish reviewing a federal climate report, but someone leaked a draft to the New York Times, possibly out of fear the Trump administration would sit on it. The report states definitively that climate change is happening, that humans are causing it and that there will be dire […]

Treating wastewater at the bottom of the world

Aug 8, 2017
"Just like the children's book 'Everyone Poops,' it's definitely the ultimate in job security."
Jeanne Sabin riding snowmobiles on Ross Island. 
Photo Courtesy Jeanne Sabin