rancho seco

Peter Dykstra: The green bucket list

Sites across the U.S. where environmental challenges have been met.

When you’re immersed in environmental science and environmental politics, it’s sometimes hard to step back and measure progress.

Here are a few gains and victories to charge your batteries.


Rancho Seco, California 

In 1975, the City of Sacramento cut the ribbon on its own nuclear power plant. After years of substandard performance and at least one unnerving emergency shutdown, city voters narrowly chose to deactivate the plant in 1989.

Today, Rancho Seco is a sprawling park, 25 miles from downtown, with a sizable solar farm, a gas-fired power plant, and cooling towers unlike those in any other city park in the nation—and a reservoir designed as an emergency source of coolant water is now one bodacious fishing hole.

Greensburg, Kansas

environmental good news

Banner photo credit: Lauren Ayres/flickr

In May 2007, a tornado wiped this Kansas prairie town off the map. With so little left to lose, town leaders accepted a challenge: Rebuild Greensburg all-green, with 100% clean energy.

A decade and a half later, it’s mission accomplished for Greensburg. Its municipal wind farm sells power back to the grid.

Hubbard Brook, New Hampshire 

A research forest in North Woodstock, New Hampshire, where Gene Likens and a team of scientists were among the first to study the causes, sources, and potential solutions to acid rain.

Warren County, North Carolina

environmental justice

Credit: Jimmy Emerson, DVM/flickr

When plans were disclosed to landfill carcinogenic PCB waste in a predominantly poor Black county, national civil rights organizations joined local groups in a series of protests and blockades.

More than 500 arrests later, the environmental justice movement was born.

Storm King Mountain, New York 

Con Edison, the utility giant that powers New York City, was on the lookout for new generating capacity. Storm King rises 1,400 feet above a particularly lovely stretch of the Hudson River. In 1962, Con Ed sought permission to convert Storm King into a giant pump-storage facility – hollowing out the mountain to create a vertical reservoir, releasing the water to power electrical turbines during peak demand periods.

Swift opposition came from hikers, fishermen, ambitious lawyers and Manhattan millionaires. Seventeen years of court cases and public hearings later, Con Ed dropped its plans for Storm King. But the battle is considered the birthplace of American environmental law.

Baraboo, Wisconsin 

There are two reasons to enshrine this town of 12,000: It’s home to the Aldo Leopold Foundation, dedicated to one of America’s greatest environmental authors; and also to the International Crane Foundation, the leading NGO in protecting crane species worldwide.

These are sites where problems yielded inspired solutions. Next week, we’ll look at American sites with unresolved problems we can learn from.

Peter Dykstra is our weekend editor and columnist and can be reached at pdykstra@ehn.org or @pdykstra.

His views do not necessarily represent those of Environmental Health News, The Daily Climate, or publisher Environmental Health Sciences.

Banner photo: Canoeing in Rancho Seco. (Credit: Robert Couse-Baker/flickr)

Alaska oil & gas drilling pipeline with snowy mountains in background.
Credit: cec72/ BigStock Photo ID: 21712223

Trump administration moves to revive controversial drilling plan in protected Alaska wilderness

The Trump administration is moving to scrap environmental protections in Alaska’s North Slope, opening up millions of acres of fragile wilderness to oil drilling and mining.

Lisa Friedman reports for The New York Times.

Keep reading...Show less
A row of wind turbines in a field on a sunny day.

US Department of Energy cancels billions in clean energy and carbon capture grants

The U.S. Department of Energy has pulled $3.7 billion in grants for carbon capture and industrial decarbonization, halting dozens of projects that had bipartisan backing and were designed to cut emissions from cement, chemicals, and food production.

Jake Spring reports for The Washington Post.

Keep reading...Show less
a factory with a lot of glowing molten steel.

Trump’s reversal on U.S. Steel sale raises fears of long-term coal dependence in Pennsylvania

President Donald Trump celebrated the sale of U.S. Steel to Japan’s Nippon Steel on Friday, a move that could lock in coal-powered steel production for another generation despite environmental and economic shifts away from the fuel.

Kiley Bense reports for Inside Climate News.

Keep reading...Show less
Large gray concrete columns.

Charleston climate case sparks national security debate in federal court

A South Carolina judge questioned whether a local lawsuit accusing oil companies of climate deception could undermine national security, as President Trump’s executive order claims.

Karen Zraick reports for The New York Times.

Keep reading...Show less
Scientist wearing purple gloves looking at samples in a tray.
Credit: CDC/Unsplash

Trump administration hands political appointees sweeping authority over federal science

A Trump executive order claims to champion scientific integrity but scientists warn it centralizes political power over research and undermines independence.

Carolyn Y. Johnson reports for The Washington Post.

Keep reading...Show less
An oil pipeline stretching across a landscape.

Trump officials court support in Alaska for drilling and massive gas pipeline plan

The Trump administration sent top officials to Alaska this week to advance oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and revive a $44 billion natural gas pipeline project aimed at exports to Asia.

Becky Bohrer reports for The Associated Press.

Keep reading...Show less
Wildfire with billowing smoke rising from the flames.

Wildfire smoke from Canada worsens air pollution across central U.S. as alerts expand

Smoke from dozens of uncontrolled Canadian wildfires has drifted into the central U.S., triggering air quality alerts from North Dakota to Georgia and prompting warnings for people with health vulnerabilities.

Aria Bendix reports for NBC News.

Keep reading...Show less
From our Newsroom
Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

Multiple Houston-area oil and gas facilities that have violated pollution laws are seeking permit renewals

One facility has emitted cancer-causing chemicals into waterways at levels up to 520% higher than legal limits.

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

Regulators are underestimating health impacts from air pollution: Study

"The reality is, we are not exposed to one chemical at a time.”

Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro speaks with the state flag and American flag behind him.

Two years into his term, has Gov. Shapiro kept his promises to regulate Pennsylvania’s fracking industry?

A new report assesses the administration’s progress and makes new recommendations

silhouette of people holding hands by a lake at sunset

An open letter from EPA staff to the American public

“We cannot stand by and allow this to happen. We need to hold this administration accountable.”

wildfire retardants being sprayed by plane

New evidence links heavy metal pollution with wildfire retardants

“The chemical black box” that blankets wildfire-impacted areas is increasingly under scrutiny.

Stay informed: sign up for The Daily Climate newsletter
Top news on climate impacts, solutions, politics, drivers. Delivered to your inbox week days.