Getting trapped in quicksand is a corny peril of old movies and TV shows, but it really did happen to one unfortunate hiker in Utah’s Arches National Park.
The park famous for dozens of natural, sandstone arches gets over 1 million visitors a year, and accidents ranging from falls to heat stroke are common.
Quicksand? Not really — but it has happened at least a couple of times now.
“The wet sand just kind of flows back in. It’s kind of a never-ending battle,” said John Marshall, who helped a woman stuck in quicksand over a decade ago and coordinated the latest rescue.
On Sunday, an experienced hiker, whose identity wasn’t released, was traversing a small canyon on the second day of a 20-mile (32-kilometer) backpacking trip when he sank up to his thigh, according to Marshall.
Unable to free himself, the hiker activated an emergency satellite beacon. His message got forwarded to Grand County emergency responders and Marshall got the call at 7:15 a.m..
“I was just rolling out of bed,” Marshall said. “I’m scratching my head, going, ‘Did I hear that right? Did they say quicksand?’”
He put his boots on and rendezvoused with a team that set out with all-terrain vehicles, a ladder, traction boards, backboards and a drone. Soon, Marshall had a bird’s-eye view of the situation.
Through the drone camera he saw a park ranger who’d tossed the man a shovel. But the quicksand flowed back as soon as the backpacker shoveled it away, Marshall said.
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The Grand County Search and Rescue team positioned the ladder and boards near the backpacker and slowly worked his leg loose. By then he’d been standing in near-freezing muck, in temperatures in the 20s (minus 6 to minus 1 Celsius), for a couple of hours.
Rescuers warmed him up until he could stand, then walk. He then hiked out on his own, even carrying his backpack, Marshall said.
Quicksand is dangerous but it’s a myth total submersion is the main risk, said Marshall.
“In quicksand you’re extremely buoyant,” he said. “Most people won’t sink past their waist in quicksand.”
Marshall is more or less a quicksand expert.
In 2014, he was a medic who helped a 78-year-old woman after she was stuck for over 13 hours in the same canyon just 2 miles (3 kilometers) from where Sunday’s rescue took place.
The woman’s book club got worried when she missed their meeting. They went looking for her and found her car at a trailhead. It was June — warmer than Sunday but not sweltering in the canyon’s shade — and the woman made a full recovery after regaining use of her legs.
DETROIT (AP) — President Donald Trump this week announced plans to weaken rules for how far automakers’ new vehicles need to travel on a gallon of gasoline, set under former President Joe Biden.
The Trump administration said the rules, known formally as Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or CAFE, standards, are why new vehicles are too expensive, and that cutting them will drive down costs and make driving safer for Americans.
The new standards would drop the industry fleetwide average for light-duty vehicles to roughly 34.5 mpg (55.5 kpg) in the 2031 model year, down from the goal of about 50.4 mpg (81.1 kpg) that year under the Biden-era rule.
Here are the facts.
Affordability
TRUMP: EV-friendly policies “forced automakers to build cars using expensive technologies that drove up costs, drove up prices and made the car much worse.”
THE FACTS: It’s true that gas mileage standards have played a role in rising vehicle prices in recent years, but experts say plenty of other factors have contributed, and some much more.
President Donald Trump speaks during an event on fuel economy standards in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump speaks during an event on fuel economy standards in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, Dec. 3, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
The average transaction price of a new vehicle hit $49,105 in October, according to car shopping guide Edmunds.
A Consumer Reports analysis of vehicles for model years 2003 to 2021 — a period in which average fuel economy improved 30% — found no significant increase in inflation-adjusted vehicle prices caused by the requirements. At the same time, it found an average of $7,000 in lifetime fuel savings per vehicle for 2021 model year vehicles compared with 2003. That analysis, done primarily before the coronavirus pandemic, attributed much of the average sticker price increase to the shift toward bigger and more expensive vehicles.
Cutting the fuel economy standards is unlikely to provide any fast relief on sticker prices, said Jessica Caldwell, Edmunds’ head of insights. And while looser standards may eventually mean lower car prices, their lower efficiency means that those savings could be eaten up by higher fuel costs, she said.
Ending the gas car?
TRUMP: Biden’s policies were “a quest to end the gasoline-powered car.”
THE FACTS: The Biden administration did enact several policies to increase electric vehicle adoption, including setting a target for half of new vehicle sales in the U.S. to be electric by 2030.
While those moves sought to help build the EV market, there was no requirement that automakers sell EVs or consumers buy them. And gasoline cars still make up the vast majority of the U.S. market.
EV charging
TRUMP: “We had to have an electric car within a very short period of time, even though there was no way of charging them.”
THE FACTS: While many potential EV buyers still worry about charging them, the availability of public charging has significantly improved in recent years.
Biden-era funding and private investment have increased charging across the nation. There are now more than 232,000 individual Level 2 and fast charging ports in the U.S. As of this year, enough fast charging ports have been installed to average one for every mile (1.6 kilometers) of National Highway System roads in the U.S., according to an AP analysis of data from the Department of Energy.
However, those fast charging stations aren’t evenly dispersed. Many are concentrated in the far West and the Northeast, where sales of EVs are highest.
Experts note that most EV charging can be done at home.
Safety
TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY SEAN DUFFY: The reduced requirements will make drivers “safer on the roads because of all the great new technology we have that save lives.”
THE FACTS: Newer vehicles — gas and electric — are full of advanced safety features, including automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping, collision warnings and more.
Duffy suggested that consumers will be more likely to buy new vehicles if they are more affordable — meaning fewer old cars on the streets without the safety technology. This assumes vehicle prices will actually go down with eased requirements, which experts say might not be the case. Besides, high tech adds to a vehicle’s cost.
“If Americans purchased more new vehicles equipped with the latest safety technologies, we would expect overall on-road safety to improve,” Edmunds’ Caldwell said. “However, it’s unclear whether easing fuel-economy standards will meaningfully increase new-vehicle sales.”
The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, an independent automotive research nonprofit, also says electric or hybrid vehicles are as safe as or safer than gasoline-powered cars.
Another part of safety is public health. Efficiency requirements put into place to address the 1970s oil crisis were also a way to reduce pollution that is harmful to humans and the environment.
“This rollback would move the auto industry backwards, keeping polluting cars on our roads for years to come and threatening the health of millions of Americans,” said Katherine García, director of the Sierra Club’s Clean Transportation for All campaign. “This dangerous proposal adds to the long list of ways the Trump administration is dismantling our clean air and public health protections.”
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Associated Press data journalist M.K. Wildeman contributed from Hartford, Connecticut.
The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
HONOLULU (AP) — High up on the slopes of the west Maui mountains, the Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort provides golfers with expansive ocean views. The course is so renowned that The Sentry, a $20 million signature event for the PGA Tour, had been held there nearly every year for more than a quarter-century.
“You have to see it to believe it,” said Ann Miller, a former longtime Honolulu newspaper golf writer. “You’re looking at other islands, you’re looking at whales. … Every view is beautiful.”
Its world-class status also depends on keeping the course green.
But with water woes in west Maui — facing drought and still reeling from a deadly 2023 wildfire that ravaged the historic town of Lahaina — keeping the course green enough for The Sentry became difficult.
Ultimately, as the Plantation’s fairways and greens grew brown, the PGA Tour canceled the season opener, a blow that cost what officials estimate to be $50 million economic impact on the area.
A two-month closure and some rain helped get the course in suitable condition to reopen 17 holes earlier this month to everyday golfers who pay upwards of $469 to play a round. The 18th hole is set to reopen Monday, but the debate is far from over about the source of the water used to keep the course green and what its future looks like amid climate change.
Questions about Hawaii’s golf future
There’s concern that other high-profile tournaments will also bow out, taking with them economic benefits, such as money for charities, Miller said.
“It could literally change the face of it,” she said, “and it could change the popularity, obviously, too.”
The company that owns the courses, along with Kapalua homeowners and Hua Momona Farms, filed a lawsuit in August alleging Maui Land & Pineapple, which operates the century-old system of ditches that provides irrigation water to Kapalua and its residents, has not kept up repairs, affecting the amount of water getting down from the mountain.
MLP has countersued and the two sides have exchanged accusations since then.
As the water-delivery dispute plays out in court, Earthjustice, a nonprofit environmental legal group, is calling attention to a separate issue involving the use of drinking water for golf course irrigation, particularly irksome to residents contending with water restrictions amid drought, including Native Hawaiians who consider water a sacred resource.
“Potable ground drinking water needs to be used for potable use,” Lauren Palakiko, a west Maui taro farmer, told the Hawaii Commission on Water Resource Management at a recent meeting. “I can’t stress enough that it should never be pumped, injuring our aquifer for the sake of golf grass or vacant mansion swimming pools.”
‘This is water that we can drink’
Kapalua’s Plantation and Bay courses, owned by TY Management Corp., have historically been irrigated with surface water delivered under an agreement with Maui Land & Pineapple, but since at least the summer have been using millions of gallons of potable groundwater, according to Earthjustice attorneys who point to correspondence from commission Chairperson Dawn Chang to MLP and Hawaii Water Service they say confirms it.
Chang said her letter didn’t authorize anything, but merely acknowledged an “oral representation” that using groundwater is an an “existing use” at times when there’s not enough surface water. She is asking for supporting documentation from MLP and Hawaii Water Service to confirm that interpretation.
In emails to The Associated Press, MLP said it did not believe groundwater could be used for golf course irrigation and Hawaii Water Service said it didn’t communicate to the commission that using groundwater to irrigate the courses was an existing use.
