Arctic “Greening” May Accelerate Warming — With Economic Impacts Far Beyond the Tundra DETROIT - As the Arctic warms nearly four times faster than the rest of the planet, scientists are tracking a surprising development: expanding and “greening” peatlands across northern regions. At first glance, more vegetation sounds like positive environmental news. But new research
LANSING — Michigan regulators are reviewing a proposed deal that would transfer 13 aging hydroelectric dams from Consumers Energy to a private equity-backed buyer, a transaction critics warn could expose taxpayers and ratepayers to long-term financial and environmental risk if the infrastructure fails. Consumers Energy has asked the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) to approve
WASHINGTON DC - The decades-long fight over the future of Enbridge’s Line 5 pipeline has entered a new phase. With the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completing its federal environmental review of the proposed Line 5 tunnel beneath the Straits of Mackinac, the decision now largely shifts to Michigan regulators. State permits — and ongoing
WASHINGTON DC - For more than 15 years, U.S. companies, utilities, insurers, and state governments have planned investments around a stable set of federal climate rules anchored by a single regulatory foundation: the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 Endangerment Finding, which determined that greenhouse gas emissions pose risks to public health and economic welfare. That framework
ANN ARBOR - Electricity and natural gas bills are quietly becoming one of the biggest cost pressures on American households — and Michigan residents are feeling it faster and harder than many others. Across the U.S., utilities are winning approval for billions of dollars in rate increases tied to grid upgrades, transmission expansion, and rising
NOVI — A proposed high-voltage transmission line stretching from Oneida in Eaton County to a new Sabine Lake substation in Livingston County is emerging as one of the most significant energy infrastructure projects Michigan has seen in years — not because of its size alone, but because of what it represents about the future of
ANN ARBOR - The accelerating cost of climate change is no longer confined to distant coastal disasters or global economic forecasts. It is increasingly showing up in everyday household and business expenses — especially through higher insurance premiums, shrinking coverage options, and rising housing and operating costs. While states like Florida and California are already
LANSING — Michigan’s clean-energy economy is entering a more fragmented phase after the state lost roughly $540 million in federal climate-related grants, triggering a pullback in several high-profile renewable and green-manufacturing projects while other energy investments continue to move forward. The funding losses follow a shift in federal priorities in 2025 that froze or terminated
ANN ARBOR - For decades, solar power has followed a familiar formula: rigid, flat panels mounted on rooftops or spread across open fields. Those panels have helped Michigan steadily expand its solar footprint — even in a state better known for cloud cover than desert sun. Now, researchers are developing a new class of photovoltaic
ANN ARBOR - Scientists are increasingly alarmed that Thwaites Glacier, the massive Antarctic ice stream nicknamed the Doomsday Glacier, is edging closer to a point of no return. A new study by the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration reveals a dramatic increase in fractures across the glacier’s floating ice shelf over the past two decades—a structural
