Matthew L. Wald is a reporter at The New York Times, where he has been writing about energy topics for 30 years. Matt has been in the paper’s Washington Bureau since 1995, and is currently assigned to write about environment and energy.
Matt has been particularly interested in civilian nuclear power since the Three Mile Island accident, and he has toured more than two dozen power reactors and research reactors, as well as Yucca Mountain, which until recently was the leading candidate for disposal of nuclear waste.
In the 1980s and 1990s he wrote extensively about the production of materials for nuclear weapons, and the resulting environmental problems. He has also written about oil refining, alternative fuels including biofuels, oil and natural gas production, oil spills including the Exxon Valdez and the oil fires set by the Iraqis in Kuwait at the end of the first gulf war. He also writes about batteries, the electric grid, wind energy and solar energy.
His previous assignments at The Times include Hartford, Conn., and Boston, Mass. He holds a B.A. in urban studies from Brown University, and a certificate in auto mechanics from the Providence Vocational Technical Facility.
Highlights From the Archives
Offshore Wind Power Line Wins Backing
Google and a financial firm have agreed to invest in a proposed $5 billion system for offshore wind farms that could transform the East Coast’s electrical map.
October 12, 2010scienceNewsWhat’s So Bad About Big?
Renewable-energy technology isn’t just for the roof anymore.
March 7, 2007businessNewsWhat's Kind to Nature Can Be Kind to Profits
Most of the green technologies that make money now are profitable only because of government tax incentives or subsidies. Send in the lobbyists!
May 17, 2006businessNewsA NATION CHALLENGED: THE TAPES; 'We Have Some Planes,' Hijacker Said on Sept. 11
American Airlines Flight 11 had fallen mysteriously silent. The air traffic controller called over and over for a response. None came. Then he heard an unidentified voice from the cockpit: ''We have some planes. Just stay quiet, and you'll be O.K. We are returning to the airport.'' The controller, confused, asked, ''Who's trying to call me?''
October 16, 2001usNewsFlying Blind -- A special report; Aging Control System Brings Chaos to Air Travel
At least 11 times in the last year, air traffic control centers have stumbled or broken down completely, robbing controllers of the tools they use to keep airplanes separated and on course, sometimes leaving them completely deaf, mute and blind. The main problem, everyone agrees, is that some computers that help controllers track airplanes are at least 25 years old and long past due for replacement, but updated technology has been delayed because contractors have not been able to write the software for new equipment. Even though the Federal Aviation Administration is facing a difficult stretch, until new systems are designed, tested and installed it is doing something surprising with maintenance: cutting back. It is also letting equipment go unattended on night shifts, eliminating training for technicians and cutting back on hiring, so that in some busy air traffic control centers half the technicians are eligible to retire.
August 20, 1995usSpecial ReportEarth Day at 20: How Green the Globe? - A special report: Guarding Environment: A World of Challenges
LEAD: Twenty years after the first Earth Day, the Cuyahoga River no longer catches fire on its way through Cleveland, and bald eagles, once threatened by DDT, have increased nearly sevenfold in the continental United States, enough for Government biologists to consider promoting the population to ''threatened'' from ''endangered.
April 22, 1990usSpecial ReportArticles
Biomass and Electricity, Part One
A company harnesses biofuel from landfills to generate electricity with minimal releases of methane, a long-lasting heat-trapping gas.
January 09, 2012Crane Migration Can Resume, F.A.A. Says
Grounded whooping cranes can continue on their trip to Florida with a pilot as surrogate parent and guide.
January 09, 2012Companies Face Fines for Not Using Unavailable Biofuel
The oil companies could pay $6.8 million in penalties for failing to blend cellulosic biofuel, which is not available commercially, into their diesel and motor fuels.
January 9, 2012Legal Problem Grounds a Bird Migration
The F.A.A. fields complaints that pilots who act like birds, flying ultralight aircraft to guide whooping cranes, are engaged in a commercial activity. While it investigates, the migratory birds are stranded.
January 07, 2012Constellation Energy Coal Company Urges Stricter Pollution Rules
After investing $885 million on retrofits, Constellation Energy in Maryland is frustrated by a court-ordered delay on tighter pollution rules.
January 5, 2012And Now, the Oil Industry Caucus
The president of the American Petroleum Institute said the United States would achieve diesel and gasoline independence if the government stopped interfering with industry goals.
January 04, 2012The Convoluted Economics of Storing Energy
Some companies are betting that the increased use of solar panels will open the way for solar thermal, a kind of energy storage that compensates for the vagaries of photovoltaic generation.
January 03, 2012Building Storehouses for the Sun’s Energy, for Use After Dark
Two companies plan to use novel solar storage technology to power households on summer nights.
January 3, 2012U.S. Companies File Complaint Over China’s Steel Subsidies
The four American companies, makers of towers for wind turbines, sought tariffs of about 60 percent on rivals in China and Vietnam.
December 30, 2011CITY ROOM; Pilot Got Permission to Climb Minutes Before I-287 Crash
National Transportation Safety Board reports that minutes before a single-engine plane crashed on Interstate 287 in northern New Jersey in December, pilot Jeffrey F Buckalew reported 'icing conditions'; he requested clearance to climb higher but only gained 900 feet in altitude before crashing onto a busy highway in Harding Township; NTSB has not officially determined a cause of the crash, and may not issue a final report for months. Photo
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