Latest news with #PoweringtheGreatAmericanComeback
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
Texas Secures $382K Grant To Boost Beach Water Quality Monitoring
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham announced Wednesday that her agency has secured $382,000 in federal funding to monitor bacterial levels at Texas beaches. The EPA grant will support the state's Texas Beach Watch program through the 2025 swimming season. The funding comes as millions of Texans prepare for summer beach trips along the Gulf Coast. Rising concerns about water quality have made bacterial monitoring increasingly critical for public health officials. 'The GLO is proud to monitor the water quality up and down our beautiful Texas coast for the well-being of beachgoers, our shoreline communities, and the marine life across various beach habitats,' said Buckingham. 'As someone who lived on the coast for over a decade, I want to thank President Trump's EPA for the issuance of this grant that will assist the Texas Beach Watch program in keeping Texans informed as they visit our beaches this summer.' The program tests specifically for Enterococcus bacteria, which naturally occurs in warm-blooded animals. While normal in coastal ecosystems, elevated levels can signal potential health risks. Heavy rainfall and stormwater runoff often drive bacterial spikes. When levels exceed safety thresholds, the GLO issues water quality advisories to warn swimmers. Still, the actual risk remains relatively low. Last year, only 797 of 8,237 samples triggered advisories—roughly 9% of all tests conducted. The GLO does not close beaches during advisories. That decision rests with local authorities who weigh multiple factors beyond bacterial counts. The grant stems from the federal BEACH Act, which mandates coastal water quality monitoring nationwide. EPA officials framed the funding as part of their 'Powering the Great American Comeback' initiative. That said, bacterial monitoring represents just one piece of coastal management. The GLO simultaneously oversees beach nourishment projects and hurricane recovery efforts across the Texas coast. Buckingham, who became Texas's first female Land Commissioner in 2022, has prioritized coastal issues. Her agency recently completed what officials describe as the state's largest beach nourishment project. The Texas Beach Watch program encourages visitors to help maintain water quality. Officials specifically request proper pet waste disposal and trash management at beach sites.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
CGC Asks Visiting U.S. Cabinet Officials To 'Work Together to Solve the Energy Crisis in Alaska and Beyond'
ANCHORAGE, Alaska, June 4, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- In a full-page ad in the Anchorage Daily News yesterday, the Coalition for Green Capital (CGC), a national green bank that received $5 billion in funding from the federal government last year, warned that "the nation needs more energy" and asked three Cabinet members visiting Alaska to "work together to solve the energy crisis in Alaska and beyond." The ad was in the form of an open letter to Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin. It cited CGC's network partner Spruce Root, a Community Development Financial Institution in the southeastern Alaska. "Investments in such partners are multiplied many times with private capital," the ad said. CGC, however, has faced obstacles. The EPA earlier this year tried to terminate CGC's contract under the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, awarded under the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, and has frozen the organization's account at Citibank. CGC has challenged the termination in federal district court and won a preliminary injunction, which is now under appeal. "We shouldn't be at cross purposes. CGC has common ground with Administrator Zeldin's Powering the Great American Comeback initiative, and we want to move as fast as we can," said the ad placed by the CGC, which over more than a decade has developed a network of green banks and community lenders. The ad explained the current energy crisis this way: "The grid is a century old, demand is soaring, capacity can't keep up, and Americans are suffering as their utility bills rise. For Alaskans, it's worse. Many communities will never have a grid connection. They're using expensive and unreliable diesel and paying three to five times the national average for electricity." CGC has a solution to financing projects needed to eliminate the crisis, said the ad: "Distributed, smaller-scale projects are often the cheapest and fastest way to add power. That's why Congress asked us to help finance them." The organization called on the three Cabinet officials to work with CGC and bring public and private capital together work together "to unlock capital and enhance U.S. energy infrastructure." About Coalition for Green Capital The Coalition for Green Capital (CGC) uses public-private investing to unlock clean air, clean water, clean jobs and affordable power for all Americans. Green banks are a proven finance model that uses public capital to mobilize private investment in renewable energy, energy efficiency, and other decarbonization technologies. For over a decade, the Coalition for Green Capital has led the Green Bank movement, working at the federal, state, and local levels in the U.S. and countries around the world. For more information, visit: ContactJames K. Glassman: jim@ (202-344-5777)Or Elizabeth Heaton: elizabeth@ (202-445-9858) View original content: SOURCE Coalition for Green Capital Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Epoch Times
24-05-2025
- Health
- Epoch Times
EPA Granting Funds to Monitor Bacterial Infestation in US Beaches
