Latest news with #EnvironmentalDefenseFund
Boston Globe
14 hours ago
- Automotive
- Boston Globe
EPA is said to draft a plan to end its ability to fight climate change
The EPA proposal, which is expected to be made public within days, also calls for rescinding limits on tailpipe emissions that were designed to encourage automakers to build and sell more electric vehicles. Those regulations, which were based on the endangerment finding, were a fundamental part of the Biden administration's efforts to move the country away from gasoline-powered vehicles. The transportation sector is the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The EPA intends to argue that imposing climate regulations on automakers poses the real harm to human health because it would lead to higher prices and reduced consumer choice, according to the two people familiar with the administration's plan. They asked to remain anonymous because they weren't authorized to discuss the draft proposal. Advertisement The draft proposal could still undergo changes. But if it is approved by the White House and formally released, the public would have an opportunity to weigh in before it is made final, likely later this year. Molly Vaseliou, a spokesperson for the EPA, did not confirm the details of the plan. In a statement she said the EPA sent the draft proposal to the White House on June 30, and that it 'will be published for public notice and comment once it has completed interagency review and been signed by the Administrator.' Advertisement If the Trump administration is able to repeal the endangerment finding, it would not only erase all current limits on greenhouse gas pollution from cars, factories, power plants and other sources. It would prevent future administrations from trying to tackle climate change, with lasting implications. 'The White House is trying to turn back the clock and re-litigate both the science and the law,' said Vickie Patton, general counsel for the Environmental Defense Fund, an environmental group. She called the evidence that climate change is harmful 'overwhelming and incontrovertible.' Since taking office, President Donald Trump has abandoned U.S. efforts to tackle global warming. He also has moved to roll back virtually every federal policy aimed at curbing greenhouse gases from the burning of oil, gas and coal. His administration has encouraged more production and use of fossil fuels while stifling the growth of clean energy and electric vehicles. In calling to repeal the endangerment finding, the draft EPA rule does not appear to focus on the science or try to make the case that fossil fuels aren't warming the planet. Instead, it argues that the EPA overstepped its legal authority under the Clean Air Act by making a broad finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger the public welfare. It makes the case that the EPA administrator has limited power that apply only to specific circumstances. Joseph Goffman, who led the air office at the EPA under the Biden administration, said the rule would all but certainly face legal challenges if it is finalized. Advertisement He said the Trump administration's proposed rule conflicts with the 2007 Supreme Court ruling in Massachusetts v. E.P.A., a landmark case that found for the first time that greenhouse gases were a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. That led the EPA to make the finding in 2009 that said that six greenhouse gases were harming public health. In more than 200 pages, the EPA at that time outlined the science and detailed how increasingly severe heat waves, storms and droughts were expected to contribute to higher rates of death and disease. This article originally appeared in
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Scientists send enormous satellite into space to scan over a trillion organisms around the globe: 'We can actually look inside'
Scientists send enormous satellite into space to scan over a trillion organisms around the globe: 'We can actually look inside' The European Space Agency has deployed a one-of-a-kind satellite with the ability to scan more than a trillion complex organisms in the world's rainforests. The successful April launch was spotlighted in June in the Environmental Defense Fund's Vital Signs newsletter, a trusted source for inspiring climate news stories, solutions, and ways you can take action. The Biomass satellite, nicknamed Space Brolly because of its massive 12-meter diameter antenna, sparked optimism because scientists believe it will help them accurately measure how much carbon more than 1.5 trillion trees in rainforests are storing, per the BBC. One 2021 study detailed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration suggests the Amazon rainforest (the largest rainforest in the world) contains around 123 billion tons of carbon above and below ground. Yet deforestation is threatening the Amazon and other crucial rainforests that help regulate the climate and keep temperatures in check. The 1.3-ton satellite works similar to a CT scan, able to provide scientists with deeper insight into the health of rainforests. This could help them develop solutions to more effectively mitigate the life-threatening effects of the warming climate, including food insecurity and more intense extreme weather. "We really want to interrogate these forests. We can actually look inside," professor John Remedios, director of the National Centre for Earth Observation, told the BBC after the satellite's launch from Kourou, French Guiana, on April 29. This project is just one of the initiatives spotlighted by Vital Signs that underscores how environmentally focused technologies can be lucrative long-term investments, as governments, companies, and individuals come together to work toward a brighter future. Ralph Cordey, head of geosciences at Airbus, told the BBC that the satellite was 20 years in the making, with its ability to penetrate clouds to gather data potentially revolutionizing how we protect rainforests and the biodiverse creatures that call them home. "It's exciting, because it's going to tell us about how something that we perhaps take for granted," he said. "Our forests, our trees, how they are contributing to the processes which govern our planet, and in particular, the processes behind climate change which are so important to us today and for the future." Do you think we should be trying to pull pollution out of the atmosphere? Absolutely I need to know more In some situations No way Click your choice to see results and speak your mind. Join our free newsletter for weekly updates on the latest innovations improving our lives and shaping our future, and don't miss this cool list of easy ways to help yourself while helping the planet. Solve the daily Crossword
