Infrastructure

"President Biden’s New Deal-inspired green jobs program has been a target of Republican criticism."

"Concrete is the most ubiquitous man-made building material on the planet, but making it generates massive amounts of CO2 emissions. Companies are experimenting with ways to green the process, from slashing the use of limestone to capturing the carbon generated when it’s burned."

"In a leafy neighborhood in Framingham, Massachusetts, cars traverse a freshly capped trench conveying a newly implanted pipe below the roadbed. From the jet-black strip of tar at the surface, one could imagine that the local gas company just replaced another of New England’s leaky gas mains. In fact, the infrastructure buried this year in Framingham marks a clean break from fossil-fueled business-as-usual. Rather than delivering combustible methane gas, Framingham's newest piping carries tepid water that’s the lifeblood of a geothermal energy system—technology that could help put gas pipes out of business across the United States."

"In Virginia, laws passed so far require agencies to find and address specific sources of PFAS pollution when they have contaminated a public drinking water system. But clean water advocates want the state to require more monitoring now at facilities known to be possible sources of PFAS so that action can be taken more quickly when additional federal limits are finalized."

"Almost nothing stood in the way of the pounding waves that crashed into seaside homes in Staten Island’s Tottenville neighborhood when Superstorm Sandy struck the city 12 years ago.... But after years of work, a system of artificial reefs largely completed this summer could help soften the blow of future hurricanes."

"After a five-year wait, Lorraine Black and Ricky Gillis heard the rumblings of an electrical crew reach their home on the sprawling Navajo Nation."

"Water firms “passed” thousands of pollution tests under a self-monitoring regime … yet the tests were never even conducted, the Observer can reveal. The water firms’ own operational data for sewage plants across the country reveals how outflows of effluent had stopped – in some cases for just a few hours – on days that samples were supposed to be taken."

"Faced with worsening climate-driven disasters and an electricity grid increasingly supplied by intermittent renewables, the US is rapidly installing huge batteries that are already starting to help prevent power blackouts."

"The once-mighty river is barely a trickle through much of West Texas. Scientists and advocates say local initiatives could be scaled up to restore flows to the river."