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will provide $9.7 million in grant funding to states to be used for monitoring bacterial presence at beaches and assessing the safety of these places for beachgoers, the agency said in a May 23 Funds shall be used to monitor the quality of water at coastal and Great Lakes beaches, with grant recipients required to 'notify the public if elevated levels of illness-causing bacteria make swimming unsafe,' the EPA said. 'Millions of Americans will travel to the beach this summer to relax or play in the water. They will make lifelong memories and provide a boon to local economies,' said EPA acting Assistant Administrator for Water Peggy Browne. 'With $9.7 million from EPA, states and local authorities can help ensure that our beaches are open for business and that beachgoers can swim and splash without fear of getting sick.' The funds are to be disbursed to eight EPA regions, with each region composed of multiple states. The largest grant will go to EPA Region 4, with six states in the bloc—Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and North Carolina—sharing $1.89 million, according to another May 23 Related Stories 5/21/2025 5/14/2025 Funds allocated to Region 4 are expected to 'help ensure safe beaches along the 2,035 miles of coastland in the Southeastern states, protecting public health while promoting tourism and economic development,' said EPA Regional Administrator Kevin McOmber. According to the EPA, the $9.7 million funding advances two goals—cooperative federalism and making sure that U.S. citizens have access to safe and clean water. These goals support EPA's 'Powering the Great American Comeback' initiative, a 'In his first term, President Trump advanced conservation, reduced toxic emissions in the air, and cleaned up hazardous sites, while fostering economic growth for families across the country. We remain committed to these priorities in this administration,' Zeldin said. Bacteria in Beach Waters Over the past years, there have been several instances of beaches being shut down across the United States due to concerns about high bacterial presence. In June last year, several beaches in Massachusetts were Swimming in unsafe waters can lead to respiratory issues such as sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, earache, fever, skin rash, abdominal pain, and itching. The state's Department of Public Health attributed the bacterial presence to heavy rains, saying a rainstorm washes the bacteria or excessive nutrients on land into the water, thus enabling small populations of these microbes to 'rapidly reproduce to unsafe levels.' A May 20 'Last year, 80% of beaches and sampling sites tested (483 of 604) yielded at least one high bacteria result that exceeded state health standards. This shows the importance of regular water quality monitoring at the beach to protect public health and safe recreation,' it said. The report listed the top 10 beaches with high bacterial presence. The Walkomo Stream at Koloa Landing and the Kahalu'u beaches in Hawaii, as well as the Park View Kayak Launch in Florida, took the top three spots, with samples from these sites having a bacteria rate of 90 percent or above. Four more beaches on the list had bacteria rates above 50 percent. At each of these beaches, 'Surfrider Foundation chapters are consistently measuring high bacteria levels that exceed state health standards for recreational water,' the report said. 'These Beach Bacteria Hot Spots represent a variety of recreational waters and access points that are important to local communities, yet water quality conditions could be putting public health at risk.'
Yahoo
17-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Former Wyoming state lawmaker to lead EPA's Colorado-based regional operations
A view of the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters at Federal Triangle in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 10, 2014. (EPA/U.S. Government work) President Donald Trump appointed a former Republican member of the Wyoming House of Representatives to lead the Environmental Protection Agency region that includes Colorado. Cyrus Western was appointed EPA Region 8 administrator, leading the Trump administration's environmental agenda in Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. Region 8 is headquartered in Denver. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'I'm grateful for the opportunity to serve the people of the region and foster human health and environmental protection while encouraging sound economic growth,' Western said in a statement. 'As a Wyoming native, I understand some of the unique challenges and opportunities this region faces and am committed to ensuring we meet the needs of the people while implementing the Administrator's 'Powering the Great American Comeback' Initiative.' EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the initiative in February. It highlights his priorities for leading the agency under Trump, including restoring the country's 'energy dominance,' making the U.S. the 'artificial intelligence capital of the world,' and restoring American auto jobs. Last week, Zeldin announced he will undo more than 30 of the agency's regulations. 'I am grateful Cyrus Western is joining EPA as our Regional Administrator for Region 8,' Zeldin said in a statement. 'I know with Cyrus' experience in the Wyoming State House of Representatives championing energy and wildlife conservation, he will work non-stop to implement President Trump's policies across the Region.' Western led legislation in 2024 that added new requirements for who can bid on state oil and gas lease parcels, a measure supported by the Petroleum Association of Wyoming. The bill came after a conservation group bid on a controversial oil and gas lease that affected a wildlife migration corridor, and the new law bans groups that intend to conserve the parcel from bidding. In 2020, Western made national headlines after he posted a racist tweet about Wyoming's first Black sheriff. He deleted the post and apologized after he received criticism, calling his post 'dumb and uncalled for.' The Republican Party from his home county censured him in 2023 for his involvement in a political advertisement paid for by a political action committee that was not registered with the state. Former speaker of the Colorado House of Representatives KC Becker led Region 8 under the Biden administration. She is an environmental lawyer from Boulder who worked to increase environmental protections in her time as administrator. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why the Trump administration is wrong about an energy crisis in the US, according to experts
