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James Bruggers

James Bruggers

Reporter, Southeast, National Environment Reporting Network

James Bruggers covers the U.S. Southeast, part of Inside Climate News’ National Environment Reporting Network. He previously covered energy and the environment for Louisville’s Courier Journal, where he worked as a correspondent for USA Today and was a member of the USA Today Network environment team. Before moving to Kentucky in 1999, Bruggers worked as a journalist in Montana, Alaska, Washington and California. Bruggers’ work has won numerous recognitions, including best beat reporting, Society of Environmental Journalists, and the National Press Foundation’s Thomas Stokes Award for energy reporting. He served on the board of directors of the SEJ for 13 years, including two years as president. He lives in Louisville with his wife, Christine Bruggers.

Jay Schabel, president of the plastics division at Brightmark, holds plastic pellets in his hand the company's new chemical recycling plant in northeast Indiana at the end of July. Credit: James Bruggers

‘Advanced’ Recycling of Plastic Using High Heat and Chemicals Is Costly and Environmentally Problematic, A New Government Study Finds

By James Bruggers

People watch as President Donald Trump tours the Cameron LNG Export Facility May 14, 2019, in Hackberry, Louisiana. Credit: Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

Louisiana Regulators Are Not Keeping Up With LNG Boom, Environmentalists Say

By James Bruggers

Jay Schabel, president of the plastics division at Brightmark, holds plastic pellets in his hand the company's new chemical recycling plant in northeast Indiana at the end of July. The pellets are made from plastic waste and sent into chemical processing equipment to make diesel fuel, naphtha, and wax. Credit: James Bruggers

Congress Urges EPA to Maintain Clean-Air Regulations on Chemical Recycling of Plastics

By James Bruggers

A Turkish diver dives amid plastic waste in Ortakoy coastline to observe the life and pollution of Bosphorus in Istanbul, Turkey on June 27, 2020. Credit: Sebnem Coskun/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Is ‘Chemical Recycling’ a Solution to the Global Scourge of Plastic Waste or an Environmentally Dirty Ruse to Keep Production High?

By James Bruggers

A view of Shell Chemical's new multi billion-dollar ethane cracker plant processing plant across the Allegheny River can be seen under construction Oct. 27, 2017 in Monaca, Pennsylvania. Credit: Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images

A New Shell Plant in Pennsylvania Will ‘Just Run and Run’ Producing the Raw Materials for Single-Use Plastics

By James Bruggers

Kimmie Gordon and Dorreen Carey stand in front of a former cement plant site in Gary, Indiana, where a California company, Fulcrum BioEnergy, wants to turn trash and plastic into jet fuel. They are founding members of Gary Advocates for Responsible Development, which opposes the jet fuel plant. Credit: James Bruggers

A Gary, Indiana Plant Would Make Jet Fuel From Trash and Plastic. Residents Are Pushing Back

By James Bruggers

John Allaire (left), a retired oil and gas environmental manager, consulted with James Hiatt, the southwest Louisiana coordinator of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, in March on Allaire's Cameron Parish, Louisiana property. Venture Global's Calcasieu Pass LNG export terminal is in the background. The proposed Commonwealth LNG terminal would be constructed nearby. Credit: James Bruggers

Sidestepping a New Climate Commitment, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Greenlights a Mammoth LNG Project in Louisiana

By James Bruggers

Maxwell Frost, the winning candidate in Florida's 10th Congressional district, participates in the Pride Parade in Orlando, Florida, on Oct. 15, 2022. Credit: Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images

The Nation’s Youngest Voters Put Their Stamp on the Midterms, with Climate Change Top of Mind

By James Bruggers, Darreonna Davis, Delaney Dryfoos

Houston-based Encina is planning a $1.1 billion chemical recycling plant for plastic waste on these bottomlands along the Susquehanna River in Point Township, Pennsylvania. Credit: James Bruggers

An Environmental Group Challenges a Proposed Plastics ‘Advanced Recycling’ Plant in Pennsylvania

By James Bruggers

PacifiCorp's Hunter coal fired power pant releases steam as it burns coal outside of Castle Dale, Utah on Nov. 14, 2019. Credit: George Frey/AFP via Getty Images

Over 130 Power Plants That Have Spawned Leaking Toxic Coal Ash Ponds and Landfills Don’t Think Cleanup Is Necessary

By James Bruggers

As gas prices rise, a customer pays at the pump at a Chevron station in West Hollywood. Credit: Wally Skalij/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

Global Energy Report: Pain at the Pump, High Energy Costs Could Create a Silver Lining for Climate and Security

By James Bruggers

Left: Georgia Republican Senatorial candidate Herschel Walker speaks at a campaign event on Oct. 11, 2022 in Carrollton, Georgia. Credit: Elijah Nouvelage/Getty Images. Right: Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) speaks to the media after casting his ballot on the first day of early voting on Oct. 17, 2022 in Atlanta, Georgia. Credit: Megan Varner/Getty Images

In Georgia, Warnock’s Climate Activism Contrasts Sharply with Walker’s Deep Skepticism

By James Bruggers

Left: North Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Cheri Beasley speaks to a crowd during an election night event on May 17, 2022 in Raleigh, North Carolina. Credit: Sean Rayford/Getty Images; Right: Ted Budd, who is running for U.S. Senate, speaks before a rally for former U.S. President Donald Trump at The Farm at 95 on April 9, 2022 in Selma, North Carolina. Credit: Allison Joyce/Getty Images

In North Carolina Senate Race, Global Warming Is On The Back Burner. Do Voters Even Care?

By James Bruggers

A tractor moves a pile of recyclables at the San Francisco Recycling Center April 22, 2008 in San Francisco, California. Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

California Passed a Landmark Law About Plastic Pollution. Why Are Some Environmentalists Still Concerned?

By James Bruggers

In an aerial view, boats are piled on top of each other after Hurricane Ian passed through the area on Sept. 29, 2022 in Fort Myers Beach, Florida. Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Florida Commits $1 Billion to Climate Resilience. But After Hurricane Ian, Some Question the State’s Development Practices

By James Bruggers, Amy Green

Nick Vafiadis, the vice president of plastics for Chemical Market Analytics by OPIS, the Dow Jones Company, speaks at his company's plastics conference known as GPS + PEPP. Credit: James Bruggers

The Plastics Industry Searches for a ‘Circular’ Way to Cut Plastic Waste and Make More Plastics

By James Bruggers

Pre-rolled marijuana cigarettes in sativa, indica and hybrid varieties are seen for sale at a dispensary in California on Jan. 1, 2018. Credit: Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images

A Legal Pot Problem That’s Now Plaguing the Streets of America: Plastic Litter

By James Bruggers

Smoke billows from one of many chemical plants in Louisiana's "Cancer Alley," one of the most polluted areas of the United States. It lies along the once pristine Mississippi River that stretches 80 miles from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, where a dense concentration of oil refineries, petrochemical plants and other chemical facilities occupy sites alongside suburban homes. Credit: Giles

Judge Tosses Air Permits For $9.4 Billion Louisiana Plastics Plant

By James Bruggers

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