Jeff Brady
Jeff Brady is a National Desk Correspondent based in Philadelphia, where he covers energy issues and climate change. Brady helped establish NPR's environment and energy collaborative which brings together NPR and Member station reporters from across the country to cover the big stories involving the natural world.
Brady approaches stories from the consumer side of the light switch and the gas pump in an effort to demystify an energy system that can seem complicated and opaque. Brady has reported on natural gas utilities fighting to preserve their business in a world more concerned about climate change, the long saga over the Keystone XL oil pipeline, the closing of a light bulb factory in Pennsylvania and how gas ranges pollute homes and make climate change worse.
In 2017 his reporting showed a history of racism and sexism that have made it difficult for the oil business to diversify its workforce. A union at the center of that reporting now faces a class-action lawsuit from its Black members.
In 2011 Brady led NPR's coverage of the Jerry Sandusky child sexual abuse scandal at Penn State—from the night legendary football coach Joe Paterno was fired to the trial where Sandusky was found guilty.
In 2005, Brady was among the NPR reporters who covered the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. His reporting on flooded cars left behind after the storm exposed efforts to stall the implementation of a national car titling system. Today, the National Motor Vehicle Title Information System is operational and the Department of Justice estimates it could save car buyers up to $11 billion a year.
Before coming to NPR in September 2003, Brady was a reporter at Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) in Portland. He has also worked in commercial television as an anchor and a reporter, and in commercial radio as a talk-show host and reporter.
Brady graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from Southern Oregon State College (now Southern Oregon University). In 2018 SOU honored Brady with its annual "Distinguished Alumni" award.
-
Volunteers from across the country are in southern Appalachia to help with recovery from Hurricane Helene. Among them are a Texas couple who have volunteered at a dozen disaster sites this year.
-
Some people are complaining that FEMA has abandoned North Carolina after Helene. While politicians try to politicize the disaster, the reality on the ground looks much less partisan.
-
The rooftop solar business is a big source of consumer complaints. Prosecutors are investigating sales practices and financing arrangements.
-
Climate change has been a central focus in Joe Biden's first term. But fossil fuels have also flourished, and meeting the country's climate goals would require even bigger steps in a second term.
-
A worldwide poll from the United Nations of more than 75,000 people shows a vast majority want governments to do more to address climate change.
-
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has an updated plant hardiness zone map. Will the new map change what gardeners should plant this spring?
-
Fifteen years after the EPA said greenhouse gasses are a danger to public health, the agency finalized rules to limit climate-warming pollution from existing coal and new gas power plants.
-
Oil and gas drillers are releasing more climate-warming methane than the government estimates, a new study shows.
-
To meet climate goals, energy efficiency for dozens of appliances is getting renewed attention from the Biden administration.
-
Gas stoves emit potentially harmful pollutants, but utilities and their trade group avoided regulation with tactics perfected by the tobacco industry to cast doubt on science showing health problems.