Environment

President Biden Delivers State Of The Union Address

Biden administration details potential cuts in education, food aid and more under GOP plan

BY: - March 20, 2023

WASHINGTON — Federal departments and agencies say U.S. House Republicans’ plans to cut federal spending would result in reductions to key programs like food aid, education assistance and wildfire management. The series of letters from across the federal government released Monday detail exactly how plans to cut at least $130 billion in domestic spending during […]

A view of electricity transmission lines stretching across a partly cloudy sky above a field

Missouri, Kansas utilities back bills to reestablish monopoly on transmission projects

BY: - March 20, 2023

Missouri’s largest electric utility believes a bill aimed at reducing competition and giving monopoly providers an advantage in building transmission lines will avoid cost overruns and deliver better results for customers. In its home state, where it stands to benefit, Ameren Missouri has offered its full-throated support to legislation aimed at giving the company the […]

Havana Republican Sen. Virgil Peck, right, requested a House committee speed mandatory retrofitting of blinking red lights on thousands of Kansas wind turbines with a less-annoying alternative aviation warning system, but advocates of the pending bill indicated the change could undermine efforts to pass reform legislation. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Kansas senator’s plea to speed conversion to new wind turbine lighting may threaten reform bill

BY: - March 16, 2023

Kansas Legislature is debating how to reduce the problem of irritating flashing lights on top of wind turbines, starting with a mandate on new construction.

OPINION
An injured belted kingfisher

As birds migrate across Kansas skies, we have the tools to keep them safe

BY: - March 16, 2023

It mystifies me that while I sleep, millions of birds are passing silently overhead on a migration flight that can — for some of them — amount to tens of thousands of miles. I’m fascinated by the instinct that drives them and the adaptation processes that prepare their seemingly fragile bodies to survive their arduous […]

Electric vehicles are displayed

States to receive $2.5B from feds for electric vehicle charging infrastructure

BY: - March 14, 2023

The federal government will send $2.5 billion over the next five years to states, local governments and tribes to build electric vehicle charging infrastructure, Biden administration officials said Wednesday. The new Charging and Fueling Infrastructure grant program, which was authorized by the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law, will spend $2.5 billion over five years to build […]

Keystone executive gives Kansas legislators vague answers on oil spill cleanup

BY: - March 14, 2023

TOPEKA — Owners of the Keystone pipeline still don’t know why it ruptured in northern Kansas, spilling almost 13,000 barrels of oil into Mill Creek and onto surrounding farmland, an executive of the company said Tuesday. Gary Salsman, vice president of field operations for TC Energy, which owns the Keystone pipeline, testified before a joint […]

OPINION
Attorney General Kris Kobach testified in support of a Senate bill restricting the influence of ESG, or investment campaigns tied to environmental, social and corporate governance interests, because the state pension system should invest for the best possible return rather than consider secondary factors. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Kansas Legislature’s clumsy regulatory attempt would remove vital tool to fight climate crisis

BY: - March 14, 2023

I’ve been around the Kansas Legislature for a while now, and a topic that comes up regularly is legislative attempts to prevent policies to address the challenge of human-caused climate disruption. I remember some years ago when Agenda 21 was the thing — the United Nations was going to send black helicopters to take away […]

President Biden Delivers State Of The Union Address

U.S. House votes to roll back Biden’s WOTUS rule

BY: - March 10, 2023

The U.S. House voted Thursday to undo a Biden administration definition of wetlands that allows for regulations on private lands. The chamber approved, 227-198, a resolution to roll back the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s broader definition of what qualifies as “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS, for the purposes of federal regulation under the […]

Attorney General Kris Kobach testified in support of a Senate bill restricting the influence of ESG, or investment campaigns tied to environmental, social and corporate governance interests, because the state pension system should invest for the best possible return rather than consider secondary factors. (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)

Kansas attorney general craves law making state-funded ‘ESG’ investment policies illegal

BY: - March 7, 2023

Kansas Attorney General Kobach, Treasurer Johnson interested in forbidding KPERS portfolio managers from basing investment decisions on ESG politics.

Waters Off Rhode Island Host First Marine-Based Wind Farm In The U.S.

Wind and whales: ‘No evidence’ links projects to deaths

BY: - March 2, 2023

The U.S. offshore wind power industry is in its infancy, with just a handful of turbines installed along the Atlantic coast. But they’re already being blamed for the deaths of whales that have washed up on beaches in New Jersey, New York, Virginia and elsewhere. A Fox News story on Feb. 13 made strenuous attempts […]

The Jefferson County Commission imposed a minimum one-year moratorium on applications for construction of cryptocurrency data centers of the type envisioned by Crypto Colo Center Corp. a short distance north of McLouth in the area bracketed by green lines. The company withdrew its application and the county planning commission called off a Tuesday night public comment session. (Submitted)

Rebellion against McLouth cryptocurrency data center triggers one-year application moratorium

BY: - February 28, 2023

Jefferson County Commission responds to intense public backlash to proposed cryptocurrency data center near McLouth by banning such proposals for one year.

Rep. Lindsay Vaughn

‘There’s still hope’: Kansas House advances bills to help save Ogallala Aquifer

BY: - February 22, 2023

TOPEKA — House members celebrated a “historic” effort to address the state’s looming water crisis by advancing a pair of bills that would earmark funding for water-related projects and hold Groundwater Management Districts accountable for conservation efforts. The chamber gave first-round approval to House Bill 2279, which deals with the GMDs, and House Bill 2302, […]