MLP’s two wells that service the course provide potable water.
“This is water that we can drink. It’s an even more precious resource within the sacred resource of wai,” Dru Hara, an Earthjustice attorney said, using the Hawaiian word for water.
Recycled water solutions
TY, owned by Japanese billionaire and apparel brand Uniqlo’s founder Tadashi Yanai, doesn’t have control over what kind of water is in the reservoir they draw upon for irrigation, TY General Manager Kenji Yui said in a statement. They’re also researching ways to bring recycled water to Kapalua for irrigation.
Kamanamaikalani Beamer, a former commissioner, said he’s troubled by Earthjustice’s allegations that proper procedures weren’t followed.
The wrangling over water for golf shows that courses in Hawaii need to change their relationship with water, Beamer said: “I think there needs to be a time very soon that all golf courses are utilizing at a minimum recycled water.”
SCARBOROUGH, Maine — Eels are the stuff of nightmares — slimy, snakelike creatures that lay millions of eggs before dying so their offspring can return home to rivers and streams. They’ve existed since the time of the dinosaurs, and some species are more poorly understood than those ancient animals.
Yet they’re also valuable seafood fish that are declining all over the world, leading to a new push for restrictions on trade to help stave off extinction.
Freshwater eels are critically important for the worldwide sushi industry, and some species have declined by more than 90% since the 1980s. The eels have succumbed to a combination of river dams, hydroelectric turbines, pollution, habitat loss, climate change, illegal poaching and overfishing, according to scientists. Some environmental organizations have called for consumers to boycott eel at sushi restaurants.
The loss of eels motivated the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, or CITES, to consider new restrictions to protect the wriggling fish. The members of CITES, an international treaty, met in Uzbekistan this week to determine if the new rules on trade are needed. Member nations voted against the new protections on Thursday.
Conservation groups said the protections were long overdue, but not everyone was on board. Some fishing groups, seafood industry members and regulatory agencies in the U.S., China and Japan — all countries where eel is economically important — have spoken out against restricting the trade.
The push for more restrictions is the work of “an international body dominated by volunteer scientists and unelected bureaucrats,” said Mitchell Feigenbaum, one of North America’s largest eel dealers and an advocate for the industry. But several conservation groups countered that the protections were needed.
“This measure is vital to strengthen trade monitoring, aid fisheries management, and ensure the species’ long-term survival,” said Susan Lieberman, vice president of international policy for Wildlife Conservation Society.
The eels in question are the eels of the anguilla genus, which spend their lives in freshwater but migrate to the ocean to spawn. They are distinct from the familiar, grinning moray eels, which are popular in aquariums and are mostly marine fish, and the electric eels, which live in South America.
Anguilla eels, especially baby eels called elvers, are valuable because they are used as seed stock by Asian aquaculture companies that raise them to maturity for use as food. Freshwater eel is known as unagi in Japan, and it’s a key ingredient in numerous sushi dishes. Eel is also culturally significant in Japan, where people have eaten the fish for thousands of years.
The elvers have become more valuable in the U.S. over the last 15 years because of the steep decline of eels elsewhere in the world. While the population of American eels has fallen, the drop has not been as severe as Japanese and European eels. Attempts to list American eels under the Endangered Species Act in the U.S. have failed.
Maine is the only U.S. state with a significant fishery for the elvers, and it is heavily regulated. Maine’s baby eels were worth more than $1,200 per pound at the docks in 2024, and they were worth more than $2,000 per pound the year before that.
CITES, which is one of the world’s largest multinational wildlife agreements, extended protections to European eels in 2009. The organization considered adding more than a dozen more eel species, including the American and Japanese eels, to its list of protected species.
Adding the eels to the list would mean exporters would need a permit to ship them. Before the permit could be granted, a scientific authority in the home country would have to determine that the export would not be detrimental to the species’ survival and that the eels weren’t taken illegally under national wildlife laws. That is significant because poaching of eels is a major threat, and rare species are often illegally passed off as more common ones, CITES documents state.
Tightening trade rules “will encourage species-specific trade monitoring and controls and close loopholes that allow illegal trade to persist,” the documents state.
Fishing groups are not the only organizations to resist expanding protections for eels, as regulatory groups in some countries have argued that national and regional laws are a better way to conserve eels.
Japan and China have both told CITES that they don’t support listing the eels. And in the U.S., the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission, which regulates the American eel fishery, submitted testimony to CITES opposing the listing.
The U.S.’s own management of eels is sufficient to protect the species, said Toni Kerns, fisheries policy director with the commission.
“We don’t feel that the proposal provides enough information on how the black market would be curbed,” Kerns said. “We are very concerned about how it would potentially restrict trade in the United States.”
A coalition of industry groups in China, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan also submitted a request that the protection be rejected, saying CITES’ assertion that international trade is causing eel populations to decline is “not supported by sufficient evidence.”
The strong demand for eels is a reason to protect the trade with new rules, said Nastya Timoshyna, office director for Europe with TRAFFIC, a U.K.-based nonprofit that fights wildlife trafficking.
Illegal shipping is not the only reason the eels are in decline, but working with industry to cut down illegal trade will give the fish a better chance at survival, Timoshyna said.
Eels might not be universally beloved, but they’re important in part because they’re an indicator species that helps scientists understand the health of the ecosystem around them, Timoshyna said.
“It’s not about banning it or stopping fishing practices,” Timoshyna said. “It’s about industry being responsible, and there is massive power in industry.”
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Associated Press writer Michael Casey in Boston contributed to this report.
KISUMU, Kenya — A high court in Kenya on Thursday declared unconstitutional sections of a seed law that prevented farmers from sharing and selling indigenous seeds in what food campaigners have called a landmark win for food security.
Farmers in Kenya could face up to two years’ imprisonment and a fine of 1 million Kenya shillings ($7,700) for sharing seeds through their community seed banks, according to a seed law signed in 2012.
Justice Rhoda Rutto on Thursday said sections of the seed law that gave government officials powers to raid seed banks and seize seeds were also unconstitutional.
The law was introduced as a measure to curb growing sale of counterfeit seeds that were causing loses in the agricultural sector and gave sole seed trading rights to licensed companies.
The case had been filed by 15 smallholder farmers, who are members of community seed banks that have been in operation for years, preserving and sharing seeds among colleagues.
A farmer, Samuel Wathome, who was among the 15, said the old farming practices had been vindicated.
“My grandmother saved seeds, and today the court has said I can do the same for my grandchildren without fear of the police or of prison,” he said.
Elizabeth Atieno, a food campaigner at Greenpeace Africa, called the win a “victory for our culture, our resilience, and our future.”
“By validating indigenous seeds, the court has struck a blow against the corporate capture of our food system. We can finally say that in Kenya, feeding your community with climate-resilient, locally adapted seeds is no longer a crime,” she said.
Food campaigners have in the past encouraged governments to work with farmers to preserve indigenous seeds as a way of ensuring food security by offering farmers more plant varieties.
Indigenous seeds are believed to be drought resistant and adaptable to the climate conditions of their native areas, and hence often outperform hybrid seeds.
Kenya has a national seed bank based near the capital Nairobi where indigenous seeds are stored in cold rooms, but farmers say community seed banks are equally important for variety and proximity to the farmer.
The country has faced challenges in the seed sector where counterfeit seeds were sold to farmers, leading to losses amounting to millions of shillings in a country that relies on rain-fed agriculture.
NORTH SEA, Denmark — Appearing first as a dot on the horizon, the remote Nini oil field on Europe’s rugged North Sea slowly comes into view from a helicopter.
Used to extract fossil fuels, the field is now getting a second lease on life as a means of permanently storing planet-warming carbon dioxide beneath the seabed.
In a process that almost reverses oil extraction, chemical giant INEOS plans to inject liquefied CO2 deep down into depleted oil reservoirs, 1,800 meters (5,900 feet) beneath the seabed.
The Associated Press made a rare visit to the Siri platform, close to the unmanned Nini field, the final stage in INEOS’ carbon capture and storage efforts, named Greensand Future.
When the project begins commercial operations next year, Greensand is expected to become the European Union’s first fully-operational offshore CO2 storage site.
Environmentalists say carbon capture and storage, also known as CCS, has a role to play in dealing with climate change but should not be used as an excuse by industries to avoid cutting emissions.
Mads Gade, chief executive of INEOS Energy Europe, says it will initially begin storing 400,000 tons (363,000 metric tons) of CO2 per year, scaling up to as much as 8 million tons (7.3 million metric tons) annually by 2030.
“Denmark has the potential to actually store more than several hundred years of our own emissions,” says Gade. “We are able to create an industry where we can support Europe in actually storing a lot of the CO2 here.”
Greensand has struck deals with Danish biogas facilities to bury their captured carbon emissions into the Nini field’s depleted reservoirs.
A “CO2 terminal” that temporarily stores the liquefied gas is being built at the Port of Esbjerg, on the western coast of the Danish Jutland peninsula.
A purpose-built carrier vessel, dubbed “Carbon Destroyer 1,” is under construction in the Netherlands.
Proponents of carbon capture technology say it is a climate solution because it can remove the greenhouse gas that is the biggest driver of climate change and bury it deep underground.
They note the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s top body of climate scientists, has said the technology is a tool in the fight against global warming.
The EU has proposed developing at least 250 million tons (227 million metric tons) of CO2 storage per year by 2040, as part of plans to reach “net zero” emissions by 2050.
Gade says carbon capture and storage is one of the best means of cutting emissions.
