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Latest Environmental News

A sign by casks containing spent fuel on a concrete pad near the Pilgrim reactor building, warns of the presence of radioactive materials. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Pilgrim's Progress: The Pace Of Decommissioning Plymouth's Nuclear Plant Picks Up

As the as the decommissioning of Pilgrim proceeds, concern over the long-term safety of the highly radioactive waste remains.

In this 2010 file photo, a new-growth black cherry tree sprouts up in a stand of birch trees on protected conservation land in Weston, Massachusetts. (Charles Krupa/AP)

New England Forests Can Help Slow Climate Change. A New Report Shows Exactly How Much

Fishermen Challenge Federal Approval Of First Large-Scale Offshore Wind Project

At 101, She's Still Hauling Lobsters With No Plans To Stop

Bill Aims To Stomp Out Biomass Power Subsidies

Series: Boston Under Water

A Blue Line train passes over a culvert next to the DCR Bennington Street Pump Station. Water from Suffolk Downs flows through the culvert into this pond. Water flowing in the opposite direction, from Belle Isle Marsh, is blocked by tide gates. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

The Blue Line Was Named For Boston Harbor. Now The Sea Threatens The Service

The Seaport Cost Billions To Build. What Will It Take To Save It?

As Sea Levels Rise in Boston, Stormwater May Have Nowhere To Go

'Your Condo Is Going To Flood': A Sculptural Installation Predicts What Climate Change Could Bring

Boston’s Stormwater Problems Are Older Than The City Itself

Test Your Boston And Climate Change Knowledge With Our Quiz

The 1-2-3s Of Boston's Rising Sea Level

8 Maps That Explain Boston's Changing Shoreline

Environmental Justice

A 2019 protest in Springfield against the Palmer Plant. (Courtesy of Rene Theberge)

Mass. Revokes Air Permit For Controversial Biomass Facility In Springfield

Why A Federal Order In The Weymouth Compressor Case Has The Natural Gas World Worried

In A Blow To Environmental Justice Advocates, State Regulators Approve Controversial East Boston Substation

'It's Not Inevitable That This Will Be Unjust': A Q&A With Shalanda Baker On Energy Justice

Climate Change And Health

Patient Steve Kearns describes his experience after contracting West Nile Virus during a follow up appointment at CHA Somerville Hospital. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Teaching Doctors In Training To Connect Climate Change And Health Care

Study Finds Significant Racial Disparities In Vehicular Air Pollution Exposure Around Boston

Dead And Dying Trees Have More Methane In Their Soil, Study Finds

Climate Change Worsens Effects Of Global Outbreaks Like Coronavirus, Expert Says

Building Solutions

Gas streetlamps on Temple Street in the early evening. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Beacon Hill's Iconic Gas Lamps Are Going Green

In A First, Boston Building Will Be Constructed With 'Revolutionary' Timber

Cambridge's 'Passive House' Is Built With Focus On Affordable Housing, Climate Change

How A Climate Change Nonprofit Got Eversource Thinking About A Geothermal Future

Series: The Nuclear Option

The Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

To Combat Climate Change, Do We Need The Nuclear Option?

Big Plans For Small Nuclear Plants

For Green Energy, MIT Aims To Build 'A Star On Earth'

Series: Closing Pilgrim

In this photo, circa 1971, the 525-ton, 65-foot-tall reactor vessel arrives by boat at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station. (Courtesy U.S. Department of Energy)

Timeline: The 52-Year History Of The Pilgrim Nuclear Plant

Pilgrim Is Closing. So Then What Happens To The Radioactive Waste?

In An Identical Simulator, Pilgrim Operators Prep For Shutdown

You Asked, We Answered: Questions About The Pilgrim Shutdown

For 46 Years, Pilgrim Nuclear Plant Has Used Water From Cape Cod Bay. How Has It Impacted The Ecosystem?

As Pilgrim Powers Down, Some Worry It Will Leave Behind Too Much Radiation

This Vermont Town Took A Big Hit When Its Nuclear Plant Closed

Historic Plymouth Looks To A Future Without Pilgrim

More Environmental Coverage from WBUR

Boston Will Require All Large Buildings To Get To Zero Carbon Emissions By 2050

The new ordinance applies to about 3,500 commercial and residential buildings, or about 4% of structures in the city, according to city officials. They account for 60% of Boston’s building...

New Tool Maps Birds, Fish In Offshore Wind Areas

While officials eagerly pursue deployment of offshore wind turbines to generate cleaner power along the East Coast, scientists and advocates unveiled a new mapping tool designed to give developers, regulators...

WBUR News

Sep 23, 2021

Morning Rundown: House Talks 'Back To Beacon Hill' Plans; Local Zoo Animals Get Their COVID Shots

This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. Each weekday morning, you'll get in your inbox the top five local and national news stories of the day,...

WBUR News

Sep 23, 2021

Gov. Charlie Baker during a June press conference. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Baker Creates Clean Heat Commission To Help Cut Emissions

The task of the commission is to establish a heating fuel framework to help the state meet a goal of net zero emissions by 2050.

WBUR News

Sep 21, 2021

Morning Rundown: Expanding Pooled COVID Tests For Child Care Centers; Legislature Talks (Again) On How To Spend Relief $

This is an excerpt from WBUR's daily morning newsletter, WBUR Today. Each weekday morning, you'll get in your inbox the top five local and national news stories of the day,...

WBUR News

Sep 21, 2021

Engineers Ben Agrawal and Madison Gleason set up a 360 camera to survey the area along the Neponset River by Tenean Beach in Dorchester. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

EPA Recommends Superfund Status For Lower Neponset River

The Environmental Protection Agency included a stretch of the Lower Neponset River on its list of 13 newly proposed Superfund sites.

WBUR News

Sep 9, 2021

Martin Greenwald demonstrates how you can use a magnetic fields to contain and insulate a hot fusion plasma. Here the magnet pushes the bright plasma away from the wall of the glass tube. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Commercial Fusion By 2030? With Latest Test, Scientists Say It's In Reach

Researchers from Commonwealth Fusion Systems (CFS) and MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center successfully tested an experimental high-temperature superconducting magnet, putting them closer to a commercial fusion reactor.

WBUR News

Sep 9, 2021

An MWRA wet weather sewage discharge outfall warning on the Charles River by the outlet of Boston's Muddy River. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)

Sewer Overflows Way Up In 2021

So far this year, the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) has discharged more than twice as much sewage and runoff into public waterways than was expelled throughout all of 2020.

WBUR News

Sep 8, 2021

Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

Somerville Mayor To Take Over Environmental Council When Terms Ends

Somerville Mayor Joe Curtatone will take over as president of the Northeast Clean Energy Council, ending speculation that the Democrat might enter the race for governor.

WBUR News

Sep 8, 2021

Firefighter foam remains on the surface after firefighters placed a Class B fire under control at an off ramp of the Interstate I-95, in Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania, on February 7, 2019. (Bastiaan Slabbers/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

Toxic Firefighting Foams A Challenge To Quickly Replace

Fire departments across Massachusetts face a "daunting" task in replacing the foams they use to fight fires caused by fuels or other flammable liquids, one chief told a task force...

WBUR News

Sep 8, 2021