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News Articles: Environment

A crew with the company CSR Services works on plugging an orphan well on a homeowner's property in Ashland, Ohio, on October 24, 2024.

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

The U.S. has millions of old gas and oil wells. Here's what it takes to plug them up

There was a circle in Maria Burns' yard where grass wouldn't grow and trees died. She knew what it was: An old natural gas well, plugged when she was a little girl, starting to leak again.

July 08, 2025
|
By:
  • Camila Domonoske
A person looks at damage to the main building at Camp Mystic, along the banks of the Guadalupe River in Texas. A flash flood swept through the area in the early hours of July 4, 2025. Climate change is making heavy rain more common, leading to more flood risk in much of the U.S.

Tagged as: 

  • Climate

Floods are getting more dangerous around the country, not just in Texas

The deadly floods in Central Texas were caused by extremely heavy rain. Climate change is causing even more rain to fall during the heaviest storms.

July 08, 2025
|
By:
  • Rebecca Hersher and
  • Lauren Sommer
The Chenab, one of the three rivers allocated to Pakistan under the Indus Waters Treaty, seen from the riverbank in early June in Punjab province, Pakistan.

Tagged as: 

  • World

With Indus Waters Treaty in the balance, Pakistan braces for more water woes

In an unprecedented move, India held the water treaty in abeyance after blaming Pakistan for a deadly attack in April. Pakistan denies involvement in the attack and accuses India of "weaponizing water."

July 08, 2025
|
By:
  • Betsy Joles
Dan Arthur, the president and chief engineer of ALL Consulting, stands beside a defunct oil well in the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve in Oklahoma on March 20, 2024. The well has not been used for years — there's no pump attached to it. But it hasn't been properly plugged, either.

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

Defunct oil wells are a national problem. Finding them is the first step

There could be about a million 'orphan' oil and gas wells across the U.S. As they age, they can leak greenhouse gases or unhealthy chemicals.

July 07, 2025
|
By:
  • Camila Domonoske

Tagged as: 

  • Health

Protection from sun's cancer-causing UV rays requires more than sunscreen, dermatologists say

On this Fourth of July holiday, dermatologists are reminding folks that everyone's skin — regardless of melanin, or pigment — can develop skin cancer from exposure to the sun.

July 04, 2025
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
A resident of Altadena, Calif., during wildfires in January 2025. Wildfires are getting more extreme because of climate change. The Trump administration has taken down the website for the National Climate Assessment, which is the most comprehensive and authoritative source of information about how climate change is affecting all parts of the U.S.

Tagged as: 

  • Climate

The White House took down the nation's top climate report. You can still find it here

The National Climate Assessment is the most influential source of information about climate change in the United States.

July 02, 2025
|
By:
  • Rebecca Hersher
The lights (center horizon) from Exit 42, the location of the new Buc-ee’s, are seen 14 miles away on the beach of Sapelo Island on June 25, 2025. Credit: Justin Taylor/The Current GA/CatchLight Local

Tagged as: 

  • Animals

Experts: Lights for new Buc-ee’s exit deadly to baby sea turtles

Like many Coastal Georgians, baby sea turtles may begin to start crawling towards the new Buc-ee’s mega gas station in Brunswick. But the trip toward its 23 high-mast lights, which are visible from Georgia beaches as far as 12 miles away, would likely kill the newborn animals. 

July 02, 2025
|
By:
  • Lily Belle Poling and
  • The Current
Satellite image of Hurricane Helene on Sept. 26, 2024, via CIRA/NOAA

Tagged as: 

  • Climate

Defense Department to cut meteorologists' access to hurricane storm intensity data

When peak hurricane season arrives in August and September, weather forecasters will no longer have access to data used to track a storm’s intensity.

July 02, 2025
|
By:
  • Ellen Eldridge
Gopher tortoises are considered a keystone species because they dig burrows that provide shelter for approximately 350 other species. Josiah Lavender Open Space Institute

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

This Georgia plan could help conserve 1,000+ species. What to know

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources has revised its State Wildlife Action Plan, and it’s now in use as it awaits a required review from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

July 01, 2025
|
By:
  • Margaret Walker and
  • The Telegraph
Hurricane Erick hit Oaxaca, Mexico, in June. Hurricane forecasters used data collected by Department of Defense satellites to monitor the storm as it intensified more rapidly than computer models had suggested it would. Such DoD data will no longer be shared with forecasters.

Tagged as: 

  • Climate

Defense Department will stop providing crucial satellite weather data

Hurricane forecasters and scientists rely on weather data collected and processed by Department of Defense satellites. The Navy has decided to stop sharing the data.

July 01, 2025
|
By:
  • Rebecca Hersher
An employee works on a solar panel inside a Qcells factory in Dalton, Ga.

Tagged as: 

  • Climate

Solar manufacturing is booming. Advocates say it could go bust without incentives

Abruptly ending tax incentives that encourage solar developers to buy American could upend a booming manufacturing sector.

June 30, 2025
|
By:
  • Michael Copley
Gerard Barron, CEO of The Metals Company, wants his firm to be the first to commercially mine the ocean floor. He applauded a recent executive order signed by President Trump, which promotes deep-sea mining as a way for the U.S. to counter China's advantage in key global mineral supplies. " This resource can help America become mineral independent, just like it became energy independent through shale and gas," Barron says.

Tagged as: 

  • Climate

This company wants to be the first to mine the ocean floor, with Trump's help

The Metals Company is applying for permission from the Trump administration to mine for nickel and cobalt beneath a remote patch of the Pacific Ocean. Other countries say the minerals aren't America's to mine.

June 30, 2025
|
By:
  • Daniel Ackerman
In this photo taken from video shows a bright object traveling in the sky in McDonough, Ga., on June 26, 2025.

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

What's that in the sky? We're not sure, but the fireball was very bright

The object was likely either a meteor or space junk, with most sightings of the streak of light and fireball coming from Georgia and South Carolina, the National Weather Service said.

June 26, 2025
|
By:
  • The Associated Press
People impacted by wildfires in 2025 seek information and relief at a FEMA Disaster Recovery Center in Pasadena, Calif. The president has said the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, should be eliminated, and has appointed a group of high level officials to recommend options for restructuring or reforming the agency.

Tagged as: 

  • Climate

The Trump administration says it wants to eliminate FEMA. Here's what we know

Every year, millions of Americans rely on FEMA assistance after hurricanes, wildfires, tornadoes and other disasters. The president says state governments should do more.

June 26, 2025
|
By:
  • Rebecca Hersher
Blowups, barracks and houses of peat help form the mosaic that the Okefenokee presents from overhead. Credit: Justin Taylor

Tagged as: 

  • Environment

Conservation group makes $60M land deal to end mining threat outside Okefenokee Swamp

A conservation group says it will pay $60 million to buy land outside the Okefenokee Swamp from a mining company that spent years battling environmentalists over its plans to extract minerals there.

June 20, 2025
|
By:
  • Associated Press
  • Load More

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