Disasters

"A wastewater spill into the Potomac River that began last month now appears to be one of the largest in American history."

"President Donald Trump’s campaign to quash climate change policies notched its biggest win yet Thursday, as EPA eliminated the legal basis for regulations aimed at restricting greenhouse gas emissions from tailpipes and smokestacks that are heating the planet."

"Decrepit oil tankers in Iran’s sanctions-busting shadow fleet are a “ticking time bomb”, and it is only a matter of time before there is a catastrophic environmental disaster, maritime intelligence analysts have warned."

"The Federal Emergency Management Agency will resume staff cuts that were briefly paused during January’s severe winter storm, according to two FEMA managers, stoking concern across the agency over its ability to address disasters with fewer workers."

"Chronic exposure to pollution from wildfires has been linked to tens of thousands of deaths annually in the United States, according to a new study."

"A House hearing exposed sharp divisions over whether loosening environmental laws and expanding logging will protect communities from catastrophic fires. Scientists urged a shift toward investing in fire-resilient homes and landscapes."

"A new study published Monday in the Lancet puts a number on the potential human toll as the global humanitarian system cracks apart, projecting an extra 9.4 million deaths by 2030 if the current trends persist." "The Lancet study examines how the dismantling of international aid by the U.S. and other countries could undo decades of health gains."

"The Trump Administration has created an exclusion for new experimental reactors being built at sites around the U.S. from a major environmental law. The law would have required them to disclose how their construction and operation might harm the environment, and it also typically required a written, public assessment of the possible consequences of a nuclear accident."

"South Carolina is battling the country’s largest measles outbreak since the disease was eliminated from the United States more than a quarter-century ago, with more than 840 cases overwhelmingly in unvaccinated children and adults."

"A bomb cyclone produced freezing temperatures across a large portion of the US from the Gulf coast to New England, bringing heavy snow to North Carolina where two were killed in storm-related conditions, and setting records in Florida, where officials warned of ice and falling iguanas."