RICHMOND, Va. -- The coronavirus pandemic has shifted the way educators and students learn about the Chesapeake Bay and its estuaries to new virtual programs.

The Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay and Virginia's York River highlights the habitats of the nation's largest estuary. Online programs feature storytelling and discovery labs, like last week's session on turtles.

Education coordinator Sarah Nuss said their virtual classes teach students and families about the Bay's ecosystem as well as how to protect it.

"Our reach is really regional because the Chesapeake Bay's watershed is so large," Nuss said. "We want people to understand that even if you live in New York or Pennsylvania that the impact that you have on your land and your waterways could eventually affect the Chesapeake Bay."

Since 1983, the states in the Chesapeake Bay watershed, including Virginia, Maryland and Delaware, have been working to fully restore the polluted estuary by 2025. Updates on online activities can be found on the Research Reserve's Facebook page.

Nuss said this is the first summer that teachers at the Virginia site can't spend time in-person with campers who come back year after year for hands-on programs. But she hopes the online sessions will continue to connect kids with opportunities to learn about the Bay's aquatic life and its role in the environment.

"The Chesapeake Bay provides a local example of an environment that the students can learn all aspects of science but with a local context," she said. "So I think it means more, is more meaningful to them when it's closer to where they live and something they interact with."

Parts of the reserve are open for public use during the pandemic, including York River State Park, which has hiking trails and a beach area.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.





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April is Earth Month, and for many climate scientists and advocates across the world, it's a time to raise environmental awareness.

In Arizona, a group called Science Moms wants families to know about new rebates and tax credits available to them through landmark federal clean energy laws.

Joellen Russell, professor of geosciences at the University of Arizona and co-founder of Science Moms, said many are still not aware of the tools at their disposal or the reasons why they should make the switch to cleaner energy.

"So by talking to moms honestly about how dirty energy harms our kids' health, and how switching to clean energy is an act of 'mom love,' we can help ensure this record investment in fighting climate change and cleaning our air is put to good use," Russell explained.

Russell added dirty energy causes many adverse health effects, especially for children. She pointed out recently passed federal climate laws have now allocated billions of dollars toward making clean energy more affordable. She encouraged families to take advantage of the rebates and tax credits to purchase products like heat pumps, which she noted are a clean way to heat and cool your house while significantly slashing your utility bill and reducing air pollution.

As a professional and a mom herself, Russell said she understands moms are always busy, but still encouraged families to take action.

She urged people to not "give in to climate despair." Russell emphasized the United States has dropped more than 20% off its peak carbon emissions since 2007, and added the U.S. is the fastest-reducing country in the world while simultaneously growing our economy and population.

She stressed federal dollars will only help accelerate the decrease in carbon emissions.

"If we keep on the trajectory we are on right now we'll have cut 50% by 2032," Russell asserted. "And we will have dropped from 22% of global emissions to 6%. Not only is there hope, we are leading the way here in the U.S. and here in Arizona."

Russell also urged parents to engage with local schools and let them know electric school buses will cut toxic fumes emitted from diesel buses and suggested starting conversations about cleaner energy with family and friends in-person and on social media.


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The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has announced an 18-month delay in permitting a controversial oil-tunnel construction project under the Great Lakes.

Federal engineers said they need the extra time to study the massive volume of public comments submitted about the project.

Sean McBrearty, campaign coordinator for the conservation group Oil and Water Don't Mix, said the delay will push builder Enbridge's Line 5 project well beyond its original timeline.

"This was entirely predictable," McBrearty asserted. "From the beginning, Oil and Water Don't Mix, and our allies have been saying that this is going to take a lot longer than what Enbridge was trying to sell, and that likely this project will not be able to be permitted."

Line 5 is a pair of aging oil pipelines under the Mackinac Straits Enbridge wants to replace with an underground tunnel. Conservation groups oppose the project over its potential to damage the environment. A spokesman said Enbridge is "disappointed with the delay."

McBrearty emphasized environmental groups want the pipeline closed down, predicting a leak or a break under the lakes could bring damage which could last a generation or longer. He added many experts question the safety of building an underwater oil tunnel.

"We have a 70-year-old pipeline pumping 23 million gallons of oil a day, through the worst spot in the Great Lakes for an oil spill," McBrearty pointed out. "The oil tunnel may never exist, but the pipeline sitting at the bottom of the Straits of Mackinaw does exist."

A coalition of Michigan conservation groups, Native American tribes and elected officials are pushing the Biden administration to shut down the current pipeline. The original timeline for completing of the tunnel project, which could cost $2 billion, was 2024, but if it is built, it will won't be completed until 2029.

The Iowa House has passed a bill to restrict the use of eminent domain for carbon dioxide pipeline operators in the state. The measure would require the companies to receive permission from landowners before constructing the pipelines.

Right now, the pipeline companies have to get permission only from the three-member, unelected Iowa Utilities Board to use eminent domain, and landowners are completely left out of the process.

Devyn Hall, organizer for the group Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, said House File 565 would give property owners back the ability to make decisions.

"It pulls the power back into the people's hands," Hall asserted. "With landowners, they'd be able to have some control over what's happening in their lives rather than rely on an unelected, three-person board to make decisions for them."

As it stands, Iowa law has no requirement for pipeline companies to get permission from landowners before imposing eminent domain and taking it. The bill awaits action in the Senate.

Specifically, the bill would require pipeline operators to obtain voluntary easements on 90% of properties along a proposed line before employing eminent domain. At least three corporations are discussing using pipelines through to route carbon dioxide emissions out of the state in exchange for carbon tax credits, part of a larger removal strategy called carbon capture and storage.

For now, the Utilities Board has the final say over whether it can happen, which Hall argued leaves Iowa landowners vulnerable to the whims of those corporations, and unprotected under Iowa's eminent domain law.

"Right now what this fight means is it's a decision between whether we'll allow private companies to use eminent domain for private gain, or if we will stand with our own people and say these polluting companies can't have control over what happens to us," Hall contended.

The bill must pass through the Senate Commerce Committee by the end of this week, where its fate is uncertain. Several similar pipeline bills have died there.