“We don’t want to deindustrialize Europe,” he said. “We want to have actually a few instruments to decarbonize instead.”
Experts at Denmark’s geological survey say Greensand sandstone rock is well-suited for storing the liquefied CO2. Almost a third of the rock volume is made up of tiny cavities, said Niels Schovsbo, senior researcher at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland.
“We found that there (are) no reactions between the reservoir and the injected CO2. And we find that the seal rock on top of that has sufficient capacity to withhold the pressure that is induced when we are storing CO2 in the subsurface,” added Schovsbo.
“These two methods makes it a perfect site for storage right there.”
But while there are many carbon capture facilities around the world, the technology is far from scale, sometimes uses fossil fuel energy in its operations and captures just a tiny fraction of worldwide emissions.
The Greensand project aims to bury up to 8 million tons (7.3 million metric tons) of CO2 a year by 2030. The International Energy Agency says nearly 38 billion tons (34.5 billion metric tons) of CO2 were emitted globally last year.
Environmental campaigners say CCS has been used as an excuse by industries to delay cutting emissions.
“We could have CCS on those very few sectors where emissions are truly difficult or impossible to abate,” said Helene Hagel, head of climate and environmental policy at Greenpeace Denmark.
“But when you have all sectors in society almost saying, we need to just catch the emissions and store them instead of reducing emissions — that is the problem.”
While the chemical giant ramps up carbon storage efforts, it is also hoping to begin development at another previously unopened North Sea oil field.
“The footprint we deliver from importing energy against producing domestic or regional oil and gas is a lot more important for the transition instead of importing with a higher footprint,” said Gade, defending the company’s plans.
“We see a purpose in doing this for a period while we create a transition for Europe.”
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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
The pollution from food is sneaky. Because the apple sitting on your kitchen counter isn’t really causing any harm.
But chances are good that you didn’t pick it from a tree in your backyard. It required land and water to grow, machines to harvest and process, packaging to ship, trucks to transport and often refrigerators to store. Much of that process releases planet-warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
That’s why the global food system makes up roughly a third of worldwide, human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, according to the EDGAR FOOD pollution database.
Meanwhile, roughly a third of the U.S. food supply is lost or wasted without being eaten, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It might never get harvested, it might spoil in transit or the grocery store might reject it for being the wrong size or color. That’s a big reason why some consumers are looking for less-wasteful alternatives ranging from farmers markets to delivery services for produce that didn’t meet supermarket size or appearance standards.
“There’s a whole breadth of opportunities to purchase food,” said Julia Van Soelen Kim, food systems adviser with the University of California Cooperative Extension.
And during the week of Thanksgiving, this decision is especially high stakes because lots of grocery shoppers are buying for extra guests, and more food can mean a bigger climate impact.
Here are tips for reducing impact by shopping beyond the grocery store.
Wasted food is a financial and environmental bummer. It costs the average person $728 per year, and it amounts to about the same planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions every year as 42 coal-fired power plants. Can buying produce that would otherwise go to waste be the answer?
The community supported agriculture box
Jane Kolodinsky, professor emerita at the University of Vermont and director of research at Arrowleaf Consulting, has bought her produce directly from a local farmer for 30 years.
It’s called Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA. At the beginning of every harvest season, Kolodinsky pays that farm a fee. Then, once per week, she picks up a box of produce at the farm. Some CSA programs pick the produce, while others let you customize. Some deliver. An online database shows which farms participate in CSA programs.
Since the food is grown nearby, there is less processing and packaging. “There’s a smaller carbon footprint for purchasing locally compared to global or national food distribution channels,” said Van Soelen Kim. “When they’re local, they’re traveling less distance, so less gas, less fuel.”
Local farmers are also likely to grow whatever works best for the area’s climate and season. “When things are in season, they need less storage time, so less electricity for cold storage,” said Van Soelen Kim, who added that can also mean a smaller food bill.
It’s not pollution-free, because the crops still require land and water, and the food does travel some distance. But CSAs avoid many steps in the modern food supply chain.
That model is challenging for consumers who want to maintain the same shopping list year-round. Shopping in-season requires more flexibility. “I would encourage consumers to think, ’OK, year-round we want some hand fruit that’s firm,’” she said. “So maybe it’s apples, and then it’s pears, and then its gonna move to kiwis, and then is gonna move to pluots.”
And in colder regions, she said there is still local produce. It’s just more likely to be dried, frozen or canned.
Customers browse farmer’s market displays in Union Square, Jan. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter K. Afriyie, File)
Customers browse farmer’s market displays in Union Square, Jan. 13, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter K. Afriyie, File)
The farmers market
Kolodinsky said the oldest alternative food system is the farmers market, where vendors gather and sell directly to consumers. Growers also sell at farm stands that aren’t tied to a centralized, scheduled event.
Farmers markets allow consumers more flexibility to pick the produce than a typical CSA. They also offer seasonal produce and less packaging and processing than a grocery store. Many also accept payment associated with government food assistance programs.
Plus, these models cut down on waste because customers are more tolerant of produce that’s not a uniform size and shape, said Timothy Woods, a University of Kentucky agribusiness professor.
“It doesn’t matter to me if one cucumber’s a couple inches longer than the other one,” he said. “Less waste means more efficient utilization of all the resources that farmers are putting out to produce that crop in the first place.”
Other delivery services
Farmers who sell to grocery stores typically have to meet high standards, Woods said. For example, there could be onions that never got big enough or the carrot that grew two roots — vegetables that are just as safe and tasty to eat. There’s also surplus harvest.
“They will intentionally not pick certain melons that are undersized out in the field. And so you’ll have gleaning programs that will be people that are saying, ‘Those are perfectly good cantaloupe that are out there. We’ll send a team out there to pick those,’” said Woods.
Shiitake mushrooms are displayed at the stand of a farmer who sells “ugly” produce at a discount at a farmers’ market in San Francisco, June 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Haven Daley, File)
Shiitake mushrooms are displayed at the stand of a farmer who sells “ugly” produce at a discount at a farmers’ market in San Francisco, June 7, 2023. (AP Photo/Haven Daley, File)
He said services delivering food that doesn’t meet supermarket size or appearance requirements, such as Misfit Markets or Imperfect Produce, have become more popular in recent years.
Van Soelen Kim said there isn’t a lot of data yet on whether these services have a significantly lower climate impact. They reduce food waste, but the food might come from far away.
Misfits Market refreshes its online selection weekly. Customers then fill a box of often discounted groceries that might have misprinted labels or are undersized or blemished. They are delivered via a company truck or third-party courier such as FedEx. The company’s founder and CEO, Abhi Ramesh, said it minimizes emissions by having set delivery days instead of offering on-demand delivery.
“By doing that, we batch all of our deliveries together. So it is one van to your ZIP code on that day. One truck that goes from our warehouse on that date,” he said.
Ramesh said sometimes a farmer’s market or CSA is even better at offering nearby seasonal food than his company. But for a lot of the country, those services go away when the harvest season ends. “And so your local grocery store, believe it or not, is still transporting that from California. But the difference is we’re able to go and transport the food waste piece, which reduces a ton of emissions.”
Woods’ advice for using services like Misfits Market is the same as other channels: Eat seasonally, eat locally and look for minimal packaging.
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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
NORTH SEA, Denmark (AP) — Appearing first as a dot on the horizon, the remote Nini oil field on Europe’s rugged North Sea slowly comes into view from a helicopter.
Used to extract fossil fuels, the field is now getting a second lease on life as a means of permanently storing planet-warming carbon dioxide beneath the seabed.
In a process that almost reverses oil extraction, chemical giant INEOS plans to inject liquefied CO2 deep down into depleted oil reservoirs, 1,800 meters (5,900 feet) beneath the seabed.
The Associated Press made a rare visit to the Siri platform, close to the unmanned Nini field, the final stage in INEOS’ carbon capture and storage efforts, named Greensand Future.
When the project begins commercial operations next year, Greensand is expected to become the European Union’s first fully-operational offshore CO2 storage site.
Environmentalists say carbon capture and storage, also known as CCS, has a role to play in dealing with climate change but should not be used as an excuse by industries to avoid cutting emissions.
Future plans
Mads Gade, chief executive of INEOS Energy Europe, says it will initially begin storing 400,000 tons (363,000 metric tons) of CO2 per year, scaling up to as much as 8 million tons (7.3 million metric tons) annually by 2030.
“Denmark has the potential to actually store more than several hundred years of our own emissions,” says Gade. “We are able to create an industry where we can support Europe in actually storing a lot of the CO2 here.”
Greensand has struck deals with Danish biogas facilities to bury their captured carbon emissions into the Nini field’s depleted reservoirs.
A “CO2 terminal” that temporarily stores the liquefied gas is being built at the Port of Esbjerg, on the western coast of the Danish Jutland peninsula.
A purpose-built carrier vessel, dubbed “Carbon Destroyer 1,” is under construction in the Netherlands.
Climate solution
Proponents of carbon capture technology say it is a climate solution because it can remove the greenhouse gas that is the biggest driver of climate change and bury it deep underground.
They note the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the world’s top body of climate scientists, has said the technology is a tool in the fight against global warming.
The EU has proposed developing at least 250 million tons (227 million metric tons) of CO2 storage per year by 2040, as part of plans to reach “net zero” emissions by 2050.
Gade says carbon capture and storage is one of the best means of cutting emissions.
“We don’t want to deindustrialize Europe,” he said. “We want to have actually a few instruments to decarbonize instead.”
