Virginia's Air Pollution Control Board has voted to leave the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.

RGGI is a cooperative effort among multiple states to cap and reduce carbon-dioxide emissions from their power sectors.

But Virginia has moved in a different direction - becoming a growing hub for data centers, which are known for their high electricity use.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership finds more than 20% of all hyperscale data centers worldwide are in Northern Virginia.

Maya Domeshek, research associate with Resources for the Future, said RGGI kept emissions from these centers low.

"If you're living in a world where electricity demand is increasing and you're building renewable resources, that's not necessarily enough to guarantee that you emit fewer greenhouse gases," said Domeshek. "You also need a policy that's going to require reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and that's the role that RGGI was playing."

The U.S. Energy Information Administration finds Virginia consumes more electricity than it generates, and gets additional power from two regional grids.

Earlier this year, Virginians weighed in with public comments on whether the state should be part of RGGI or leave. A majority said the state should stay.

Now, 11 states remain in the initiative.

Several policies, including the Virginia Clean Economy Act, aim to get the state to reduce fossil-fuel use and move toward cleaner energy sources. Domeshek described how they might shape up without RGGI.

"With Virginia outside of RGGI," said Domeshek, "it'll be important for those hoping the state moves toward cleaner energy to really pay attention to what its utilities are doing - and whether they are, in fact, meeting the other goals of the Virginia Clean Economy Act."

Revenues from RGGI were slated to help the state address the worsening effects of climate change.

The latest report from Resources for the Future notes the state established a Climate Resilience Fund early last year, using $25 million from RGGI.

Conservation groups are circulating a petition asking the feds to give "America the Beautiful National Parks and Recreation Lands" passes to new citizens at their naturalization ceremony. Members of the group GreenLatinos have met with multiple federal agencies to pitch the idea.

Louis Medina, communications and philanthropy director with the nonprofit Friends of the Inyo, said it would make a great "Welcome to America" gift.

"It would be a great way of giving them the best that America has to offer. It could instill greater patriotism and pride, and it could create new allies in the environmental movement," Medina contended.

The pass normally costs $80 per year and gets one car with up to four adults into all national parks and monuments. Last year, more than 878,000 people became U.S. citizens.

The group also wants to start holding naturalization ceremonies at sites on public lands. And they'd like to reverse the trend of national parks going "cashless," as they have at Yosemite and Death Valley.

Medina added parks may save money by requiring everyone to pay by card, but it risks turning people away who don't have credit cards or mobile payment apps.

"For communities of color and immigrant communities that already are having issues in accessing our national parks, because of costs, because of distance, or because of lack of familiarity, then cashless entry creates yet another barrier," he continued.

The petition currently sports more than 900 signatures and is available on the GreenLatinos website.


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A group of environmental and civil society organizations is fighting for better working conditions for people in countries that supply critical minerals to the United States.

Nickel, cobalt, lithium and other minerals are mined and shipped to the United States for use in manufacturing electric vehicles, long-storage batteries, microchips and solar panels.

Clayton Tucker, climate organizer for the nonprofit Trade Justice Education Fund, said conditions in countries where the minerals are mined do not meet U.S. standards.

"Mining cobalt, there's artisan mines, and child slavery is very, very commonly used," he said. "With nickel, in Indonesia to mine that you basically have to raze entire parts of the jungle and raze basically entire indigenous communities. "

Almost 219,000 electric vehicles are registered in the state of Texas, and the Department of Transportation is working on infrastructure to increase the number of charging stations across the state. Several nonprofits in Texas recently received federal grant funding to install solar panels in low-income neighborhoods, increasing the number of households using the clean energy.

Tucker and representatives from 38 other groups recently testified at a hearing with the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, calling for more stringent requirements for future Critical Mineral Agreements between the United States and other countries.

The only CMA that currently exists is between the United States and Japan. The U.S. trade representative has said the agreement strengthens and diversifies critical minerals' supply chains and promotes the adoption of electric vehicle battery technologies. But the environmental groups have said the agreement doesn't go far enough to ensure that workers and the environment are protected and that it sets a concerning precedent.

Tucker said the contracts come with certain perks, and the United States needs to leverage its power "because we need these minerals.

"We're basically trying to make sure that if you receive a subsidy, a tax credit or any form of other support," he said, "that you play by our rules with climate protections, that you play by our rules with labor protections."

The organizations want to be part of future CMA negotiations between the United States and other countries.

The new Buffalo Bills stadium may not be the best environmentally but it has some green qualities.

The steel for the stadium is being made locally and climate-consciously, using an electric-arc furnace. Studies show the process emits 75% less carbon than traditional steel manufacturing.

Brian Raff, vice president of sustainability and government relations for the American Institute of Steel Construction, said there are outside benefits to using electric-arc furnace steel.

"The supply chain for EAF steel is just a circular economy," Raff pointed out. "Everything that is waste, considered waste at one point, gets put back into the supply stream, gets shredded, melted down, and then made into new steel over and over and over."

Some downsides to electric-arc furnace steel are higher impurities and inclusions, and uneven heat distribution.

Other environmental benefits of the new stadium include reduced water usage, better stormwater flow, and a modern electrical system. The stadium will have 14% fewer spectators, also reducing other environmental impacts. Highmark Stadium will be completed in 2026.

Beyond the environmental impacts, the new stadium's construction creates 10,000 union labor jobs for western New York, and 60% of the 25,000 tons of the steel used for the stadium will be developed in New York.

Raff emphasized making the steel locally will have an economic ripple effect.

"25,000 tons of steel means millions of man-hours, and so that means it's going to keep those fabrication companies moving," Raff explained. "Cash is coming in the door, which means they're able to pay their employees. All of that money will be saved and spent in the local economies."

The project also creates greater opportunities for minority, women and veteran-owned businesses. An important part of the labor agreement negotiations was having local workers involved in the new stadium's construction.


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