Must-read recap: The New Lede’s top stories

Tracking climate change, wildfires and chemical disasters

It’s Monday, another Supreme Court opinion day.

Following last week’s landmark abortion ruling, the justices in a few hours could issue a long-awaited decision in a case that might determine the fate of President Joe Biden’s plans for tackling climate change – and other environmental policy goals.

The case, West Virginia v. EPA, tests the scope of the Environmental Protection Agency’s power to regulate greenhouse gases from power plants. During February 28 oral argument, some conservative justices hinted they might want to rein in the agency’s Clean Air Act rulemaking authority.

A ruling that significantly curtails the EPA’s ability to issue rules for reducing greenhouse gases from utilities would likely make it more difficult for the agency to pursue climate regulations for other sectors, observers have said.

Such a decision could also likely be cited as precedent by the EPA’s critics to argue for limiting its discretionary rulemaking power under other major environmental laws.

Oregon winemakers adapt to wildfires

As wildfires in the west pose a growing threat, businesses that make and sell wine are among the industries struggling to adapt. Grapes are the highest value fruit crop in the United States, contributing about $220 billion to the economy annually. Three of the four leading producers are located in Oregon, Washington and California.

But as we reported, while the number of wineries grows, more frequent wildfires and other adverse impacts of climate change can result in reduced yields for grape growers. That’s prompting efforts by researchers to find potential ways for adapting to wildfires.

Researchers from Oregon State University, California, and Washington state are asking: Does smoke exposure affect some grape varietals more than others? Does the amount of particulate in the air affect how badly grapes are damaged? Does the state of maturity of the grape make a difference?

Calls for stricter chemical safety rules

Last week, we reported on calls by faith leaders, health and environmental experts, members of Congress and others for the EPA to tighten its chemical facility safety rules.

The agency has sent for White House pre-publication review a plan to potentially revise and strengthen its Risk Management Plan (RMP) rule, which requires facilities that store certain amounts of hazardous substances like ammonium nitrate to report the amount of chemicals they have on site, and craft plans for responding to accidental releases of those substances.

Advocates of stricter RMP requirements – such as making companies use safer chemicals that pose less of a risk to health and the environment when released – justify their push by citing a number of major industrial facility chemical fires in recent years. The incidents include a large fertilizer plant fire in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in January.