Environment
Towns could save themselves from wildfire — if they knew about this money
PACKWOOD, Wash. — Last year, Don Pratt fled from his home as a wildfire swept down the mountainside here in Washington’s Cascade Range. “Heading out, I thought it was the last time I was going to see the house,” he said. As residents evacuated and smoke engulfed the small mountain community, fire crews with bulldozers […]
Four Atlantic disturbances could be headed towards Florida
While Hurricane Hilary has made headlines for its Category Four status in the Pacific, the National Hurricane Center also updated its map of four disturbances in the Atlantic Ocean Friday as Floridians brace for the fall storm season. Disturbance 4 was mapped just above Hispaniola and is forecast to move into the Gulf of Mexico early […]
FEMA’s disaster relief fund is running low on cash. What happens now?
WASHINGTON — The Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster relief fund is in desperate need of cash, with the agency projecting at least a $4 billion deficit in the weeks ahead — even as the government responds to devastating fires in Hawaii and hurricane season continues. FEMA, however, won’t simply stop the response and recovery activities […]
Amid record heat, Florida agencies give EPA climate change rules a cold shoulder
Ooooooo-wee, have you noticed how hot it’s been this summer? Feels-like temperatures are up around 115 degrees, even a heat index of 120 in Pensacola in June. Repeated “excessive heat warnings” from the National Weather Service. Recently, the Miami Herald measured beach sand at 137 degrees and playground surfaces at 177. Ouch! How hot is […]
Stifling prison heat used to be just a Southern problem. Not anymore
While sweltering heat in prisons without air conditioning has long been an issue in the South, extreme heat waves worsened by climate change are expanding the problem into Northern states. In recent years, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, Washington and Wisconsin have seen extreme heat in prisons. Many of these states lack the necessary infrastructure for […]
Judge sides with youth in Montana climate change trial, finds two laws unconstitutional
The state of Montana’s failure to consider greenhouse gas emissions from energy and mining projects violates the state constitution because it does not protect Montanans’ right to a clean and healthful environment and the state’s natural resources from unreasonable depletion, a judge ruled Monday in a victory for the 16 youth plaintiffs who sued the state. Lewis and Clark […]
Rescue of Florida’s endangered Okaloosa darter is quite a fish tale
This is a fish story. Not as big a fish story as, say, Jonah and the whale, or Chief Brody versus the shark in “Jaws.” It’s actually about a pretty tiny fish. But, as with Jonah and “Jaws,” it’s a fish story with an excellent outcome. Fifty years ago, a Florida man named Nathaniel Reed […]
GOP death cult is holding the Earth hostage to white privilege
People, it’s too hot to be this stupid. A new NPR/PBS/Marist poll shows that nearly three-fourths of Republicans don’t think the climate crisis is a big deal and we don’t need to do anything about it. I guess the good news is that 56 percent of all political persuasions say the climate crisis requires urgent […]
Louisiana heat leaves 16 dead in June and July, health department says
Louisiana’s record-breaking summer has had fatal consequences. Sixteen people in the state died in June and July from heat-related causes, according to the Louisiana Department of Health. Six of those deaths were in June, and 10 were in July, said Kevin Litten, the health department’s press secretary. Those two months alone have already surpassed the […]
Kathy Castor still upset over DeSantis veto that cost FL $350 million in energy funds
Tampa Bay area Democratic Congresswoman Kathy Castor remains livid that Gov. Ron DeSantis turned down $354 million for energy-efficient measures provided through federal legislation signed into law by President Joe Biden. Among the $511 million in projects that DeSantis vetoed at the end of June was a $5 million line-item provided through the Inflation Reduction Act […]
Rural Florida residents strike out when their own commissioner pitches a big development
I have a confession to make. Some of you may think less of me when you hear it. Others — well, you probably already have a low opinion of me anyway. Since 1975, I have been a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan. I rooted for them in their many lean years, as well as when […]
Appeals court: Contractor liable for economic losses arising from Pensacola Bay bridge damage
A construction company can’t hide behind federal admiralty law to avoid legal claims for economic losses caused after 28 barges came unmoored during Hurricane Sally in 2020 and knocked the Pensacola Bay Bridge out of commission for months. That’s the ruling from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, which rejected Skanska USA […]