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Ella Nilsen - Climate Reporter

Ella Nilsen

Climate Reporter

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Ella Nilsen is a CNN reporter covering climate.

CNN Expansion DC - November 2021, Shoot ID: 1089822 , 11/16/2021, Ella Nilsen

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US Russia China nuclear race photo illustration

Photo-illustration: CNN/Getty Images/Maxim Shemetov/Reuters

New-wave reactor technology could kick-start a nuclear renaissance — and the US is banking on it

The US government and companies are plowing billions into small modular reactors. China is leading in the tech, Russia is making almost all the fuel. The US is playing catch-up.

Steam rises from the Miller coal Power Plant in Adamsville, Alabama on April 11, 2021.

Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

Biden administration finalizes new rules for power plants in one of its most significant climate actions to-date

The Biden administration finalized rules to cut climate pollution from power plants

US President Joe Biden waits to welcome Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his wife Yuko Kishida to the White House for a state dinner on April 10, 2024, in Washington, DC.

Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/File

Biden marks Earth Day with new solar energy funds and steps to stand up American Climate Corps

Biden travels marks Earth Day from Triangle, Virginia, on Monday.

The Gateway Generating Station natural gas-fired power plant in Antioch, California, US, on Thursday, Feb. 9, 2023. California Governor Gavin Newsom called for federal energy regulators to investigate a recent hike in natural gas prices that has resulted in sky-high utility bills. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg/Getty Images/File

Biden administration considers scrapping its cutting-edge proposal to slash power plant pollution

The Biden administration is contemplating scrapping the most futuristic aspect of its highly anticipated and impactful power plant pollution rules, two sources familiar with the plan told CNN. The administration may also allow a slower phase-in for a portion of the rules, which are due to be finalized as soon as next week.

A part of the Trans Alaska Pipeline System runs through boreal forest past Alaska Range mountains on May 5, 2023 near Delta Junction, Alaska. The 800-mile-long pipeline carries oil from the North Slope in Prudhoe Bay to the port of Valdez.

Mario Tama/Getty Images

Biden administration bans drilling in nearly half of Alaska petroleum reserve in sweeping win for climate advocates

The Biden administration is banning drilling on nearly half of the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska.

Long Island, N.Y.: An operational wind turbine, along with two under construction behind it, and a lifting barge, are seen in this photo taken at the South Fork Wind Farm in the Atlantic Ocean, on December 7, 2023. (Photo by Steve Pfost/Newsday RM via Getty Images)

Steve Pfost/Newsday RM/Getty Images/File

Offshore wind projects have been dogged by inflation and culture wars. Now they’re making a comeback

After a disastrous year marked by high costs, accusations of environmental harm and project cancellations in 2023, there’s a sense the US offshore wind industry is on a rebound.

PASADENA, CALIFORNIA - JUNE 23: In an aerial view, Mount Markham, Eaton Canyon and San Gabriel Peak (R), in the San Gabriel Mountains within the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument and Angeles National Forest, are seen on June 23, 2023, above Pasadena, California. Today, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, and other officials will held a news conference to announce a strategy to protect the San Gabriel Mountains and expand the existing San Gabriel Mountains National Monument. As One of three bills within the Protecting Unique and Beautiful Landscapes by Investing in California (PUBLIC), proposed by Padilla, the San Gabriel Mountains Foothills and Rivers Protection Act would increase the size of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument by more than 109,000 acres to include part of the western Angeles National Forest, and would create a National Recreation Area along the San Gabriel Valley foothills and the Rio Hondo and SanÂ GabrielÂ River Corridors. The project would increase public lands access for millions of people in Los Angeles County which, according to Padilla, includes one of the nation's most park-poor and densely populated regions. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

David McNew/Getty Images

Biden plans to expand 2 national monuments in California originally designated by Obama

President Joe Biden plans to expand two national monuments in California – one, a mountainous wilderness area east of Los Angeles, and another with tree-covered rolling hillsides north of Napa – in the coming weeks, according to two sources familiar with the plan.

