Eco Report

HEADLINES A proposed settlement agreement negotiated between utility companies, local governments and advocacy groups could finalize that one of the most carbon-emitting power plants in the state will close before the end of the decade. —Norm Holy The New York Times is skeptical of the fervor about black vultures attacking calves. The accounts described of Indiana farmlands and elsewhere seem …

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:05 — 40.0MB)Subscribe: RSS | MoreHEADLINES The Observer, the student newspaper at Notre Dame, reports the university has pledged to become a carbon-neutral campus by 2050, University President Friar John Jenkins announced last Friday. —Norm Holy IndyStar reports that an Indiana University scientist will lead an ambitious effort to determine the effect …

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 20.2MB)Subscribe: RSS | MoreHEADLINES The Indiana Environmental Reporter says a pair of Purdue University professors have been appointed to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s newly reconstituted Scientific Advisory Board. —Norm Holy In a story originated by WFYI, city officials from Bloomington, Carmel, and West Lafayette — and other Indiana lawmakers …

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 20.6MB)Subscribe: RSS | MoreHEADLINES Two environmental groups are putting real-time air monitoring data in the hands of citizens and giving those community members the power to make informed decisions about their health each day. —Norm Holy After losing an Indiana Court of Appeals decision, opponents of the proposed Lone Oak …

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 20.2MB)Subscribe: RSS | MoreHEADLINES While intense heat waves and wildfires scorch the Western U.S. and freak rainstorms spawn massive floods in Europe and China, the weather in central Indiana has been fairly tame so far this year. —Norm Holy As the country decides how hard it wants to fight climate …

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 9:18 — 12.8MB)Subscribe: RSSThe opposition was strong. Over 110 organizations and individuals signed and delivered a letter to the Governor’s office requesting a veto. The signers represented all parts of Indiana and multiple forms of environmental organizations. However, despite the unprecedented amount of opposition, on April 29th, Governor Eric Holcomb signed Senate …

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 10:30 — 14.5MB)Subscribe: RSSEarly this summer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency moved to declassify three PCB contamination Superfund sites in the surrounding Bloomington area. The decommission of these clean up sites from the National Priority List draws a decades long local environmental movement to a close. For those who were there to …

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 20.2MB)Subscribe: RSS | MoreHEADLINES As the effects of the climate crisis ravage the West with severe drought and persistent wildfires, Indiana will become accustomed to more frequent bouts of severe weather. —Norm Holy The Indiana Department of Natural Resources is investigating reports of sick and dying songbirds in five Indiana …

Experts weigh in on the transition to solar energy in light of Duke Energy’s solar investment. Betty Lynch starts her day like anyone else: she flips on the lights, makes coffee and breakfast, and watches the news. Some days she cuts the grass, or hops in her car to drive to work. But Lynch doesn’t have to stop at the gas station on her way, or worry about her energy bill later. Her routine is powered by the solar panels on the roof of her home in Lawrence, Indiana. Experts say conditions are right for a transition to solar and renewable energy in Indiana. A subsidiary of the Duke Energy Corporation, Duke Energy Renewables, has announced plans for the $180 million “Hoosier Jack” solar farm in Vigo and Sullivan counties. Sophia Hall reporting for WFHB EcoReport

A group of Martinsville, Indiana, residents and business owners called a community action group is seeking to persuade others to allow federal officials to test the air in houses, apartment buildings and businesses that might be contaminated with the toxic chemicals tetrachloroethylene and trichloroethylene from a Superfund site that was formerly a dry-cleaning business. —Linda Greene WFYI reports that Indiana …