Environment
Butterfield Overland Trail historic designation headed to Biden’s desk
Legislation designating a stage coach route that ran through Arkansas from 1858-1861 as a National Historic Trail is headed to the president’s desk to be signed into law. The bill, authored by Republican U.S. Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas, passed the House on Thursday, according to a press release from the senator’s office. The law […]
Privatization, more fees among proposals to fix Arkansas’ tire recycling problem
The architect of Arkansas’ waste tire disposal program plans to introduce legislation to dismantle it and privatize the disposal of worn rubber. The state Legislature will be forced to take action on the Tire Accountability Program because it ran out of money to reimburse scrap tire processors in August. The shortfall triggered an ongoing audit […]
Sarah Huckabee Sanders to appoint top department attorney as Arkansas energy secretary
Arkansas Gov.-elect Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Wednesday she planned to nominate the chief lawyer at the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment to lead the agency when she takes office in January. Shane Khoury has nearly two decades of state government service on his resume, including his current role as the Energy and Environment department’s […]
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 […]
Tribes seek U.S. help to curb Canadian mining threats to Northwestern states
Indigenous leaders from the Northwest renewed their call this week for the federal government to pressure Canada to stop additional mining activity in British Columbia, which they say contaminates waters and threatens Native American ways of life in Alaska, Montana and Idaho. As British Columbia plans to expand its profitable coal, copper and gold mining […]
Arkansas wildlife will benefit from legislation pending in lame-duck Congress
From the Ozarks to the Delta, Arkansas is home to some of our nation’s most cherished wildlife. But right now, more than 375 species across the state are facing significant challenges, due to increasing habitat loss, new invasive species, and extreme flooding. It’s part of a larger national trend where more than one-third of America’s wildlife are at […]
Reliability watchdog warns of potential electric shortfalls this winter
The nonprofit regulator charged with helping ensure the reliability of the North American electric grid is warning of potential electric supply shortfalls during severe weather this winter in several regions of the country. Earlier this month, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, which sets and enforces reliability standards for the bulk power system in the […]
Big oil supports bills to make sales of 15% ethanol blends year-round
LINCOLN — The U.S. Senate, with volatile gasoline prices top of mind, is inching toward a bipartisan solution to a years-long push for year-round sales of ethanol blends of 15% or more. Bills to codify the change have shared support from agricultural organizations and biofuels boosters, including the congressional delegations from ag states like Nebraska, […]
At tribal summit, Biden pledges federal commitment to Indian Country
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Wednesday said he is poised to designate Avi Kwa Ame, a sacred site for Native American tribes in southern Nevada, as a national monument that would ensure the preservation of ancestral lands for those 12 tribes. “I’m committed to protecting this sacred place that is central to the creation […]
More than $37 billion in disaster aid under scrutiny in congressional lame duck
WASHINGTON — The Biden administration wants Congress to approve more than $37 billion to help communities throughout the country recover from various natural disasters, including Hurricanes Ian, which battered Florida and the Southeast U.S. in late September, and Fiona, which hit Puerto Rico. The supplemental funding request comes on top of a $9 billion COVID-19 […]
States test an electrifying idea: roads that can recharge your EV
On two short stretches of road near downtown Detroit, Michigan transportation officials hope to make history. Over the next two years, they plan to embed technology in the pavement that can charge electric vehicles while they’re being driven. The wireless system will be the first U.S. test of so-called inductive charging on public roadways, according […]
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 […]