(AL AR FL GA KY LA MS NC PR SC TN)
"Hurricane Oscar made landfall in eastern Cuba Sunday evening amid a power blackout, adding to fears that the storm may prove to be especially dangerous."
"The federal government has just finalized a $861 million loan guarantee to fund what will be Puerto Rico’s largest utility-scale solar and battery storage installations."
"Alabama’s largest electric utility reached a settlement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency resolving two of three alleged violations stemming from one of its largest coal ash ponds. But the larger question—whether the 21.7 million cubic yards of coal ash in the pond will have to be excavated and moved to a lined landfill—remains unanswered."
"The federal government’s flood maps, which are used nationwide to signal areas vulnerable to inundation, vastly underestimated the flood risk faced by properties in the parts of North Carolina devastated by Hurricane Helene, according to data analyzed by The Washington Post."
"Weeks after being swept away in floodwaters, a North Carolina grandmother is among an untold number of victims who remain unaccounted for after Hurricane Helene."
"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has granted preliminary approval for the use of a material that contains radioactive radium in a Florida road project that’s being described as a “pilot.”"
"In 2023, Alabama settled a civil rights complaint alleging that the state was discriminating against Black residents by not providing adequate sewage treatment in a poor, rural county. A year later, slow progress is being made to close the gap."
"Bridgette Bello thought she’d taken proper precautions to protect against Florida’s notorious hurricanes, having purchased flood insurance as well as a separate hurricane-specific policy, in addition to her regular homeowners coverage. Yet nearly two weeks after Helene hit — and even before Milton had arrived — what Bello, 54, describes as an insurance “nightmare” has only begun."
When Hurricane Helene ravaged a swath of the Southeast in September, leaving at least 230 people dead, it also temporarily took out a critical repository of climate data in Asheville, North Carolina. That got Reporter’s Toolbox thinking about the risks to some of the nation’s other important storehouses of environmental information, whether from extreme weather, hackers or politics. Here’s a shortlist.
"Incumbent Rick Scott, a Republican, reportedly banned the words “climate change” from state agencies as governor. Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell favors climate-resilient infrastructure."
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