The Verge
09-07-2025
- Science
- The Verge
The Bezos-funded climate satellite is lost in space
A satellite tracking global methane pollution has gone dark, imperiling a mission that garnered enormous support from Jeff Bezos and other big names in tech. Methane is the primary ingredient of so-called 'natural gas' that is even more potent than carbon dioxide when it comes to its ability to heat the planet. The powerful greenhouse gas routinely escapes from oil and gas wells, pipelines, and other fossil fuel infrastructure without anyone seeing or reporting it. MethaneSat was meant to spot such leaks from space in an effort to hold industry accountable for reducing those emissions. But since June 20th, mission operations haven't been able to contact MethaneSat. The satellite has lost power and is 'likely not recoverable,' according to an update shared today by the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund that developed MethaneSat. The satellite has lost power and is 'likely not recoverable' The satellite cost $88 million to build and launch, and the effort received a $100 million grant from the Bezos Earth Fund. It launched in March of last year from a SpaceX Falcon 9 rather than a Blue Origin rocket. The launch marked the first government-funded space mission by New Zealand's Space Agency, which supported mission operations control and an atmospheric science program. Before MethaneSat, EDF had to take methane readings on the ground and by aircraft to measure gas leaks. That painstaking work was revelatory; it found that US methane emissions were actually 60 percent higher than the Environmental Protection Agency's estimates between 2012 and 2018. Taking readings from space, MethaneSat was supposed to be able to survey an area in about 20 seconds that would have taken an aircraft 2 hours. Orbiting Earth in 95 minutes, it would cover oil and gas fields accounting for more than 80 percent of global production. Google also partnered with EDF to track methane emissions. With a similar strategy to the way Google Maps identifies sidewalks and street signs in satellite imagery, the company started training AI to spot well pads, pump jacks, storage tanks, and other fossil fuel infrastructure. EDF says it's still working to process data MethaneSat has been able to gather since launching, which it hopes can be used to limit methane pollution.
The Guardian
09-07-2025
- Science
- The Guardian
MethaneSat down: how New Zealand space ambitions fell off the radar
For scientist Sara Mikaloff-Fletcher, the news that a methane-tracking satellite was lost in space last week left her feeling like the air had been sucked from her lungs. It happened just days before New Zealand was due to take control of the spacecraft, known as MethaneSat, which was designed to 'name and shame' the worst methane polluters in the oil and gas industry. 'It was a pretty challenging moment in my career,' says Mikaloff-Fletcher, the Wellington-based lead of New Zealand's part of the mission. 'I was anticipating until a couple of days before this news that this would be a healthy mission that would last three to five years.' The satellite was New Zealand's first publicly funded space mission. Yet the project had been plagued with issues and delays, and last week officials confirmed that after only 15 months in orbit the satellite had lost contact with the ground and was likely unrecoverable. The loss of the satellite dealt a heavy blow to the country's fledgling government-funded space sector. New Zealand initially invested NZ$29m in MethaneSat, a project led by the US non-profit Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) with other finance coming from the Bezos Earth Fund, the Audacious Project and the Valhalla Foundation. The satellite's primary goal was to detect methane leaks from oil and gas production worldwide. But in New Zealand, Mikaloff-Fletcher leads a complementary project to explore if the satellite could also track the release of the potent greenhouse gas from agriculture. Methane from livestock accounts for almost half of New Zealand's greenhouse gas emissions. The project was years in the making and some experts have criticised New Zealand's involvement. In 2019, the government agreed to invest in the mission but the satellite's launch was delayed until March 2024. Almost NZ$12m of the funding was used to build a mission control centre at Rocket Lab, a private space company with a launchpad on the remote east coast of New Zealand and also operating from the US. The University of Auckland was to take over mission control last year but problems led to further delays. They included the satellite going into safe mode due to intense solar activity, and issues with operating its thrusters. The university never took control because the satellite stopped responding on 20 June. By this point New Zealand's total investment had risen to NZ$32m, according to the New Zealand Space Agency, because of additional funding allocated to maintain capability to take over operations. Judith Collins, minister for space in the New Zealand government, declined to comment on the loss of MethaneSat. The deputy head of the New Zealand Space Agency, Andrew Johnson, described it as 'clearly a