Experts at Denmark’s geological survey say Greensand sandstone rock is well-suited for storing the liquefied CO2. Almost a third of the rock volume is made up of tiny cavities, said Niels Schovsbo, senior researcher at the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland.
“We found that there (are) no reactions between the reservoir and the injected CO2. And we find that the seal rock on top of that has sufficient capacity to withhold the pressure that is induced when we are storing CO2 in the subsurface,” added Schovsbo.
“These two methods makes it a perfect site for storage right there.”
Limitations and criticism
But while there are many carbon capture facilities around the world, the technology is far from scale, sometimes uses fossil fuel energy in its operations and captures just a tiny fraction of worldwide emissions.
The Greensand project aims to bury up to 8 million tons (7.3 million metric tons) of CO2 a year by 2030. The International Energy Agency says nearly 38 billion tons (34.5 billion metric tons) of CO2 were emitted globally last year.
Environmental campaigners say CCS has been used as an excuse by industries to delay cutting emissions.
“We could have CCS on those very few sectors where emissions are truly difficult or impossible to abate,” said Helene Hagel, head of climate and environmental policy at Greenpeace Denmark.
“But when you have all sectors in society almost saying, we need to just catch the emissions and store them instead of reducing emissions — that is the problem.”
While the chemical giant ramps up carbon storage efforts, it is also hoping to begin development at another previously unopened North Sea oil field.
“The footprint we deliver from importing energy against producing domestic or regional oil and gas is a lot more important for the transition instead of importing with a higher footprint,” said Gade, defending the company’s plans.
“We see a purpose in doing this for a period while we create a transition for Europe.”
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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
CYPRESS, Texas — Kenny Beck surveyed the damage Tuesday to his family’s two-story home after at least two tornadoes tore through the Houston area, damaging over 100 homes at the start of a busy Thanksgiving travel week that has Americans closely eyeing the weather.
“Half my roof on the back is gone,” Beck, 46, said as workers cleared large tree branches and other debris from around nearby houses in the suburb of Cypress. “We’ve lost a lot of ceiling because of the rain. Our garage door got sucked in.”
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ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Volcanic activity in northern Ethiopia’s long-dormant Hayli Gubbi volcano subsided Tuesday, days after an eruption that left a trail of destruction in nearby villages and caused flight cancellations after ash plumes disrupted high-altitude flight paths.
Villages in the district of Afdera in the Afar region were covered in ash, officials said residents were coughing, and livestock found their grass and water totally covered.
Airlines cancelled dozens of flights scheduled to fly over affected areas as the meteorological department said the ash clouds were expected to clear later in the day.
India’s flag carrier, Air India, said it canceled 11 flights, most of them international, on Monday and Tuesday to inspect aircraft that may have flown over affected areas, acting on a directive from India’s aviation safety regulator.
Another Indian operator, Akasa Air, said it had canceled flights to Middle East destinations such as Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Kuwait; and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
At least seven international flights scheduled to depart from and arrive at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi were canceled Tuesday, while at least a dozen were delayed, according to an official at the airport.
An official in charge of health in northern Ethiopia’s Afdera district, Abedella Mussa, said the residents were coughing and mobile medical services from the larger Afar region had been launched in the remote area.
“Two medical teams have been dispatched to the affected kebeles (neighborhoods) like Fia and Nemma-Gubi to provide mobile medical services,” he said.
Another official in charge of livestock, Nuur Mussa, said animals were unable to find clean water or grass. “Many animals, especially in the two affected kebeles, cannot drink clean water or feed on grass because it is covered by volcanic ash,” he said.
Atalay Ayele, a geologist at Addis Ababa University, said such eruptions occur because Ethiopia is situated along an active rift system where volcanism and earthquakes are frequent.
“This is the first recorded eruption of Hayli Gubbi in the last 10,000 years,” he told The Associated Press. “It will likely continue for a short period and then stop until the next cycle.”
High-level winds carried the ash cloud from Ethiopia across the Red Sea, Yemen, Oman, the Arabian Sea and then towards western and northern India, the India Meteorological Department said in a statement. The ash cloud was moving toward China and expected to clear Indian skies late Tuesday.
The pollution from food is sneaky. Because the apple sitting on your kitchen counter isn’t really causing any harm.
But chances are good that you didn’t pick it from a tree in your backyard. It required land and water to grow, machines to harvest and process, packaging to ship, trucks to transport and often refrigerators to store. Much of that process releases planet-warming greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
That’s why the global food system makes up roughly a third of worldwide, human-caused greenhouse gas emissions, according to the EDGAR FOOD pollution database.
Meanwhile, roughly a third of the U.S. food supply is lost or wasted without being eaten, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It might never get harvested, it might spoil in transit or the grocery store might reject it for being the wrong size or color. That’s a big reason why some consumers are looking for less-wasteful alternatives ranging from farmers markets to delivery services for produce that didn’t meet supermarket size or appearance standards.
“There’s a whole breadth of opportunities to purchase food,” said Julia Van Soelen Kim, food systems adviser with the University of California Cooperative Extension.
And during the week of Thanksgiving, this decision is especially high stakes because lots of grocery shoppers are buying for extra guests, and more food can mean a bigger climate impact.
Here are tips for reducing impact by shopping beyond the grocery store.
Jane Kolodinsky, professor emerita at the University of Vermont and director of research at Arrowleaf Consulting, has bought her produce directly from a local farmer for 30 years.
It’s called Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA. At the beginning of every harvest season, Kolodinsky pays that farm a fee. Then, once per week, she picks up a box of produce at the farm. Some CSA programs pick the produce, while others let you customize. Some deliver. An online database shows which farms participate in CSA programs.
Since the food is grown nearby, there is less processing and packaging. “There’s a smaller carbon footprint for purchasing locally compared to global or national food distribution channels,” said Van Soelen Kim. “When they’re local, they’re traveling less distance, so less gas, less fuel.”
Local farmers are also likely to grow whatever works best for the area’s climate and season. “When things are in season, they need less storage time, so less electricity for cold storage,” said Van Soelen Kim, who added that can also mean a smaller food bill.
It’s not pollution-free, because the crops still require land and water, and the food does travel some distance. But CSAs avoid many steps in the modern food supply chain.
That model is challenging for consumers who want to maintain the same shopping list year-round. Shopping in-season requires more flexibility. “I would encourage consumers to think, ’OK, year-round we want some hand fruit that’s firm,’” she said. “So maybe it’s apples, and then it’s pears, and then its gonna move to kiwis, and then is gonna move to pluots.”
And in colder regions, she said there is still local produce. It’s just more likely to be dried, frozen or canned.
Kolodinsky said the oldest alternative food system is the farmers market, where vendors gather and sell directly to consumers. Growers also sell at farm stands that aren’t tied to a centralized, scheduled event.
Farmers markets allow consumers more flexibility to pick the produce than a typical CSA. They also offer seasonal produce and less packaging and processing than a grocery store. Many also accept payment associated with government food assistance programs.
Plus, these models cut down on waste because customers are more tolerant of produce that’s not a uniform size and shape, said Timothy Woods, a University of Kentucky agribusiness professor.
“It doesn’t matter to me if one cucumber’s a couple inches longer than the other one,” he said. “Less waste means more efficient utilization of all the resources that farmers are putting out to produce that crop in the first place.”
Farmers who sell to grocery stores typically have to meet high standards, Woods said. For example, there could be onions that never got big enough or the carrot that grew two roots — vegetables that are just as safe and tasty to eat. There’s also surplus harvest.
“They will intentionally not pick certain melons that are undersized out in the field. And so you’ll have gleaning programs that will be people that are saying, ‘Those are perfectly good cantaloupe that are out there. We’ll send a team out there to pick those,’” said Woods.
He said services delivering food that doesn’t meet supermarket size or appearance requirements, such as Misfit Markets or Imperfect Produce, have become more popular in recent years.
Van Soelen Kim said there isn’t a lot of data yet on whether these services have a significantly lower climate impact. They reduce food waste, but the food might come from far away.
Misfits Market refreshes its online selection weekly. Customers then fill a box of often discounted groceries that might have misprinted labels or are undersized or blemished. They are delivered via a company truck or third-party courier such as FedEx. The company’s founder and CEO, Abhi Ramesh, said it minimizes emissions by having set delivery days instead of offering on-demand delivery.
“By doing that, we batch all of our deliveries together. So it is one van to your ZIP code on that day. One truck that goes from our warehouse on that date,” he said.
Ramesh said sometimes a farmer’s market or CSA is even better at offering nearby seasonal food than his company. But for a lot of the country, those services go away when the harvest season ends. “And so your local grocery store, believe it or not, is still transporting that from California. But the difference is we’re able to go and transport the food waste piece, which reduces a ton of emissions.”
Woods’ advice for using services like Misfits Market is the same as other channels: Eat seasonally, eat locally and look for minimal packaging.
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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
CHELSEA, Mich. (AP) — Old Brick Farm, where Larry Doll raises chickens, turkeys and ducks, was fortunate this Thanksgiving season.
Doll’s small farm west of Detroit had no cases of bird flu, despite an ongoing outbreak that killed more than 2 million U.S. turkeys in the last three months alone. He also avoided another disease, avian metapneumovirus, which causes turkeys to lay fewer eggs.
“I try to keep the operation as clean as possible, and not bringing other animals in from other farms helps mitigate that risk as well,” said Doll, whose farm has been in his family for five generations.
