Free Republic

Business groups are urging Gov. Kathy Hochul’s administration to delay regulations that would significantly restrict widely used coolant chemicals — a priority under the state’s sweeping climate law — that they say could wreak financial havoc on stakeholders ranging from grocery stores to hospitals. The mandates have stoked concerns from trade groups ranging from the Business Council to the New York Farm Bureau. A broad coalition of business interests sent a letter to Hochul and the state Department of Environmental Conservation on Wednesday arguing that the state’s timeline is not feasible. DEC’s proposed phaseout of chemical compounds known as “hydrofluorocarbons,”...

‘This gift innovatively targets the intersection of two areas of pressing social concern, environmental harm and racial inequity,’ dean says. New York University law students will soon be able to learn how to fight for a “decarbonized future” and against “environmental racism.” The university announced a new Environmental Justice Laboratory will begin this fall. “This gift innovatively targets the intersection of two areas of pressing social concern, environmental harm and racial inequity,” Dean Troy McKenzie stated in a news release. “Environmental justice has been an emerging area of focus here at the Law School and across the country,” McKenzie stated....

The Biden Administration’s regulations are coming so fast and furious that it’s hard even to keep track, but we’re trying. On Thursday the Environmental Protection Agency proposed its latest doozy—rules that will effectively force coal plants to shut down while banning new natural-gas plants. “With the announcement today, the power sector can make planning decisions with a full array of information,” EPA’s press release declares. Translation: Get moving with the green-energy transition because we’re determined to eliminate fossil-fuel power. Barack Obama’s regulation spurred a wave of coal plant closures. Now President Biden is trying to finish the job by tightening...

On Thursday, Biden's Environmental Protection Agency announced a new set of rules aimed at reducing pollution from natural gas and coal-fired power plants by 90 percent by 2039. About 42,000 Americans work in the coal industry. Under the regulations, the nation's 200 or so coal-fired power plants will be forced to abide by strict new emissions standards unless they stop burning coal within ten years, in which case they will be allowed to follow the less stringent existing standards. According to the rules, a "new compliance path" for coal-fired power plants means they "will be able to continue meeting existing...

On Thursday’s broadcast of “NewsNation Now,” White House National Climate Adviser Ali Zaidi denied that the Biden administration is attempting to shut down the coal industry or slow any industry down, and stated that the issue is “about how do we speed up to a stronger economy, a more durable economy, and one that, frankly, puts less pollution into the sky?” Host Connell McShane asked, “[C]oal executives, for the most part, are coming out and saying this — we can’t meet this. So, the real goal here is to kind of shut our industry down. Is that what’s happening?” Zaidi...

The record-breaking rain that fell over the United Arab Emirates and Oman this month, triggering deadly floods and chaos, was driven partly by the climate crisis, according to a scientific analysis published Thursday, which pointed directly at humans burning fossil fuels.A team of 21 scientists and researchers, under the World Weather Attribution initiative, found that climate change was making extreme rainfall events in the two countries — which typically fall during El Niño years — between 10 and 40% more intense than they would have been without global warming.Over a period of less than 24 hours between April 14 and...

Individually wrapped cheese would be largely banned under a far-reaching bill getting pushed by New York environmentalists and politicians to reduce the use of plastics, The Post has learned. The state bill — called Packaging Reduction and Recycling Infrastructure Act — would require companies with net incomes over $1 million who sell or distribute food or products to reduce plastics and other packaging that ends in landfills or waterways by 50% over the next 12 years. It would also impose a fee on companies that use plastic packages, with money going toward recycling programs and infrastructure. “This legislation shifts the...

Global warming has slightly slowed the Earth’s rotation — and it could affect how we measure time. A study published Wednesday found that the melting of polar ice — an accelerating trend driven primarily by human-caused climate change — has caused the Earth to spin less quickly than it would otherwise.

Open Your Mind, and Your Mouth You might think of eating insects as something kids do on a dare. But some of these little animals are popular around the world for their nutritional value -- and they’re starting to catch on in the U.S. Not long ago, sushi and lobster didn’t seem all that appetizing to Americans, so it’s not as far-fetched as it sounds.

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts — Lawyers advancing an effort to charge oil companies with homicide over climate-related deaths are ramping up their campaign to hold fossil fuel producers criminally accountable for contributing to climate change. The authors of “Climate Homicide: Prosecuting Big Oil for Climate Death” embarked on a road trip of college campuses this spring, making the case for bringingcriminal charges against oil and gas companies. The push by David Arkush, director of Public Citizen’s climate program, and Donald Braman, an associate professor at George Washington University Law School, aims to bolster support for the theory through presentations at law schools....

