Amid an Atlantic hurricane season expected to be more active than normal, an environmental group claims the Trump administration illegally loosened longstanding rules protecting coastal barriers to allow beachfront developments to take sand from vulnerable areas.
Read more
Putting a cap on last fall’s dustup known as “Sharpiegate,” a report released Monday found National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials committed ethical violations in a September statement that suggested Alabama was at risk from Hurricane Dorian.
Read more
Tropical Storm Arthur formed off the coast of Florida on Saturday, making it the sixth straight year for a named storm to develop before the official June 1 start of the Atlantic hurricane season.
Read more
The encroaching hurricane season brings with it new complications as Americans are still reeling from the coronavirus.
Read more
Ahead of this year’s hurricane season for the Atlantic Basin, research released Monday suggests that wetlands could serve as better and more cost-effective protection from such storms than engineered solutions such as sea walls and levees.
Read more
Plagued by a spate of plant explosions and fires, Texas petrochemical producers stepped into unchartered waters in a Houston courtroom Thursday with state prosecutors urging jurors to send a CEO to prison for a chemical meltdown that damaged the lungs of two sheriff’s deputies.
Read more
A petrochemical company’s criminal trial over air pollutants released during Hurricane Harvey that sickened first responders was pushed back three days Monday when a state judge sanctioned prosecutors.
Read more
A federal judge dismissed the claims of Houston residents seeking to hold the government liable for flooding their homes with Hurricane Harvey storm water released from two dams, finding there is no constitutional right to “perfect flood control.”
Read more
Among a list of the most extreme weather events in the last decade, Hurricane Harvey – which ravaged Texas and Louisiana in 2017 – stood out as the most severe from the group, according to a study released Tuesday.
Read more
A flurry of newly released emails from scientists and top officials at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration illustrates the consternation and outright alarm caused by President Trump’s false claim that Hurricane Dorian could hit Alabama. A top NOAA official called Trump’s behavior “crazy.”
Read more
At least 15 natural disasters linked to climate change this year caused damage of over $1 billion and seven of them cost at least $10 billion, British charity Christian Aid said Friday.
Read more
The government is liable for flooding Houston homes with Hurricane Harvey runoff that backed up behind two dams, a federal judge ruled Tuesday, rejecting claims the risk was clearly laid out in public documents years before the storm hit.
Read more
Hurricane Harvey cost more than $125 billion in damages and filled more than 80,000 homes with at least 18 inches of water. But monitoring efforts failed to fully assess the effect of hundreds of tons of hazardous air pollutants industrial facilities released during the natural disaster, a federal watchdog reported Monday.
Read more
Property owners argued in the Houston federal courthouse Wednesday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers knew it would flood downstream homes and businesses when it released water from two dams in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.
Read moreThe Port Arthur Community Action Network et al. sued the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush, et al. in federal court, claiming they discriminated against poor, minority renters by letting only property owners apply for $5.6 billion in HUD recovery money after Hurricane Harvey.
Read moreDid President Donald Trump and White House officials force federal meteorologists to alter their hurricane maps to bolster Trump’s prediction that Hurricane Dorian would hit Alabama when in fact it was never going to come anywhere near the Heart of Dixie? Inquiring minds – and FOIA complainant Ecological Rights Foundation – want to know.
Read more
The tropical storms swamping Houston are child’s play compared to what a hurricane could unleash from the sea: A 25-foot surge ripping up the ship channel, pushing 200,000-barrel oil storage tanks like they were marbles, an expert said Thursday.
Read more