Michael Phillis

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About Michael Phillis

Reporter with The Associated Press

7 Articles

Homes that flank an industrial zone are seen from the air on Thursday, Feb. 23, 2023, in Commerce City, Colo. (AP Photo/Brittany Peterson)

Toxic 'forever chemicals’ restricted for first time in the U.S.

The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to propose restrictions on harmful “forever chemicals” in drinking water after finding they are dangerous in amounts so small as to be undetectable. But experts say removing them will cost billions, a burden that will fall hardest on small communities with few resources.

News, US News | March 3rd 2023

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm discusses a major scientific breakthrough in fusion research that was made at a lab in California during a news conference in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Dec. 13, 2022. AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Why fusion could be a clean energy game-changer

The major advance in fusion research announced in Washington on Tuesday was decades in coming, with scientists for the first time able to engineer a reaction that produced more power than was used to ignite it.

Explainer, US News | December 13th 2022

Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm, joined at right by Arati Prabhakar, the president's science adviser, announces a major scientific breakthrough in fusion research on Dec. 13, 2022. Photo by: The Canadian Press/AP/Scott Applewhite

Fusion breakthrough: reaction produces more energy than it used

Researchers at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California for the first time produced more energy in a fusion reaction than was used to ignite it, something called net energy gain, the Energy Department said.

News | December 13th 2022

This undated image provided by the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory shows the NIF Target Bay in Livermore, Calif. (Damien Jemison/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory via AP, File)

Fusion energy breakthrough coming today from U.S. scientists

Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm was set to announce a “major scientific breakthrough” Tuesday in the decades-long quest to harness fusion, the energy that powers the sun and stars.

News, US News | December 13th 2022

Myrtle Felton, from left, Sharon Lavigne, Gail LeBoeuf and Rita Cooper, members of RISE St. James, conduct a live stream video on property owned by Formosa on March 11, 2020, in St. James Parish, La. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' highlights racial disparity of environmental protection

The Environmental Protection Agency said it has evidence that Black residents in an industrial section of Louisiana face an increased risk of cancer from a nearby chemical plant and that state officials have allowed air pollution to remain high and downplayed its threat.

News, US News | October 14th 2022

Wind turbines work in Livermore, Calif., on Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2022. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

New climate bill pushes U.S. toward cheap, clean energy

After decades of inaction in the face of escalating natural disasters and sustained global warming, Congress hopes to make clean energy so cheap in all aspects of life that it’s nearly irresistible. The House is poised to pass a transformative bill on Friday, August 12, 2022, that would provide the most spending to fight climate change by any one nation ever in a single push.

News, US News, Politics | August 12th 2022

A rescue helicopter hovers over the Punta Rocca glacier near Canazei, in the Italian Alps in northern Italy, on July 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Climate change creates hazards for Alpine glaciers

Italy was enduring a prolonged heat wave before a massive piece of Alpine glacier broke off and killed hikers on Sunday, July 3, 2022, and experts say climate change will make those hot, destabilizing conditions more common.

News | July 6th 2022