News items for February 2, 2024

The former U.S. post office site on the edge of downtown Portland is empty. But why? Photo: Michael Andersen/Sightline.

• 1. Inside the People over Parking Act, with Chris Meyer

  Making the case for statewide elimination of parking mandates.

  Sightline Institute Beyond parking mandates, Parking reform

• 2. WA Senate passes proposal to boost affordable-housing funding

  The Washington State Senate has approved a bill, for the second year in a row, to give local governments a new taxing authority to support their affordable housing and homeless service efforts. The proposal would allow counties and cities to adopt an excise tax on the sale of lodging or short-term rentals.

  Crosscut Affordable housing, Housing Policy

• 3. A new plan to save CA salmon

  A wave of dam removals is planned, but salmon strategy relies on voluntary water cuts.

  High Country News Dams, Salmon

• 4. EPA is dropping climate justice investigations left and right

  Environmental justice battles in Cancer Alley and Flint have been hampered by setbacks to investigations, sparking fears for future cases.

  Word In Black Environmental Justice, Environmental policy

• 5. BC is leading the way on land protection. But are its numbers accurate?

  The province counted most old-growth management areas towards its 30-by-30 conservation targets. A new report says a lot of that land isn’t actually protecting old-growth forests.

  The Narwhal Conservation, Forests

• 6. OR’s timber industry won huge tax cuts in the 90s. Now it may get another

  As the cost of fighting wildfires increases, state Sen. Elizabeth Steiner has proposed a bill, developed in consultation with the logging industry, that would shift millions in expenses away from the biggest landowners and onto taxpayers.

  Oregon Public Broadcasting Environmental policy, Forests

• 7. EPA proposes ‘forever chemicals’ be considered hazardous substances

  The proposal would deem the chemicals “hazardous constituents” under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. For the agency to consider a substance a hazardous constituent, it has to be toxic or cause cancer, genetic mutation or the malformations of an embryo.

  NPR Environmental policy, PFAS

• 8. Coastal cities brace for climate change

  This week’s atmospheric rivers may only be the beginning.

  New York Times Climate Change, Extreme weather

• 9. Ignoring Indigenous rights is making the green transition more expensive

  “If you’re going to develop energy in the U.S. you’ve got to do it with the support of tribal communities.”

  Grist First Nations, Renewable Energy

• 10. Opinion: Even a small wetland could have big climate impacts

  Small wetlands across Canada are thought to store more carbon per hectare than peatlands, but few remain on the drought-ridden landscape.

  The Narwhal Emissions, Wetlands

More News from February 2, 2024

• Not all fossil fuels are created equal

  Measuring methane intensity is a key step on the path to net zero.

  The Tyee Climate Policy, Methane

• Fat, sugar and trash may all fuel planes by 2050

  One day, planes won’t burn petroleum—they’ll fly on a steady diet of fat, starch, sugar, trash, and grass, among other unfamiliar fuel sources. At least, that’s the plan according to airlines such as American, Delta and United, which have set ambitious goals to zero out their carbon emissions by 2050.

  Washington Post Carbon emissions, Fuel