A fisherman shows off his Pike-Pickerel Hybrid.

From Vermont Fish & Wildlife

From pizzly bears to strange fish, here’s why hybrid animal sightings are on the rise

The bear scientists shot in the Canadian arctic in 2016 was a biological mystery. It looked like a grizzly bear, complete with long claws and a prominent snout, but most of its fur was white.

A group of pelicans flies low across the water as the sun sets near Tybee Island, Georgia, on January 10.

Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News/USA Today Network

Scientists are sounding the alarm about oceans, but Biden’s budget would slash research data

As scientists scramble to understand why the world’s oceans are in their second year of record-breaking heat, one of the most important programs to gather ocean data in the US is in danger of going dark and cutting off research at a critical time for the planet.

Trucks are stuck in traffic on the inbound Dan Ryan Expressway at Roosevelt Road in Chicago on Jan. 19, 2022.

Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service/Getty Images

Biden administration rolls out strongest pollution standards for heavy-duty trucks and buses

The EPA’s new pollution rules for heavy-duty vehicles push the industry toward zero-emission technology.

A female red wolf emerges from her den sheltering newborn pups at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham, N.C., on May 13, 2019.

Gerry Broome/AP

Biden administration strengthens Endangered Species Act protections weakened under Trump

The Biden administration on Thursday strengthened protections of the Endangered Species Act, repealing Trump-era rules that had stripped safeguards for plants and animals that are threatened by human development and the climate crisis.

A Coast Guard cutter passes a cargo ship that is stuck under the part of the structure of the Francis Scott Key Bridge after the ship his the bridge Tuesday, March 26, 2024, in Baltimore, Md. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

Steve Helber/AP

Federal government braces for a long – and expensive – road to recovery from Baltimore bridge collapse

Rebuilding the Francis Scott Key Bridge and getting the critical Port of Baltimore back online will require an enormous interagency effort – and significant federal funding.

A woman vacuums the stage walkway prior to a speech from President Joe Biden at Intel Ocotillo Campus on March 20 in Chandler, Arizona.

Rebecca Noble/Getty Images

Biden announces $8.5 billion microchip grant to Intel as he sells economic wins to Arizona amid climate worries

President Joe Biden is set to announce Wednesday one of the biggest federal investments in US chip manufacturing – a $8.5 billion grant to tech giant Intel – as he visits the battleground state of Arizona and struggles to get his key legislative accomplishments to register with voters.

The 2023 Toyota Prius Prime at the Washington, D.C. Auto Show at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center.

Michael Brochstein/Sipa

Biden administration rolls out new tailpipe rules that will boost EVs and hybrids

The Biden administration on Wednesday finalized one of the most important pieces of its climate agenda: new tailpipe rules for passenger cars and trucks that will decisively push the US auto market toward electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids.

Fuel storage tanks continue to burn after a blast on Saturday at the Amuay refinery in Punto Fijo, Venezuela, Aug. 27, 2012. The accident early Saturday morning killed at least 41 people. (Meridith Kohut/The New York Times)

Meridith Kohut/The New York Times/Redux

Natural gas exports have lax oversight that experts say could lead to a devastating explosion. It’s happened before

As LNG exports surge, experts and advocates are sounding the alarm that federal safety regulations haven’t kept pace.

Wind turbines tower above a home in Weatherford, Oklahoma, in April 2022.

Will Lanzoni/CNN

How much are wind turbines dragging down home values? A new study has surprising answers

As wind energy expands in the United States, concerns have grown about the potential for tall turbines to be a drag on property values.

Ella covers climate-related policy from the White House, Congress, and agencies.

She joined CNN from Vox where she covered the White House and the Biden administration’s climate and infrastructure plan.

She also covered Congress and the 2018 and 2020 elections. Prior to Vox, she reported on Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump in the 2016 primary at the Concord Monitor.