But Doll still saw the impact as those diseases shrank the U.S. turkey flock to a 40-year low this year. The hatchery where he gets his turkey chicks had fewer available this year. He plans to order another 100 hatchlings soon, even though they won’t arrive until July.
AP AUDIO: Stores keep prices down in a tough year for turkeys. Other Thanksgiving foods may cost more
In an AP interview, Michigan Sate University food economist David Ortega says although turkey prices are forecasted to be 40 percent higher this year than last year, there are bargains to be had.
“If you don’t get your order in early, you’re not going to get it,” he said.
Thanksgiving costs vary
The shrinking population is expected to cause wholesale turkey prices to rise 44% this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Despite the increase, many stores are offering discounted or even free turkeys to soften the potential blow to Thanksgiving meal budgets. But even if the bird is cheaper than last year, the ingredients to prepare the rest of the holiday feast may not be. Tariffs on imported steel, for example, have increased prices for canned goods.
As of Nov. 17, a basket of 11 Thanksgiving staples — including a 10-pound frozen turkey, 10 Russet potatoes, a box of stuffing and cans of corn, green beans and cranberry sauce – cost $58.81, or 4.1% more than last year, according to Datasembly, a market research company that surveys weekly prices at 150,000 U.S. stores. That’s higher than the average price increase for food eaten at home, which rose 2.7% in September, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Datasembly showed a 2% decline in the retail price of a 10-pound turkey as of Nov. 17. Pricing out Thanksgiving meals isn’t an exact science, and the firm’s tally differed from other estimates.
The American Farm Bureau Federation, which uses volunteer shoppers in all 50 states to survey prices, reported that Thanksgiving dinner for 10 would cost $55.16 this year, or 5% less than last year. The Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute, using NielsenIQ data from September, estimated that feeding 10 people on Thursday using store-brand products would cost $80 this year, which is 2% to 3% lower than last year’s estimate.
Tempting turkey prices
Grocery chains are also offering deals to attract shoppers. Discount grocer Aldi is advertising a $40 meal for 10 with 21 items. Kroger said shoppers could feed 10 people for under $50 with its menu of store-brand products.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump touted Walmart’s Thanksgiving meal basket, which he said was 25% cheaper than last year. But that was because Walmart included a different assortment and fewer products overall this year.
“We’re seeing some promotions being implemented in an effort to draw customers into the store,” David Ortega, a professor of food economics and policy at Michigan State University, said.
That’s despite a sharp increase in wholesale turkey prices since August. In the second week of November, frozen 8-16 pound hens were averaging $1.77 per pound, up 81% from the same period last year, according to Mark Jordan, the executive director of Leap Market Analytics, which closely follows the poultry and livestock markets.
Avian viruses are the main culprit. But another reason for turkey’s higher wholesale prices has been an increase in consumer demand as other meats have gotten more expensive, Jordan said. Beef prices were up 14% in September compared to last year, for example.
“For a big chunk of the population, they look at steak cuts and say, ‘I can’t or I don’t want to pay $30 a pound,’” Jordan said.
That’s the case for Paul Nadeau, a retired consultant from Austin, Texas, who plans to smoke a turkey this week. Nadeau said he usually smokes a brisket over Thanksgiving weekend, but the beef brisket he buys would now cost more than $100. Turkey prices are also up at his local H-E-B supermarket, he said, but not by as much.
“I don’t know of anything that’s down in price since last year except for eggs,” Nadeau said.
Turkeys are seen on a farm Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, in Sylvan Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)
Turkeys are seen on a farm Thursday, Nov. 20, 2025, in Sylvan Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)
Tariffs and weather
Trump’s tariffs on imported steel and aluminum are also raising prices. Farok Contractor, a distinguished professor of management and global business at the Rutgers Business School, said customers are paying 10 cents to 40 cents more per can when companies pass on the full cost of tariffs.
Tariffs may be partly to blame for the increased cost of jellied cranberry sauce, which was up 38% from last year in Datasembly’s survey. But weather was also a factor. U.S. cranberry production is expected to be down 9% this year, hurt by drought conditions in Massachusetts, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
In Illinois, where most of the country’s canning pumpkins are grown, dry weather actually helped pumpkins avoid diseases that are more prevalent in wet conditions, said Raghela Scavuzzo, an associate director of food systems development at the Illinois Farm Bureau and the executive director of the Illinois Specialty Growers Association. Datasembly found that a 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix cost 5% less than last year.
Frozen turkeys are on display at a Meijer store Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Canton Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)
Frozen turkeys are on display at a Meijer store Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Canton Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)
Cans of pumpkin are on display at a Meijer store Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Canton Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Mike Householder) _
Cans of pumpkin are on display at a Meijer store Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Canton Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Mike Householder) _
Potatoes are on display at a Meijer store Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Canton Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)
Potatoes are on display at a Meijer store Friday, Nov. 21, 2025, in Canton Township, Mich. (AP Photo/Mike Householder)
Farm to table
Back at Old Brick Farm, which has been in his family since 1864, Doll walked among his turkeys the week before Thanksgiving, patting their heads as they waddled between their warm barn and an open pasture. In a few days, he planned to deliver them to an Amish butcher.
Doll sold all 92 turkeys he raised this year, with customers paying $6.50 per pound for what many tell him is the best turkey they’ve ever tasted. He enjoys a little profit, he said, and the good feeling of supplying a holiday meal.
“I just love it, to think that, you know, not only are we providing them food, but the centerpiece of their Thanksgiving dinner,” he said.
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Associated Press Video Journalist Mike Householder contributed.
CHELSEA, Mich. — Old Brick Farm, where Larry Doll raises chickens, turkeys and ducks, was fortunate this Thanksgiving season.
Doll’s small farm west of Detroit had no cases of bird flu, despite an ongoing outbreak that killed more than 2 million U.S. turkeys in the last three months alone. He also avoided another disease, avian metapneumovirus, which causes turkeys to lay fewer eggs.
“I try to keep the operation as clean as possible, and not bringing other animals in from other farms helps mitigate that risk as well,” said Doll, whose farm has been in his family for five generations.
But Doll still saw the impact as those diseases shrank the U.S. turkey flock to a 40-year low this year. The hatchery where he gets his turkey chicks had fewer available this year. He plans to order another 100 hatchlings soon, even though they won’t arrive until July.
“If you don’t get your order in early, you’re not going to get it,” he said.
The shrinking population is expected to cause wholesale turkey prices to rise 44% this year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Despite the increase, many stores are offering discounted or even free turkeys to soften the potential blow to Thanksgiving meal budgets. But even if the bird is cheaper than last year, the ingredients to prepare the rest of the holiday feast may not be. Tariffs on imported steel, for example, have increased prices for canned goods.
As of Nov. 17, a basket of 11 Thanksgiving staples — including a 10-pound frozen turkey, 10 Russet potatoes, a box of stuffing and cans of corn, green beans and cranberry sauce – cost $58.81, or 4.1% more than last year, according to Datasembly, a market research company that surveys weekly prices at 150,000 U.S. stores. That’s higher than the average price increase for food eaten at home, which rose 2.7% in September, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Datasembly showed a 2% decline in the retail price of a 10-pound turkey as of Nov. 17. Pricing out Thanksgiving meals isn’t an exact science, and the firm’s tally differed from other estimates.
The American Farm Bureau Federation, which uses volunteer shoppers in all 50 states to survey prices, reported that Thanksgiving dinner for 10 would cost $55.16 this year, or 5% less than last year. The Wells Fargo Agri-Food Institute, using NielsenIQ data from September, estimated that feeding 10 people on Thursday using store-brand products would cost $80 this year, which is 2% to 3% lower than last year’s estimate.
Grocery chains are also offering deals to attract shoppers. Discount grocer Aldi is advertising a $40 meal for 10 with 21 items. Kroger said shoppers could feed 10 people for under $50 with its menu of store-brand products.
Earlier this month, President Donald Trump touted Walmart’s Thanksgiving meal basket, which he said was 25% cheaper than last year. But that was because Walmart included a different assortment and fewer products overall this year.
“We’re seeing some promotions being implemented in an effort to draw customers into the store,” David Ortega, a professor of food economics and policy at Michigan State University, said.
That’s despite a sharp increase in wholesale turkey prices since August. In the second week of November, frozen 8-16 pound hens were averaging $1.77 per pound, up 81% from the same period last year, according to Mark Jordan, the executive director of Leap Market Analytics, which closely follows the poultry and livestock markets.
Avian viruses are the main culprit. But another reason for turkey’s higher wholesale prices has been an increase in consumer demand as other meats have gotten more expensive, Jordan said. Beef prices were up 14% in September compared to last year, for example.
“For a big chunk of the population, they look at steak cuts and say, ‘I can’t or I don’t want to pay $30 a pound,’” Jordan said.
That’s the case for Paul Nadeau, a retired consultant from Austin, Texas, who plans to smoke a turkey this week. Nadeau said he usually smokes a brisket over Thanksgiving weekend, but the beef brisket he buys would now cost more than $100. Turkey prices are also up at his local H-E-B supermarket, he said, but not by as much.
“I don’t know of anything that’s down in price since last year except for eggs,” Nadeau said.
Trump’s tariffs on imported steel and aluminum are also raising prices. Farok Contractor, a distinguished professor of management and global business at the Rutgers Business School, said customers are paying 10 cents to 40 cents more per can when companies pass on the full cost of tariffs.