disappointing development'. But Johnson says involvement in the mission has strengthened New Zealand's expertise and space capability, and the mission control centre at the University of Auckland's Te Pūnaha Ātea Space Institute will continue to be used as a training facility to position the country for future missions. However, Richard Easther, a University of Auckland physicist who is not involved in the project, says it was a mistake for New Zealand to invest in MethaneSat. He was initially excited about the mission, but says it's become 'clear they haven't been able to keep to schedule and deliver a functional spacecraft'. While the mission was deploying new methane-detecting sensors, the design of the spacecraft itself was not as well defined as it should have been when New Zealand invested in it and parts of it 'haven't been tested in space'. MethaneSat's mission lead and chief scientist for EDF Steve Hamburg says the mission was 'technologically ambitious' and the team that developed the satellite 'includes some of the world's most seasoned professionals in both public and private sector space flight'. Johnson says the providers of the satellite's structural and functional components, as well as the sensor, were selected before New Zealand joined the mission, but given the expertise of the professionals involved, 'we had no reason to doubt their judgement.' Jon Coifman, a spokesperson for MethaneSat, says it was unclear what caused the loss of contact, but an expert panel had been set up to investigate. The existing datasets would remain accessible 'for the foreseeable future' and more data would be released over the next few months. The team remains 'undeterred in our efforts to drive down methane pollution'. 'No other satellite could match the ability to detect changes in methane levels with such high resolution and high sensitivity over such wide areas,' Coifman says. Mikaloff-Fletcher says there have been other missions that have faced similar challenges. 'A great example is Nasa's Orbital Carbon Observatory mission, meant to deliver the most precise measurements of carbon dioxide ever made from space. It was launched in 2009 and fell into the ocean without making a single measurement,' Mikaloff-Fletcher says, though she notes further satellites were launched to achieve the mission. She says MethaneSat did record data that will be useful in tracking agricultural emissions, and her work in the field will continue despite the setback. Preliminary analysis shows the satellite's observations over agricultural targets in New Zealand line up well with modelling and measurements collected by aircraft-borne instruments, suggesting 'we will be able to quantify agricultural emissions in a wide range of different farming systems from existing data'. 'The satellite's life may be shorter than hoped, but the project will go on to shed new light on agricultural emissions from the data we have.'
Yahoo
05-07-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
Major Satellite Suddenly Disappears
A satellite designed to monitor human-made methane emissions has gone missing in space. Dubbed MethaneSAT, the $88 million spacecraft was launched into orbit aboard a SpaceX rocket in March 2024 and was expected to collect data on the potent greenhouse gas for at least five years. But for the past two weeks, the satellite's operators, the nonprofit Environmental Defense Fund, have been unable to establish contact. Now, in a final blow, mission control says that MethaneSAT has lost power, crushing almost all hope of bringing it back online. "It is likely not recoverable," the EDF said in a statement Tuesday. The cause, at this time, isn't known, and an investigation into why communications were lost is ongoing. It's an agonizing loss, especially as the mission — which was backed by Google and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos — had proven that its advanced spectrometer instruments could pick out emissions from space and trace them back to their source with remarkable precision. The just under a year's worth of data it managed to collect was "magnificent," Steven Hamburg, chief scientist at the EDF, told the New York Times. "We set out in this first year to demonstrate what was possible, that we could think about direct measurement of greenhouse gases in a way that we had never been able to do before," Hamburg added. "And I think we demonstrated that." Methane traps 28 times more heat than carbon dioxide and is considered to be the second biggest contributor to global warming. Many scientists fear, however, that we're actually underestimating its impact. That's because methane is a very leaky greenhouse gas, meaning that a lot of it escapes as it's stored, transported, and drilled without being accounted for. Research suggests that gas companies are drastically underreporting their real methane emissions as a result, with it being in their best interests to turn a blind eye. To hold polluters accountable, numerous organizations including NASA have been monitoring methane from space. But MethaneSAT purported to do it with enough accuracy to single out the specific facilities responsible, as the NYT explained. Data gathered by the satellite — which is publicly available — implicated oil and gas sites in North America and Central Asia as emitting far higher amounts of methane than predicted, per the NYT. It's not how it would've wanted things to end, but with its satellite making a convincing case for itself before going out, the EDF is choosing to look on the bright side. "The mission has been a remarkable success in terms of scientific and technological accomplishment, and for its lasting influence on both industry and regulators worldwide," the EDF said in the statement. "We will continue to process data that we have retrieved from the satellite and will be releasing additional scenes of global oil and gas production region-scale emissions over the coming months." More on spacecraft: Alert: There's a Lost Spaceship in the Ocean
