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Disinformation Alert: Fossil Fuel Interests Preparing to Deploy False Claims about New EPA Rules

Union of Concerned Scientists

Fossil fuel power plant owners are facing increased accountability for their air and water pollution, including from a new round of environmental and public health protections that are being rolled out by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). We’ve heard these lazily disingenuous narratives before.

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We Need to Change Our Assumptions About Gas Plant Reliability

Union of Concerned Scientists

Gas plants failed at a scale that jeopardized grid reliability for large regions of the United States during severe winter storms in 2011 , 2014 , 2018 , 2021 , and 2022. Even with the clean energy transition well underway, gas plants will be around for a while as we phase out fossil fuels.

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Storm Elliott Knocked Out Fossil-Fuel Power. We’ve Been Here Before.

Union of Concerned Scientists

Utilities and grid operators prepared for the storm as it was coming down the pike, but they still underestimated the energy demand it would trigger, as well as the number of outages at fossil fuel power plants—mainly natural gas-fired, plus some coal-fired plants.

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Fossil Fuels vs. Renewables: A Price on Reliability?

Union of Concerned Scientists

The same scenario has played out with the power plants that use fossil fuels, predominantly methane (“natural”) gas, delivered by pipelines. This system worked so well in the past that gas plants totally dominated new power plant investment from 1990 through 2014. It’s a vicious feedback loop.

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New, Updated Carbon Majors Dataset Holds Promise for Researchers, Litigators

Union of Concerned Scientists

That 2013 headline resulted from the first effort to quantify emissions from the ‘carbon majors’ —fossil fuel companies and cement manufacturers whose businesses have contributed an outsized amount of heat-trapping gases to the atmosphere. Nearly two-thirds of industrial heat-trapping emissions can be traced to just 90 entities.

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Don’t Believe the Lies: Five Facts to Consider as the UN’s COP27 Comes to a Close

Union of Concerned Scientists

Union of Concerned Scientists’ (UCS) research shows that top fossil fuel producers’ emissions are responsible for as much as half of global surface temperature increase. Data on the major carbon producers’ emissions have been published since 2014. The best solution: Replace fossil fuels with renewable energy.

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We Need Large-Scale Solar. A New Agreement Points the Way Forward

Union of Concerned Scientists

That’s a really good thing given the central role we expect and need solar to play in a just transition away from fossil fuels. This graph depicts actual growth in solar installations since 2014 and projections for further growth in the next five years. (GW