Tariffs may be partly to blame for the increased cost of jellied cranberry sauce, which was up 38% from last year in Datasembly’s survey. But weather was also a factor. U.S. cranberry production is expected to be down 9% this year, hurt by drought conditions in Massachusetts, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
In Illinois, where most of the country’s canning pumpkins are grown, dry weather actually helped pumpkins avoid diseases that are more prevalent in wet conditions, said Raghela Scavuzzo, an associate director of food systems development at the Illinois Farm Bureau and the executive director of the Illinois Specialty Growers Association. Datasembly found that a 30-ounce can of pumpkin pie mix cost 5% less than last year.
Back at Old Brick Farm, which has been in his family since 1864, Doll walked among his turkeys the week before Thanksgiving, patting their heads as they waddled between their warm barn and an open pasture. In a few days, he planned to deliver them to an Amish butcher.
Doll sold all 92 turkeys he raised this year, with customers paying $6.50 per pound for what many tell him is the best turkey they’ve ever tasted. He enjoys a little profit, he said, and the good feeling of supplying a holiday meal.
“I just love it, to think that, you know, not only are we providing them food, but the centerpiece of their Thanksgiving dinner,” he said.
___
Associated Press Video Journalist Mike Householder contributed.
BELEM, Brazil — Negotiators at the United Nations climate talks will soon decide on a newly forged final deal released on Saturday that does not include a plan to wean the world from the coal, oil and gas that is heating the planet.
While guidelines wanted by 80 nations for a fossil fuel phase-out are not in the document called “Uniting humanity in a global mobilization against climate change,” the Brazilian presidency has promised it will join Colombia in coming up with an independent road map that’s not needed to be approved by all 190 nations.
“While far from what’s needed, the outcome in Belem is meaningful progress,” said former German special climate envoy Jennifer Morgan, who is now a fellow at Tufts University.
The conference leaders are aiming for an early afternoon meeting with all nations to approve the deal. Some nations could try to scuttle it if they prefer no deal to what they consider a feeble agreement, but Morgan said she doubted that any country will block the agreement. It was crafted after more than 12 hours of late night and early morning meetings in COP30 President André Corrêa do Lago’s office.
“It’s a weak outcome,” said former Philippine negotiator Jasper Inventor, now at Greenpeace International.
A fossil fuel transition plan will be in a separate proposal issued later by do Lago’s team that won’t carry the same weight as a deal accepted by nations at the conference.
In the text, instead of a transition plan away from fossil fuels, the agreement “acknowledges that the global transition toward low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development is irreversible and the trend of the future,” and says “the (2015) Paris Agreement is working and resolves to go further and faster.”
The annual talks this year are held in Belem, a Brazilian city on the edge of the Amazon rainforest. They were scheduled to wrap up Friday, but negotiators blew past that deadline and worked through the night.
Some of the biggest issues include how to distribute $300 billion a year — a sum previously agreed upon — in financial aid for vulnerable countries hit hardest by climate change, getting countries to toughen up their national plans to reduce Earth-warming emissions and dealing with climate trade barriers. Poorer nations have requested a tripling of financial aid for adapting to extreme weather and other climate change harms. While that’s in the deal, the deadline has been moved back five years to 2035.
Also included in the agreement is the final result of the Action Agenda, which was a list of initiatives aimed at making progress on past deals. That included: a promise of $1 trillion for improving energy grids and infrastructure; ramping up the production of biofuels; industrial decarbonization plans in developing countries; $5.5 billion toward a fund to pay countries to keep their forests standing; and other pledges of funding, including from the private sector, for projects in areas like farming and adaptation.
Whatever deal is proposed still needs a consensus approval from what’s left of the nearly 200 nations that came to the two-week conference. Some delegates, observers and others had to leave Saturday morning when the cruise ships lodging them set sail.
Earlier this week, do Lago issued what he had hoped to be a final proposal. It was roundly criticized by the European Union, small island nations and Latin American countries as too weak on fossil fuels and pushing nations to sharpen their new climate-fighting plans. But other countries including Saudi Arabia pushed back against the call to transition away from fossil fuels.
“Oil producing nations are trying to hold on, to really stop the decline of fossil fuels,” Morgan said.
Brazil President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva had pushed for a stronger plan to move away from fossil fuels, as did more than 80 countries. But the earlier proposal by do Lago — a Lula appointee — didn’t even mention the words “fossil fuel.”
Agreements coming out of COP30 technically have to be approved by consensus. But in the past, individual countries’ objections have been overlooked by the chair in the rush to gavel everything to the end.
One of the points that negotiators will highlight is language sprinkled in the document that won’t be an explicit road map away from fossil fuels, but will refer back to previous agreements to maintain momentum and “live and fight another day,” said Alden Meyer, a veteran analyst for the European think-tank E3G.
It’s not enough, Greenpeace’s Inventor said: “We need to reflect on what was possible and what now appears to be missing: the road maps to end forest destruction and fossil fuels and an ongoing lack of finance. We rise up, though, and continue the fight.”
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The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
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This story was produced as part of the 2025 Climate Change Media Partnership, a journalism fellowship organized by Internews’ Earth Journalism Network and the Stanley Center for Peace and Security.
JUNEAU, Alaska — Storms that battered Alaska’s western coast this fall have brought renewed attention to low-lying Indigenous villages left increasingly vulnerable by climate change — and revived questions about their sustainability in a region being reshaped by frequent flooding, thawing permafrost and landscape-devouring erosion.
The onset of winter has slowed emergency repair and cleanup work after two October storms, including the remnants of Typhoon Halong, slammed dozens of communities. Some residents from the hardest-hit villages, Kipnuk and Kwigillingok, could be displaced for months and worry what their futures hold.
Kwigillingok already was pursuing relocation before the latest storm, but that can take decades, with no centralized coordination and little funding. Moves by the Trump administration to cut grants aimed at better protecting communities against climate threats have added another layer of uncertainty.
Still, the hope is to try to buy villages time to evaluate next steps by reinforcing rebuilt infrastructure or putting in place pilings so homes can be elevated, said Bryan Fisher, the state’s emergency management director.
“Where we can support that increased resilience to buy that time, we’re going to do that,” he said.
Alaska is warming faster than the global average. A report released last year by the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium found 144 Native communities face threats from erosion, flooding, thawing permafrost or a combination.
Coastal populations are particularly vulnerable, climate scientist John Walsh said. Less Arctic sea ice means more open water, allowing storm-driven waves to do damage. Thawing permafrost invites more rapid coastal erosion. Waves hitting permafrost bounce like water off a concrete wall, he said, but when permafrost thaws, the loose soil washes away more easily.
Wind and storm surge from the remnants of Halong consumed dozens of feet of shoreline in Quinhagak, disturbing a culturally significant archaeological site. Quinhagak, like Kipnuk and Kwigillingok, is near the Bering Sea.
Just four times since 1970 has an ex-typhoon hit the Bering Sea coast north of the Pribilof Islands, said Rick Thoman, a climate specialist with the Alaska Center for Climate Assessment and Preparedness. Three of those have been since 2022, starting with the remnants of Merbok that year.
The damage caused by ex-typhoon Halong was the worst Fisher said he has seen in his roughly 30 years in emergency management. About 700 homes were destroyed or severely damaged, estimates suggest. Some washed away with people inside and were carried for miles. Kipnuk and Kwigillingok — no strangers to flooding and home to around 1,100 people — were devastated. One person died, and two remain missing.
At-risk communities can reinforce existing infrastructure or fortify shoreline; move infrastructure to higher ground in what is known as managed retreat; or relocate entirely. The needs are enormous — $4.3 billion over 50 years to protect infrastructure in Native communities from climate threats, according to the health consortium report, though that estimate dates to 2020. A lack of resources and coordination has impeded progress, the report found.
Simply announcing plans to relocate can leave a community ineligible for funding for new infrastructure at their existing site, and government policies can limit investments at a new site if people aren’t living there yet, the report said.
It took decades and an estimated $160 million for the roughly 300 residents of Newtok in western Alaska to move 9 miles (14.5 kilometers) to their new village of Mertarvik. Newtok was one of the first Alaska Native communities to fully relocate, but others are considering or pursuing it. In Washington and Louisiana, climate change has been a driving force behind relocation efforts by some tribes.
But many villages, including Kipnuk and Kwigillingok, “don’t have that kind of time,” said Sheryl Musgrove, director of the Alaska Climate Justice Program at the Alaska Institute for Justice. The two are among 10 tribal communities her group has been working with as they navigate climate-adaptation decisions.
Kipnuk before the last storm had been planning a protect-in-place strategy but hasn’t decided what to do now, she said.
Musgrove hopes that in the aftermath, there will be changes at the federal level to help communities in peril. There is no federal agency, for example, tasked with coordinating relocation. That leaves small communities trying to navigate myriad agencies and programs, Musgrove said.
“I guess I’m just really hopeful that this might be the beginning of a change because I think that there is a lot of attention to what happened here,” she said.
With money from the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and Inflation Reduction Act, the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs in 2022 created the Voluntary Community-Driven Relocation Program and committed $115 million for 11 tribes’ relocation efforts, including $25 million each for Newtok and Napakiak. In Napakiak, most of the infrastructure is expected to be destroyed by 2030, and the community is moving away from the banks of the Kuskokwim River.
That is not enough to move a village, and additional funding opportunities are scattered across other agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association.
Sustained federal support is uncertain as the Trump administration cuts programs related to climate change and disaster resilience. Trump in May proposed cutting $617 million from the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ tribal self-governance and communities programs but did not specify which programs.
The Department of Interior said in an email that new grant funding is “under review as part of a broader effort to improve federal spending accountability,” but that the Bureau of Indian Affairs was “helping tribes lay the groundwork for future implementation when funding pathways are clarified.”
