Hot Topics

This section of our website seeks to identify newer issues relating to environment & climate change along with a few recently published resources.  Note: Included are commercial and freely available sources.

Agrivoltaics (use of agricultural lands for solar energy):

• New York Solar Guidebook: Section 4: Solar Installations on Agricultural Lands
  
  
• Landowner Perspectives on Large-Scale Solar Leasing: Decision-Making and Agricultural Implications in Rural New York State (91 Rural Sociology e70038 (March 2026)
  
  
• Virginia Lays Groundwork to Combine More Solar with Farming (Canary Media, Aug. 3, 2026)
  
  
• VIRGINIA ACTS OF ASSEMBLY - 2026 SESSION CHAPTER 156 An Act to amend and reenact § 10.1-1197.5, as it is currently effective and as it shall become effective, of the Code of Virginia, relating to small renewable energy projects; agrivoltaics definition.
  
  
•  Agrivoltaics Map (National Laboratory of the Rockies) A dynamic map representing a census of agrivoltaic installations located across the United States. 
  
  
• Chamberlin J, Thayer AW, De Figueiredo Silva F, Jeong D, Vassalos M. Are Farmers Willing to Lease Land for Agrivoltaics? The Role of Information. Agricultural and Resource Economics Review. Published online 2026:1-16. 

Nuclear Renaissance:

• An Underground Nuclear Reactor Is Coming to This Kansas Town—and Dividing Locals, by Kris Maher and Jennifer Hiller (Wall Street Journal, July 28, 2026).
  
  
• Nuclear Waste Could Be Headed to Five States in New US Plan, by Ari Natter (Bloomberg News, July 28, 2026).
  
  
• Welcome to America’s Nuclear Golden Age, by Ted Garrish (The Hill, July 30, 2026).
  
  
• Microreactor Startup Valar Atomics Raises $1B, by Alexander C. Kaufman (Canary Media, Aug. 4, 2026).
  
  
• Nuclear Waste Delivers a Political Haymaker. Five States Say It Can Be Done, by Francisco “A.J.” Camacho and Hannah Northey (E&ENews by Politico, Aug. 5, 2026).
  
  
• NRC Debuts Modernized Hearing Process for Nation’s First Advanced Reactor Construction Permit Review (NRC News, Aug. 5, 2026).

Climate Change:

• Climate.us
  (Created by former members of NOAA's climate.gov with resources and info that used to be available on climate.gov)
  
  
• Climate.us launches independent website for trusted climate information (June 23, 2026)

Historic Preservation:

• Historic Preservation Rule Changes Threaten More Than Just Monuments, by Sara C. Bronin (The Hill, Aug. 11, 2026). 
  
  
• National Preservation Atlas
  
  
• Mapping Our Shared History: Introducing the National Preservation Atlas, by Sara C. Bronin (Mellon Foundation, April 16, 2026)