Louisianans Fume as Insurers Hike Rates and Invest in Fossil Fuel Projects
"Locals face a perfect storm — they can’t afford insurance and climate change threatens their livelihood."
(AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN)
"Locals face a perfect storm — they can’t afford insurance and climate change threatens their livelihood."

A small Louisiana community, home to the descendants of formerly enslaved Black people, continues to fight for its freedom many decades later, this time from a potentially polluting technology. FEJ StoryLog contributor Yessenia Funes recounts her journey to this Cancer Alley community, where a grant from the Fund for Environmental Journalism helped her tell the story of residents challenging a multibillion-dollar carbon capture plant.
"The state repealed the utility’s 2030 emissions target in July. Duke’s response? A plan to slash solar and wind, double down on gas — and burn more coal."
"On the banks of the Tangipahoa River in South Louisiana, thick oil slicks and chemical odors ripple across the water. Five weeks after an oil and lubricant facility exploded, sending oily soot as far as 40 miles away, Black residents still complain that the chemical smell is so strong that it wakes them up in the middle of the night."
"New Jersey’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has sued Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Honeywell and several real estate companies over a site in Morris Plains where toxic waste remained from a now-shuttered pharmaceutical plant."
"The state’s first climate deception case unfurled Thursday in North Carolina Business Court, where attorneys for the town of Carrboro and Duke Energy spent six hours sparring over legal arcana to answer a single question: Should a jury hear a case alleging that Duke Energy is responsible for lying about the link between climate change and extreme weather that has inflicted millions of dollars of property damage on the town? "
"One Year After Helene: People who lost their homes turned to FEMA for aid. Some are still slogging through red tape. Wealthier Getting More: We found that in some North Carolina counties, homeowners with the highest incomes received two to three times as much FEMA housing assistance as lower-income ones."
"Slogging through a thick slop of mud and rock, Brian Hill passed the roof that Hurricane Helene’s floodwaters had just ripped off someone’s barn and dumped into his yard. Then he peered into the unrecognizable chaos inside what had been his family’s dream home.
"Staffing cuts under the Trump administration mean forecasters are struggling to maintain normal operations." "Some National Weather Service staffers are working double shifts to keep forecasting offices open. Others are operating under a “buddy system,” in which adjacent offices help monitor severe weather in understaffed regions."
"Bracing himself against the current in waist-deep water, Clancy Loorham wrestles a broken length of PVC pipe from the rocky bottom of the French Broad River and peers inside."
"NAACP leaders cite energy, water usage and a lack of transparency around the project as causes for concern."