Other federal money that could help Alaska villages has already been cut. Federal Emergency Management Agency awards to Newtok and Kwigillingok for projects related to relocation didn’t arrive before the administration in April halted billions of dollars in unpaid grants.
Trump has also stopped approving state and tribal requests for hazard mitigation funding, a typical add-on that accompanies federal support after major disasters.
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Millions of electricity customers in President Donald Trump’s adopted home state of Florida will see their bills rise, after a regulatory board approved what environmental advocates say is one of the largest utility rate increases in the state’s history.
The price hike will affect an estimated 12 million Floridians — roughly half the state’s population — at a time when voters are citing economic concerns as a top issue, and as Democrats and Republicans brace for a debate over affordability in the intensifying midterm battle to control Congress.
The Florida Public Service Commission approved the rate increase Thursday for Florida Power & Light, the state’s largest power company, over the strong objections of advocates for the elderly, conservation groups, and the state-appointed advocate for Florida ratepayers, who called the proposal “disproportionately favorable” to corporate interests.
In a statement, FPL said the rate increase is needed to make “smart, necessary investments in the grid to power Florida’s growth,” while keeping customers’ bills “well below the national average.”
Here’s what to know.
The new rates will kick in Jan. 1 and run through 2029. According to FPL, the monthly bill for a typical residential customer in most of Florida will go up by $2.50 a month, from about $134.14 to $136.64. Following other rate hikes in recent years, the average FPL customer will pay hundreds of dollars more each year than they did in 2021, when the typical monthly bill was $101.70, according to legal filings in the case.
Across the south Atlantic region, which includes Florida, the average monthly electric bill cost residential customers $152.04 in 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Nationally, household electric bills are rising more rapidly than wages and inflation, according to a recent analysis by the National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association, with prices increasing by more than 10.5% between January and August of this year.
Combined with higher consumer prices and higher energy costs caused by extreme weather events, lower income families are hit hardest by the increases, which advocates say are forcing some to choose whether to “eat or heat.”
“Even modest rate increases can force painful trade-offs between paying energy bills and covering essentials such as food, rent, or medicine,” reads the NEADA analysis.
FPL maintains that the rate increases are necessary to power the growing and hurricane-prone state. The Florida Public Service Commission, a state board appointed by Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, approved the rate hike, instead of a counterproposal from the Florida Office of Public Counsel.
A coalition of environmental conservation groups and consumer advocates opposed the rate hikes for months.
“FPL should not be allowed to pad their profits on the backs of residential customers like me,” reads a petition circulated by AARP Florida. “Please consider the impact to residential customers and put our needs above corporate profits.”
A bipartisan group of more than two dozen state and local elected officials also signed a joint letter to oppose the increase. Meanwhile, an influential Republican state senator has been calling for broader changes to the state agency responsible for regulating the utilities.
Already, Trump is signaling that he’ll focus on affordability next year as he and Republicans try to maintain their slim congressional majorities, while Democrats are blaming Trump for rising household costs.
Electricity costs were a key issue in this month’s elections for governor in New Jersey and Virginia, a data center hot spot, and in Georgia, where Democrats ousted two Republican incumbents for seats on the state’s utility regulatory commission.
Voters in New Jersey, Virginia, California and New York City all cited economic concerns as the top issue. Rising electricity costs aren’t expected to ease and many Americans could see an increase on their monthly bills in the middle of next year’s campaigns.
A recent analysis of consumer data found that more people are falling behind on paying their bills to keep on the lights and heat their homes — a warning sign for the U.S. economy that could drive voters’ decision making next year.
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Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.
BELEM, Brazil — With a spotlight on the Brazilian Amazon, where agriculture drives a significant chunk of deforestation and planet-warming emissions, many of the activists, scientists and government leaders at United Nations climate talks have a beef. They want more to be done to transform the world’s food system.
Protesters gathered outside a new space at the talks, the industry-sponsored “Agrizone,” to call for a transition toward a more grassroots food system, even as hundreds of lobbyists for big agriculture companies are attending the talks.
Though agriculture contributes about a third of Earth-warming emissions worldwide, most of the money dedicated to fighting climate change goes to causes other than agriculture, according to the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization.
The FAO didn’t offer any single answer as to how that spending should be shifted, or on what foods people should be eating.
“All the countries are coming together. I don’t think we can impose on them one specific worldview,” said Kaveh Zahedi, director of the organization’s Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment.
“We have to be very, very aware and conscious of those nuances, those differences that exist,” Zahedi said.
When world leaders gather every year to try to address climate change, they spend much of their time in a giant, artificial world that typically gets built up just for the conference.
One corner of COP30, as this year’s conference is known, featured the alternative universe of AgriZone, where visitors could step into a world of immersive videos and exhibits with live plants and food products. Those included a research farm that Brazilian national agricultural research corporation Embrapa built to showcase what they call low-carbon farming methods for raising cattle, and growing crops like corn and soy as well as ways to integrate cover crops like legumes or trees like teak and eucalyptus.
Ana Euler, executive director of innovation, business and technology transfer at Embrapa, said her industry can offer solutions needed especially in the Global South where climate change is hitting hardest.
“We need to be part of the discussions in terms of climate funds,” Euler said. “We researchers, we speak loud, but nobody listens.”
AgriZone was averaging about 2,000 visitors a day during COP30’s two-week run, said Gabriel Faria, an Embrapa spokesman. That included tours for Queen Mary of Denmark, COP President André Corrêa do Lago and other Brazilian state and local officials.
But while the AgriZone seeks to spread a message of lower-carbon agriculture possibilities, industrial agriculture retains a big influence at the climate talks. The climate-focused news site DeSmog reported that more than 300 industrial agriculture lobbyists are attending COP30.
On a humid evening at COP30’s opening, a group of activists gathered on the grassy center of a busy roundabout in front of the AgriZone to call for food systems that prioritize good working conditions and sustainability and for industry lobbyists to not be allowed at the talks.
Those with the most sway are “not the smallholder food producers, … not the peasants, and … definitely not all these people in the Global South that are experiencing the brunt of the crisis,” said Pang Delgra, an activist with the Asian People’s Movement on Debt and Development who was among the protesters. “It’s this industrial agriculture and corporate lobbyists that are shifting the narrative inside COPs.”
As Indigenous people pushed to be heard at a COP that was supposed to be about them, some also called for countries to honor their knowledge of land stewardship.
“We have to decolonize our thoughts. It’s not just about changing to a different food,” said Sara Omi, from the Embera people of Panama and president of the Coordination of Territorial Leaders of the Mesoamerican Alliance of Peoples and Forests.
“The agro-industrial systems are not the solution,” she added. “The solution is our own ancestral systems that we maintain as Indigenous peoples.”
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — One of North America’s longest rivers, the Rio Grande — or Rio Bravo as it’s called in Mexico — has a history as deep as it is long. Indigenous people have tapped it for countless generations, and it was a key artery for Spanish conquistadors centuries ago.
Today, the Rio Grande-Bravo water basin is in crisis.
Research published Thursday says the situation arguably is worse than challenges facing the Colorado River, another vital lifeline for western U.S. states that have yet to chart a course for how best to manage that dwindling resource.
Without rapid and large-scale action on both sides of the border, the researchers warn that unsustainable use threatens water security for millions of people who rely on the binational basin. They say more prevalent drying along the Rio Grande and persistent shortages could have catastrophic consequences for farmers, cities and ecosystems.
The study done by World Wildlife Fund, Sustainable Waters and a team of university researchers provides a full accounting of the consumptive uses as well as evaporation and other losses within the Rio Grande-Bravo basin. It helps to paint the most complete — and most alarming — picture yet of why the river system is in trouble.
The basin provides drinking water to 15 million people in the U.S. and Mexico and irrigates nearly 2 million acres of cropland in the two countries.
The research shows only 48% of the water consumed directly or indirectly within the basin is replenished naturally. The other 52% is unsustainable, meaning reservoirs, aquifers and the river itself will be overdrawn.
“That’s a pretty daunting, challenging reality when half of our water isn’t necessarily going to be reliable for the future,” said Brian Richter, president of Sustainable Waters and a senior fellow with the World Wildlife Fund. “So we have to really address that.”
By breaking down the balance sheet, the researchers are hopeful policymakers and regulators can determine where water use can be reduced and how to balance supply with demand.
Warnings of what was to come first cropped up in the late 19th century when irrigation in Colorado’s San Luis Valley began to dry the snowmelt-fed river, resulting in diminished flows as far south as El Paso, Texas. Now, some stretches of the river run dry for months at a time. The Big Bend area and even Albuquerque have seen dry cracked mud replace the river more often in recent years.
Irrigating crops by far is the largest direct use of water in the basin at 87%, according to the study. Meanwhile, losses to evaporation and uptake by vegetation along the river account for more than half of overall consumption in the basin, a factor that can’t be dismissed as reservoir storage shrinks.
The irrigation season has become shorter, with canals drying up as early as June in some cases, despite a growing season in the U.S. and Mexico that typically lasts through October.
In central New Mexico, farmers got a boost with summer rains. However, farmers along the Texas portion of the Pecos River and in the Rio Conchos basin of Mexico — both tributaries within the basin — did not receive any surface water supplies.
“A key part of this is really connecting the urban populations to what’s going on out on these farms. These farmers are really struggling. A lot of them are on the brink of bankruptcy,” Richter said, linking water shortages to shrinking farms, smaller profits and less ability to afford labor and equipment.
