Environmental groups are headed back to court this Friday in hopes of setting a clear deadline for Gov. Jared Polis' administration to start reining in climate pollution at the West Elk Coal Mine in the North Fork Valley.

Nathaniel Shoaff, senior attorney for the Sierra Club, said the mine has been operating without a permit in violation of the Clean Air Act for years, and is a major contributor to climate change due to its methane emissions.

"Its heat-trapping properties are far more powerful than carbon dioxide, and scientists around the globe have told us that we are in the critical decade," Shoaff pointed out. "If we want to avoid the worst effects of climate disruption, we must act, and we must act now."

A Colorado district court ruled in December the Polis administration violated state law by failing to approve or deny an air pollution permit for the mine, owned by Arch Resources, formerly Arch Coal, by a statutory deadline of September 2021. The state did not dispute the ruling, but told the court due to staffing issues and lack of cooperation by Arch, a draft permit would not be possible before June 1 of this year.

The court is also expected to review records it ordered released related to the state's claims of Arch's "uncooperativeness," and how the state has responded. Shoaff noted Colorado's statute does not indicate the state must act only if it gets paperwork from the mine, the statute said the state must approve or deny a permit within 18 months of receiving the application.

"A facility like the West Elk Mine that has been operating for years without the required permits, and it's the largest industrial source of methane in the state, that should get a high priority from the state," Shoaff contended.

Colorado has set a goal of removing coal from its energy portfolio by 2030. Because federal and state governments have provided subsidies to extract and burn fossil fuels for decades, making communities dependent on those industries, Shoaff argued it is not enough to tell people living in the North Fork Valley there is a job for you in another state. It is incumbent on the government to provide solutions.

"And provide financial incentives for new companies to operate in these areas," Shoaff stressed. "If you don't, you're doing a disservice to those families and those communities that worked for a long time to help keep the lights on."

A new federal jobs program aims to mobilize tens of thousands of young Americans to address the growing threats of climate change.

The American Climate Corps is modeled after public works programs created during the Great Depression, with a new focus on building green energy and climate resilience.

U.S. Sen. Ed Markey - D-MA - called it ambitious, just and pro-union.

"The tens of thousands of American Climate Corps members will not just help us save the world from climate threats," said Markey, "they will help us build a world worth saving."

President Joe Biden created the program through an executive order after the effort was thwarted by Republicans in Congress, who questioned its cost.

American Climate Corps members can sign up online for paid training opportunities in land and water restoration, energy-efficiency technologies and more.

U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez - D-NY - said the program is an important part of the Green New Deal, a legislative proposal backed by climate activists.

"We are starting to turn the green dream into a green reality," said Ocasio Cortez. "You all are changing the world."

Ocasio-Cortez said the American Climate Corps will focus on equity and environmental justice, prioritizing communities that have been disproportionately affected by climate change.

Lawmakers credited young environmental activists for pressuring the White House to create the jobs training program. College student John Paul Mejia - an organizer with the Sunrise Movement - thanked President Biden for listening.

"Thousands of young people were out on the streets asking for more," said Mejia. "You got young people's attention. You decide what you do with it."

They're now circulating a petition, calling on the president to declare climate change a national emergency.

And five states also announced the creation of their own Climate Corps, bringing the total number of state-level programs to ten.




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In rural Alabama, where hurricanes and tornadoes are a constant threat, communities often struggle with damage and limited resources for extended periods.

The nonprofit Hometown Organizing Project is stepping in to help. Through their Climate Protection Canvass initiative, they are forming teams to support communities during severe storms.

Messiah William-Cole, mayor of Camp Hill, said rural communities rely on outside funding for storm recovery help. The support is crucial in his own community, which is still recovering from unprecedented flooding and damage caused by a hailstorm six months ago.

"All homes in our municipality's jurisdiction took damage, roofs were damaged," William-Cole recounted. "When we did a damage assessment 76 % of our towns cars were damaged. "

The Climate Protection Canvass will help communities in Colbert, Coosa, Dallas, Tallapoosa, and Walker counties. Organizers said it is a long-term, four-phase project, which will take place over two to three years. It includes story sharing, a community road tour, political education training, and the development of community protection teams.

Environmental Protection Agency data project Alabama will see warmer weather and more severe flooding and drought.

Michaela Lovegood, executive director of the Political Healers Project, will work with the Hometown Organizing Project on the canvass. She said weather pattern changes are a global problem, and stressed the need for long-term commitment to mobilize communities to take the lead in climate protection.

"The importance that we are putting here is that we are trying to create climate protection where local communities have the training development and the support in order to be able to create the kind of response, recovery work and plan they need," Lovegood outlined.

NOAA has recorded 15 weather-related disasters in 2023, each causing at least $1 billion in damage.


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Researchers at the University of Maine are working to develop a more resilient electric power grid to withstand the growing number of climate change-related weather events.

The goal is to help communities disproportionately impacted by such events build locally controlled microgrids fueled by renewable energy.

Sharon Klein, associate professor of economics at the University of Maine, said rural and remote communities identified as socially vulnerable often face the greatest effects when power lines go down.

"A lot of our northern communities are on that list," Klein pointed out. "Also a lot of the coastal communities who are going to be susceptible to a lot of the sea-level rise and flooding."

Klein noted researchers will also work with communities in Alaska, South Dakota and Puerto Rico to study how local microgrids could better ensure the lights stay on when extreme weather strikes.

Researchers said the key to developing microgrids is to first build strong relationships with communities to ensure their individual needs are met. Klein explained she is working with all of Maine's tribal communities, who have shared the effects they have already faced from climate change, as well as their vision for a more sustainable power grid.

"It's important to me personally that the communities that have not been part of the conversation as much, that they're accessing directly those benefits to transitioning to renewable energy and away from fossil fuels," Klein emphasized.

Klein added researchers and community members express a sense of urgency in ensuring America's aging power grids can withstand climate change. The bulk of America's transmission lines and transformers are at least a quarter-century old and were not designed to withstand the types of extreme weather conditions the U.S. is experiencing today.


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