ELI In the News

When it comes to plastics policy, recent momentum appears to be on the side of environmentalists. Bans and taxes on plastic bags are increasingly common across the United States and in other countries, while items like plastic straws are growing more controversial. Those worried about potential pollution and toxicity associated with plastics see the trend as critical to rectifying environmental issues. But during a recent afternoon panel in Washington, D.C., members of the industry pushed back on that narrative. . . .

During a lunchtime keynote at the GreenTech 2019 conference, hosted by the Environmental Law Institute in Seattle, Amazon Prime Air vice president Gur Kimchi laid out the company’s vision for drone deliveries. Amazon looks at drone deliveries in a few ways. First, especially with all the attention being paid to environmental protection, every drone delivery is “a package not delivered by a car.” . . .

Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) Prime Air vice president Gur Kimchi held an audience of clean technology and environmental policy experts spellbound as he laid out the company’s vision of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) darting around the sky delivering packages to consumers in 30 minutes or less. ”We are very comfortable that the economics of this business are great,” said Kimchi, in a reference to the Prime Air delivery drone, an electric aircraft that is capable of both a helicopter-like vertical takeoff and landing as well as forward flight.

After three years of high-stakes analysis and sometimes-clamorous rhetoric over environmental and community impacts, four possible courses of action remain on the table for dealing with heavy traffic on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge in Maryland. The Maryland Transportation Authority in August proposed three possible routes for a new span, which would be the third to cross the Bay in the state. The agency also included a so-called “no-build” option — managing the congestion without constructing a new bridge. . . .