The analysis found that between 2000-2019, water shortages contributed to the loss of 18% of farmland in the headwaters in Colorado, 36% along the Rio Grande in New Mexico and 49% in the Pecos River tributary in New Mexico and Texas.
With fewer farms, less water went to irrigation in the U.S. However, researchers said irrigation in the Mexican portion of the basin has increased greatly.
The World Wildlife Fund and Sustainable Waters are working with researchers at the University of New Mexico to survey farmers on solutions to the water crisis.
Jason Casuga, the chief engineer and CEO of the Middle Rio Grande Conservancy District, said he is not surprised by the findings and was particularly interested in the data on how much water is lost to riparian areas along the river. He talked about his crews clearing thick walls of thirsty invasive salt cedar trees, describing it as an unnatural ecosystem that stemmed from human efforts to manage the river with levees and reservoirs.
While cities and farmers try to conserve, Casuga said there are few rules placed on consumption by riparian areas.
“We’re willing to accept hundreds and hundreds of acres of invasive species choking out native species. And I’m hoping a study like this will cause people to think and ask those kinds of questions because I think our bosque is worth fighting for. As a culture in New Mexico, agriculture is worth fighting for,” he said.
The responses to overuse and depletion are as varied as the jurisdictions through which the river flows, said Enrique Prunes, a co-author of the study and the manager of the World Wildlife Fund’s Rio Grande Program.
He pointed to Colorado, where water managers have threatened to shut off groundwater wells if the aquifer that supports irrigated farms cannot be stabilized. There, farmers who pump groundwater pay fees that are used to incentivize other farmers to fallow their fields.
New Mexico’s fallowing program is voluntary, but changes could be in store if the U.S. Supreme Court signs off on proposed settlements stemming from a long-running dispute with Texas and the federal government over management of the Rio Grande and groundwater use. New Mexico has acknowledged it will have to curb groundwater pumping.
New Mexico is behind in its water deliveries to Texas under an interstate compact, while Mexico owes water to the U.S. under a 1944 binational treaty. Researchers said meeting those obligations won’t get easier.
Prunes said policymakers must also consider the environment when crafting solutions.
“Rebalancing the system also means maintaining those basic functions that the river and the aquifers and the groundwater-dependent ecosystems have,” he said. “And that’s the indicator of resilience to a future of less water.”
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced on Thursday new oil drilling off the California and Florida coasts for the first time in decades, advancing a project that critics say could harm coastal communities and ecosystems, as President Donald Trump seeks to expand U.S. oil production.
The oil industry has been seeking access to new offshore areas, including Southern California and off the coast of Florida, as a way to boost U.S. energy security and jobs. The federal government has not allowed drilling in federal waters in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, which includes offshore Florida and part of offshore Alabama, since 1995, because of concerns about oil spills. California has some offshore oil rigs, but there has been no new leasing in federal waters since the mid-1980s.
Since taking office for a second time in January, Trump has systematically reversed former President Joe Biden’s focus on slowing climate change to pursue what the Republican calls U.S. “energy dominance” in the global market. Trump, who recently called climate change “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world,” created a National Energy Dominance Council and directed it to move quickly to drive up already record-high U.S. energy production, particularly fossil fuels such as oil, coal and natural gas.
Meanwhile, Trump’s administration has blocked renewable energy sources such as offshore wind and canceled billions of dollars in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects across the country.
Even before it was released, the offshore drilling plan has been met with strong opposition from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who is eyeing a 2028 presidential run and has emerged as a leading Trump critic. Newsom pronounced the idea “dead on arrival” in a social media post. The proposal also is likely to draw bipartisan opposition in Florida. Tourism and access to clean beaches are key parts of the economy in both states.
The administration’s plan proposes six offshore lease sales off the coast of California.
It also calls for new drilling off the coast of Florida in areas at least 100 miles from that state’s shore. The area targeted for leasing is adjacent to an area in the Central Gulf of Mexico that already contains thousands of wells and hundreds of drilling platforms.
The five-year plan also would compel more than 20 lease sales off the coast of Alaska, including a newly designated area known as the High Arctic, more than 200 miles offshore in the Arctic Ocean.
All offshore areas “with the potential to generate jobs, new revenue and additional production to advance America’s energy dominance should be considered for inclusion,” the American Petroleum Institute and other groups said in a joint letter to the Trump administration in June.
The groups cited California’s history as an oil-producing state. “Undiscovered resources could be readily produced given the array of existing infrastructure in the area, particularly in southern California,” the letter said.
Sen. Rick Scott, a Florida Republican and Trump ally, helped persuade Trump officials to drop a similar offshore plan in 2018 when he was governor. Last week, Scott and fellow Florida Republican Sen. Ashley Moody’ co-sponsored a bill to maintain a moratorium on offshore drilling in the state that Trump signed in his first term.
“As Floridians, we know how vital our beautiful beaches and coastal waters are to our state’s economy, environment and way of life,″ Scott said in a statement. “I will always work to keep Florida’s shores pristine and protect our natural treasures for generations to come.”
A Newsom spokesman said Trump officials had not formally shared the plan, but said “expensive and riskier offshore drilling would put our communities at risk and undermine the economic stability of our coastal economies.”
California has been a leader in restricting offshore oil drilling since the infamous 1969 Santa Barbara spill that helped spark the modern environmental movement. While there have been no new federal leases offered since the mid-1980s, drilling from existing platforms continues.
Newsom expressed support for greater offshore controls after a 2021 spill off Huntington Beach and has backed a congressional effort to ban new offshore drilling on the West Coast.
A Texas-based company, with support from the Trump administration, is seeking to restart production in waters off Santa Barbara damaged by a 2015 oil spill. The administration has hailed the plan by Houston-based Sable Offshore Corp. as the kind of project Trump wants to increase U.S. energy production as the federal government removes regulatory barriers.
Trump signed an executive order on the first day of his second term reversing former President Joe Biden’s ban on future offshore oil drilling on the East and West coasts. A federal court later struck down Biden’s order to withdraw 625 million acres of federal waters from oil development.
Democratic lawmakers, including California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff and Rep. Jared Huffman, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, warned that opening vast coastlines to new offshore drilling “would devastate coastal economies, jeopardize our national security, ravage coastal ecosystems, and put millions of Americans’ health and safety at risk.”
Oil spills “not only cause irreparable environmental damage, but also suppress the value of coastal homes, harm tourism economies and weaken coastal infrastructure,” the lawmakers said in a letter signed by dozens of Democrats. One disastrous oil spill can cost taxpayers billions in lost revenue, cleanup costs and ecosystem restoration, they said.
Joseph Gordon, campaign director for the environmental group Oceana, called the Trump administration’s latest plan “an oil spill nightmare.”
Coastal communities “depend on healthy oceans for economic security and their cherished way of life,” he said. “We need to protect our coasts from more offshore drilling, not put them up for sale to the oil and gas industry. There’s too much at stake to risk more horrific oil spills that will haunt our coastlines for generations to come.”
NICOSIA, Cyprus — Some of the estimated 20 trillion cubic feet of natural gas discovered in waters off Cyprus could reach European markets as soon as 2027, the Cypriot president said Wednesday, as Europe looks for more ways to wean itself off Russian energy.
President Nikos Christodoulides said that the first quantity of natural gas that could be exported abroad will come from the so-called Cronos deposit, which is operated by a consortium made up of Italian company Eni and French firm TotalEnergies.
Christodoulides told an energy conference that the consortium would make its final decision to move ahead with the project next year, with Cronos gas potentially reaching a processing plant in the Egyptian port city of Damietta for liquefaction and transportation to European markets by ship in 2027.
“Cyprus is part of the energy solutions for energy security in the eastern Mediterranean and like I said, it’s an important objective to align your interests with those of powerful states and to act as an alternative energy corridor for Europe,” Christodoulides said.
Speaking at the same conference, Cypriot Energy Minister George Pananastasiou said that natural gas from the Cronos deposit could reach markets the quickest, because it can be connected to infrastructure already in place conveying gas from Egypt’s huge Zor deposit around 80 kilometers (50 miles) away.
Papanastasiou said that a late 2027 target date for Cronos gas to reach market is “optimistic but doable.”
According to the Cypriot energy minister, plans to export natural gas from another of Cyprus’ deposits known as Aphrodite foresee the positioning of a floating processing plant atop the actual reservoir to modify the hydrocarbon into what he called “dry gas” that can be routed directly to consumers inside Egypt.
The processed gas will reach a facility near Egypt’s Port Said and will either be utilized for domestic Egyptian consumption or liquefied for export to Europe, depending on what will be decided in further consultations between Cyprus and the deposit’s operator, a partnership between Chevron, Shell and Israeli company NewMed Energy.
Christodoulides said that he would travel to Lebanon next week to exclusively discuss Cyprus’ energy plans. Cyprus shares maritime borders with Lebanon, but the Lebanese government hasn’t fully ratified an agreement delineating the exclusive economic zones of the two countries. That has prevented Cyprus from opening up areas abutting Lebanese waters for hydrocarbons exploration.
The Cypriot president said that there’s “interest from energy giants” to license more areas — or blocks — from within Cypriot waters. ExxonMobil and partners QatarEnergy also hold hydrocarbon exploration licenses for two blocks off Cyprus’ southern coast.
In one block, the partnership has made two significant natural gas deposit discoveries known as Glaucus and Pegasus. Glaucus is estimated to hold approximately 4.5 trillion cubic feet of gas, while Pegasus’ size is still being determined.