April 14 (ZFJ) — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the toughest emissions standards yet for light and medium-duty vehicles of model years (MY) 2027-2032, announced the agency on March 20.
The agency projects that the updated standards in Multi Pollutant Emissions Standards for Model Years 2027 and Later Light-Duty and Medium-Duty Vehicles will avoid 7.2 billion tons of carbon emissions between 2027-2055 and provide almost $100 billion of net benefits to society, including improved air quality and reduced annual fuel and maintenance costs for drivers.
EDISON, N.J., April 5 (ZFJ) — A magnitude 4.8 earthquake struck seven kilometers north of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey, at 10:23 a.m. on Friday, April 5, according to the United States Geological Survey (USGS).
Wow! A M4.8 struck in New Jersey this morning around 10:30 am local time. Shaking was widely felt from Maine to Washington D.C. Did you feel this earthquake? Share your experience here: https://t.co/xdohQbzpcq https://t.co/ADcDLsTp8b pic.twitter.com/bAjEbSgvwc
— USGS Earthquakes (@USGS_Quakes) April 5, 2024 ZFJ reporters and residents in Edison, about 25-35 miles out from the epicenter, reported feeling their houses shaking for about 10 seconds.
Feb. 8 (ZFJ) — Joint European Torus (JET) researchers announced on Thursday, Feb. 8, that their tokamak set a new world record of 69.26 megajoules released in controlled nuclear fusion energy on Oct. 3, 2023, at 19:14 GMT.
The record, equivalent to the energy released from burning two kilograms of coal, was set during a single pulse of JET over six seconds with only 0.21 milligrams of fuel. JET’s previous record from 2022 was 59 MJ.
Jan. 9 (ZFJ) — Scientists have confirmed 2023, which saw multiple record-breaking conditions, as the hottest year on record.
The year was characterized by many extreme weather events occurring globally, including heat waves, floods, droughts, and wildfires.
The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), part of the European Union’s space program, reported the data in its Global Climate Highlights 2023 report, which is based mainly on its ERA5 reanalysis dataset, which goes back to 1940.
Dec. 2 (ZFJ) — Earth’s temperature exceeded 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels on Nov. 17-18, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S).
Nov. 17 marked the first day in the ERA5 dataset, the European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasts’ climate record, that global temperatures exceeded 2 C above the average temperature before the extensive use of fossil fuels.
Nov. 17 exceeded the 1850-1900 average by 2.
Nov. 10 (ZFJ) — Ørsted has pulled out of developing two offshore wind farms, set to have been New Jersey’s first ones, due to economic challenges, the company announced on Tuesday, Oct. 31.
“Macroeconomic factors have changed dramatically over a short period of time, with high inflation, rising interest rates, and supply chain bottlenecks impacting our long-term capital investments,” said David Hardy, group executive vice president and CEO of Ørsted Americas.
Aug. 14 (ZFJ) — July 2023 was the hottest month on record globally, confirmed the Copernicus Climate Change Service on Tuesday, Aug. 8.
The monthly average temperature worldwide was 16.95 degrees Celsius (62.51 degrees Fahrenheit), exceeding July 2019’s previous record of 16.63 C (61.93 F) and meeting the Paris Agreement threshold of 1.5 C (2.7 F) warming above preindustrial levels.
The 29 days from July 3-31 were the hottest days on record, exceeding the previous daily global mean surface air temperature record of 16.
EDISON, N.J., June 7 (ZFJ) — Smoke from Canadian wildfires drifted into the eastern and central U.S., tinting the sky orange and triggering air quality alerts on Wednesday.
Canadian authorities are battling “one of the worst wildfire seasons on record,” said Steven Guilbeault, Canadian minister of environment and climate change. The country is currently facing over 400 wildfires, with over half out of control, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre.
May 28 (ZFJ) — The federal government can only regulate wetlands with “a continuous surface connection” to adjacent “waters of the United States” under the Clean Water Act (1972), ruled the Supreme Court on Thursday, May 25, in Sackett v. EPA (21-454).
The CWA is the primary federal law regulating water pollution and prohibits the “discharge of any pollutant,” including “chemical wastes,” “rock,” and “sand,” into “navigable waters,” defined as “the waters of the United States, including the territorial seas.
May 18 (ZFJ) — There is a 66% chance that the annual global surface temperature will exceed 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels before 2027, said the World Meteorological Organization on Wednesday.
The UN weather agency also predicted that there is a 98% chance that one of the next five years will be the warmest on record.
“These new highs will be fuelled almost completely by the rise of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but the anticipated development of the naturally-occurring El Niño event will also release heat from the tropical Pacific,” said Dr.
