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Good News—and Bad—about Fossil Fuel Power Plants in 2023
With the clean energy transition already under way, the US electricity mix is set to continue changing this year. The general outlook includes some good news and some bad news. I’ll start off with the...
View ArticleEVs Critical Solution For Climate Crisis, But Biden Administration Stopping...
Transportation is the largest source of global warming emissions in the United States, making it a critical piece of the puzzle to addressing climate change. Every new vehicle sold today could be on...
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California Ready to Take Giant Leap Toward Zero-Emission Trucks
In late April, California air regulators are poised to pass one of the most meaningful regulations to reduce pollution from commercial trucks, vans, and buses. The Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) rule,...
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Disinformation Alert: Fossil Fuel Interests Preparing to Deploy False Claims...
Fossil fuel power plant owners are facing increased accountability for their air and water pollution, including from a new round of environmental and public health protections that are being rolled...
View ArticleClean Fleets Rule Slated to Deliver Healthier Air for Californians
In the coming years, Californians will begin to see a massive switch away from highly polluting fossil-fueled trucks to zero-emission electric trucks. Why? Because last week, the California Air...
View ArticleWill EPA Follow the Science and Protect Us from Ozone Pollution?
Earlier this month, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) released a draft set of recommendations calling on the EPA to tighten its current...
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Replacing California’s Oldest and Dirtiest Cars Will Save Money and Lives
California has a long history of poor air quality and much of the pollution fouling the air is from cars and trucks. As early as 1966, the state began to take regulatory action to reduce pollution...
View ArticleEPA Must Protect Communities from Sterilizer Plants’ Carcinogenic Emissions
A few months ago, I was reviewing the findings of a study my organization, the Union of Concerned Scientists, just concluded on facilities that use ethylene oxide (EtO), a carcinogenic gas, to...
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Three Reasons the Market is Primed for Stronger, National Electric Truck...
Over the past year, we’ve seen significant momentum toward an era of zero-emission trucks and buses. Perhaps most notable were California’s adoption of the world’s first economy-wide zero emission...
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Despite Potential to Electrify 90 Percent of Routes, USPS Still Plans to...
With over 250,000 vehicles in service, the United States Postal Service (USPS) has one the world’s largest truck fleets. Over the past several years, the USPS worked to plan the replacement of its...
View ArticleHow Will EPA’s Proposed Power Plant Carbon Rule Impact Public Health?
We are at the height of Danger Season, the time of year when extreme weather events driven by climate change are most prevalent across North America. The power sector is the second highest source of...
View ArticleExtreme Heat Makes Electricity More Expensive, More Polluting, and Less Reliable
Extreme heat has hit hard lately from coast to coast and beyond, and it’s a major way Danger Season has shown up this year. Even as I write this, communities from the Northwest to the Southwest to the...
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Biden Administration Faces Stark Choice on Its Biggest Climate Policy
The UN’s Climate Change Conference is just about to kick off in Dubai, juxtaposing the powerful political power of the fossil fuel industry and the desperate need to reduce oil and gas usage as we...
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Diesel is the Reason for the Sneezin’: Cleaner Holiday Deliveries are on the...
With the holidays fast approaching, I sat down the other night to finish the list of gift ideas for the folks who’ve made my nice list. As I worked my way through family and friends, attempting to...
View ArticleInvesting in Public Transit Is Investing in Public Health
Last week, I interviewed a patient who was hospitalized for severe and persistent asthma attacks. Ms. S (a pseudonym to protect patient privacy) had been perfectly healthy until her respiratory...
View ArticleEPA Strengthens Emissions Controls for Facilities Emitting Cancer-Causing...
Last week, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized updated regulations for certain facilities that emit ethylene oxide (EtO), a colorless, cancer-causing gas. These long-awaited rules...
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EPA’s Final 2027-2032 Truck Rule Risks Leaving Communities Behind
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) just finalized its Phase 3 greenhouse gas regulation as a part of the administration’s plan to decarbonize the transportation sector. The Phase 3 regulation...
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EPA Grant Program Helps to Accelerate Transition to Cleaner Ports
Air pollution from ports comes from many sources: ships, trains, tugboats, cargo equipment, and – quite importantly – the trucks that move cargo containers to and from ports. The vehicles, vessels,...
View ArticleNew California Legislation Would Help Us Better Understand Wildfire Health...
Last year, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) made headlines across the country when we published a report demonstrating how worsening wildfires in the West are linked to the unrelenting,...
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The State of the Air in 2024? Not Great
I am into air quality. Especially when it means I can breathe outside because there is no pesticide drift, wildfire smoke, vehicle exhaust, or pungent odors. However, the reasons why I am into air...
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What You Need to Know about Advanced Clean Fleets: Funding, Flexibility, and...
It’s been just over a year since the California Air Resources Board unanimously adopted the Advanced Clean Fleets (ACF) Rule, which requires the largest commercial and public fleets operating in the...
View ArticleWhat Will the Advanced Clean Fleets Rule Do for California?
Trucks and buses on California’s roads and highways are responsible for the majority of lung-damaging fine particulate and ozone-forming nitrogen oxide emissions, and over 20% of the climate-warming...
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Delivery Vans Are Going Electric: Where and Why
Let’s start this one with some good news: the transition toward clean freight is picking up speed. Over the past few years, we’ve started to see more and more zero-emission commercial trucks, delivery...
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Trucking Industry Disinformation Will Cost Lives
Recently, the states of Oregon and Massachusetts have proposed delaying enforcement of state truck engine emissions standards originally put in place to protect the health and welfare of their...
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