A report produced by Oxford University and Imperial College London for the UK Government reveals that all airports will be ordered to close, eating beef and lamb will be made illegal, and construction of new buildings will not be permitted to meet the legal commitment of zero emissions by 2050.The report states that all airports must close between 2020 and 2029 excluding Heathrow, Glasgow and Belfast airports, which can only stay open on the condition that transfers to and from the airport are done via rail.All remaining airports must then close between 2030 and 2049 because to meet the legal...

Dozens of national governments are joining with the United Nations and billionaire population-control fanatic Bill Gates on a global program to impose “digital public infrastructure” (DPI) on their citizens within five years. This “DPI” includes central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), digital identification, comprehensive data systems, and more, all functional across national borders.The new scheme, unveiled late last year and moving ahead rapidly, is known as “50 in 5” because 50 governments expect to have the Orwellian “digital infrastructure” of tyranny in place within five years. Almost a dozen governments, including numerous corrupt kleptocracies and socialist regimes, have volunteered their populations...

[Catholic Caucus] Vatican again turns off lights for ‘Earth Hour’ to promote ‘respect for Our Mother Earth’Father Enzo Fortunato, the communicators director of St. Peter’s Basilica, linked the move to Pope Francis’ encyclical on ‘climate change,’ Laudato Si’."The Vatican once again turned off its external lights for an hour this weekend to “raise awareness of respect for Our Mother Earth.”In a statement issued to journalists accredited to the Holy See late Saturday afternoon, Father Enzo Fortunato – the recently appointed director of communications for St. Peter’s Basilica – announced the darkening of the basilica that evening: On the occasion of...

One of the nation's major oil companies says it will close 1,000 gas stations. Shell made the announcement in its 2024 Energy Transition Strategy report, saying the measure is “in response to customer needs” and aimed at reallocating those resources towards EV charging stations. Shell said it will close 500 stations in 2024 and the other 500 in 2025. “We believe growth in oil demand is set to slow in the second half of this decade and could start falling in the 2030s because of increasing vehicle efficiency and growth in electric vehicles," the company stated in the report. "Today...

The Biden administration has finalized a slate of highly-anticipated environmental regulations curbing gas-powered vehicle tailpipe emissions as part of its broader efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and combat global warming. In a joint announcement Wednesday, the White House and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) unveiled the most aggressive multi-pollutant emission standards ever finalized.

“This is not a food ban. This is not banning Flamin’ Hot Cheetos in California," says Assemblymember Jessie Gabriel, who introduced AB 2316 last weekGoogle "Flamin' Hot Cheetos" and you'll find a long list of news outlets joining the chorus of reports that a new California bill proposed last week by Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel (D-Encino) will ban the popular snack item, along with a bunch of other popular items including Gatorade and M&Ms, from public schools. It's an attention-grabbing, SEO-friendly headline, but ultimately misleading and misses the point of the legislation, which does not mention Cheetos or any other branded...

In the ongoing search for sustainable and environmentally friendly alternatives to meat and other animal proteins, researchers have settled on a new product that only solidifies our descent into a dystopian science fiction story. Published in Nature Communications, this could be humanity’s new favorite food; genetically engineered mold. The study, led by researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, demonstrates how the edible fungus, Aspergillus oryzae, can be bioengineered to enhance its nutritional value and sensory appeal as a meat substitute. By modifying the fungus’s genome using cutting-edge synthetic biology tools, the researchers were able to elevate the production of key...

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said the SEC is exceeding the authority Congress granted it to be a financial regulator. More than half the states in the U.S. filed lawsuits this month against the Securities and Exchange Commission over the climate disclosure rules it finalized last week. On top of state lawsuits, the SEC is facing legal challenges from companies, nonprofits and business advocacy groups. A U.S. appeals court on Friday temporarily paused the new rules. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a request from Liberty Energy Inc. and Nomad Proppant Services LLC to put...

The Biden administration is expected this week to finalize highly anticipated regulations targeting gas-powered vehicle tailpipe emissions, considered the tip of the spear in its efforts to electrify the transportation sector. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is slated to issue the final rulemaking — which officials have boasted will incentivize greater adoption of electric vehicles (EV), but which opponents have criticized as a de facto mandate — as soon as Wednesday, industry sources told Fox News Digital. The regulations, a key part of President Biden's climate agenda, would ultimately force automakers to more rapidly expand electric options in their fleets...

With the national debt racing toward a record $35 trillion, President Joe Biden released his budget proposal Monday, including an eye-popping $8 billion for a "Climate Corps" program. Enthusiastically supported by Green New Deal architects,Biden’s Climate Corps would hire 50,000 government workers annually by 2031 with the explicit yet vague mission of "tackling climate change." Any guesses which political party these workers will be supporting? The Climate Corps has been likened to President Franklin Roosevelt’s Depression Era jobs program, but there has never been legislation nor appropriation of such an expansive government program without congressional approval. For context, the National...