Environment

Emissions from nearly 6 million of its vehicles were about 10 percent higher on average than GM said they were on its greenhouse gas emission compliance reports, an EPA investigation found. GM will retire 50 million metric tons of carbon credits to make up for the excess tailpipe pollution. It’ll also pay $145.8 million in penalties.

The Environmental Protection Agency updated its climate change indicators, a comprehensive report on extreme weather, shifting seasons, ocean impacts, and greenhouse gas emissions in the US.

Heatwave season is 46 days longer for Americans now than it was in the 1960s, for instance.

“The climate crisis is affecting every American right now and with increasing intensity,” EPA administrator Michael Regan said in a press release.

He says he had the best. He tried to roll back more than 100 environmental protections while in office. Is that what he’s bragging about in the debate?

The GOES-U satellite launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday.

It’s one of four National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites equipped with powerful new tools to monitor weather in space and on Earth. They’ll provide advanced imagery to inform forecasts, map lightning activity in real time, and detect solar flares.

Data centers already use a lot of water and electricity, and adding AI overviews to Google Search only makes those problems bigger.

AI uses “orders of magnitude more energy” than traditional search engines, Hugging Face researcher Sasha Luccioni tells Scientific American.

Correction: Apple’s AI emoji are generated on device, not in data centers.

Offsets are supposed to allow companies and consumers to cancel out some of their CO2 emissions — but are notorious for failing. Plant a tree to capture carbon, for example, and that tree could eventually release all the CO2 if it doesn’t survive for hundreds of years.

The Biden administration laid out new guidelines today aimed at making offsets work, although many environmental advocates are still skeptical.

Some teabags made with plastic alternatives (typically within the sealed edges) can potentially harm terrestrial species and don’t degrade in soil, according to a new study from the University of Plymouth.

If you’re in doubt, Which recommends ripping used teabags open to compost the leaves, and bin the bag separately. Otherwise, there’s always loose leaf...

The railway company reached a settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency that includes $235 million for cleanup, $30 million to monitor water quality, $25 million for a community health program, and a $15 million civil penalty. Norfolk Southern has also agreed to a $600 million settlement with residents after the disaster released hazardous chemicals including carcinogen vinyl chloride.

KCCI reporter Zane Satre saw at least three 250-foot towers snapped by tornadoes, leaving some buckled and on fire. The Des Moines Register reports more than 35,000 people are without power, and the National Weather Service has a tornado watch in effect across most of the state until 9PM CT.