The Trump administration has been attempting to spark the idea of a looming energy crisis in the U.S., but those claims couldn't be further from reality, according to several experts who spoke to ABC News. Immediately upon taking office for his second term, President Donald Trump declared a "national energy emergency," claiming that leasing, development, production, transportation, refining and generation capacity of energy in the U.S. is "far too inadequate" to meet the nation's needs. MORE: How to turn ocean waves into renewable energy Trump's appointees have followed suit on the political messaging. Last month, Lee Zeldin, administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, announced the agency's spearheading of "Powering the Great American Comeback. The initiative that includes a pillar to "restore American energy dominance," which claims will lower energy bills for Americans as well as allow the country to "stop relying on energy sources from adversaries." U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright released a memo last month directing the agency to take immediate action to unleash "the golden era of energy dominance." U.S. Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum began his tenure by vowing to advance "American energy independence". But there isn't even the slightest hint of a domestic energy crisis, especially when compared to actual crises that occurred in 1973, 1979 and 2022, Gregory Nemet, professor of public affairs at the University of Wisconsin's Energy Institute, told ABC News. "Prices for gasoline are mid-range over the last, say, 20 years," Nemet said. "There's plenty of supply. We're not having electricity outages. We're not having lines of gas stations." MORE: Texas could become a major producer of another source of renewable energy The U.S. was breaking records for the most fossil fuels ever drilled under Trump's predecessor. In 2023, the Biden administration produced 12.9 million barrels per day, breaking the record set in 2019 at 12.3 million barrels, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. For the last several years, the U.S. has been the largest producer of oil and natural gas in the world. "There's no crisis or emergency by any conventional standard or use of the word," Noah Kaufman, a senior researcher at Columbia University's Center on Global Energy Policy, told ABC News. Trump campaigned heavily on the promise of increasing fossil fuel production but there has not been any significant increase in drilling over the last several months, Bob Howarth, a professor of ecology and environmental biology and a faculty fellow at Cornell University's Atkinson Center for Sustainability, told ABC News "And I don't think there's likely to be," he added. MORE: The GOP has transitioned from climate denial to climate misrepresentation, experts say With oil prices remaining steady, the oil and gas industry may not even be incentivized to drill more, the experts said. As of Tuesday, the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil, the key benchmark for oil prices in the U.S., was about $66 per barrel -- "not crazy-high," Kaufman said. "They're not going to increase drilling if they lose money by doing so," Howarth said. The world doesn't need more oil, despite Trump's suggestions that the U.S. is not producing nearly enough, the experts said. The U.S. may be the largest exporter of natural gas in the world, but global demand is falling -- with countries in Europe and Asia decreasing their use of fossil fuels as renewables such as wind, solar, batteries and electric vehicles, eat away at the demand for fossil fuels, Nemet said. "It's cheaper and more energy secure for them to use renewable power," Howarth said. MORE: The emerging world leader in climate tech could soon be Massachusetts, experts say Trump's attempts to bring oil and gas back to the forefront will set the U.S. behind compared to other G2 countries and their climate goals. the experts said. China and Europe are rapidly developing renewables energy. "We're doing nothing like that here," Howarth said. The Trump administration is "disingenuously" using the rhetoric of an energy crisis to promote fossil fuels, speed the permitting of extraction projects and justify the bypassing of environmental reviews, David Konisky, a professor of environmental politics at Indiana University's O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, told ABC News. The messaging of an energy emergency is also the administration's attempt to defend its ideological goals of deregulation and reversal of Biden-era efforts to address climate change, Konisky said. MORE: Batteries, solar, wind and hydropower: Why renewable energy is essential to curbing climate change A lot of of the momentum for solar, wind and other clean energy sources in recent years came from tax credits and other policies in the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law other legislation passed during the Biden administration, Kaufman said. Trump promised during the campaign to rescind all unspent funds from the IRA. While there may no shortage of fossil fuels in sight, climate scientists and international communities continue to warn of the climate consequences the planet is facing if worldwide production of fossil fuels -- the main culprit for global warming -- are not drastically reduced in the near future. The development of the U.S. as a fossil fuel superpower is a "brazen disregard" for climate action, Matt Huber, a professor in Syracuse University's geography and environment department, told ABC News "We don't have an energy crisis," Howarth said. "What we have is a climate crisis." ABC News' Climate Unit contributed to this report. Why the Trump administration is wrong about an energy crisis in the US, according to experts originally appeared on
