Resilience
States and localities are having to adjust to a changing climate, establishing new policies, rules and guidelines relating to energy, land use and water rights, as well as responding to emergencies triggered by more intense storms, floods and wildfires.
Florida showed the way decades ago by adopting a single statewide standard, saving lives and billions of dollars and showing that hazard resistance is achievable and affordable.
One of the hurricane's most important lessons isn’t about storm preparations — it’s about injustice. Communities should build disaster resilience across the entire population, focusing aid where people need it the most.
Firefighters face higher cancer rates than the general population. The department hopes sweating out toxins can reduce long-term health risks.
State health officials say 42 days without a new infection marks the official end of the nation’s largest measles outbreak in more than 30 years.
The Trump administration is planning a drastic rewrite of environmental policy. Will that happen?
After waters peaked at 16.65 feet, newly installed HESCO barriers and early alerts spared schools, homes and businesses from major damage with no rescues or evacuations.
Water system experts say current treatment methods are effective at getting PFAS out of drinking water — but that the price of installing and maintaining treatment-equipped systems can be steep.
From new state parks to expanded public access, Gov. Jared Polis has made conservation and recreation a signature focus as he enters his final year in office.
Municipalities are investing in small-business corridors to combat closures, rebuild after disaster and boost local economies.
With around $45,000 per branch, libraries are offering family education and stress management workshops in counties where 70 percent of child welfare cases stem from economic hardship.
Hurricane season begins in earnest in August. The devastating floods in Texas earlier this summer underscored the importance of state and local readiness as the federal government rethinks its role in disaster response.
The Trump administration is trying to stop wind projects, but the Great Lakes states have a powerful say in what happens on the lakes, where turbines could power the entire region and beyond. They should lay the groundwork now.
By combining skills training, mental health support, and guaranteed job placement, the R.I.S.E. program offers a rare promise of post-release stability in Oklahoma.
Revoking the 2009 endangerment finding would weaken regulation of greenhouse gases and shift more responsibility to states already bracing for climate impacts.
Despite all the rhetoric about an environmental "war on coal," what drove its decline were falling prices for natural gas.
With scorching temperatures blanketing nearly half the country, power providers brace for peak demand as cities issue health warnings and transit systems slow under the strain.
Subsidies distort fair competition. If these technologies are the future of America’s energy sector, they should compete without the crutch of federal aid.
The state is the nation’s electric-vehicle leader. It could step in to keep America’s industry — and the jobs it supports — competitive.
The state agriculture department has banned the sale or purchase of English ivy, a fast-growing vine that can kill trees and harm native plants.
We need competent responders every hour of the day, every day of the week. But we often don’t have them.
The nation’s warmest large city can’t turn down the temperature, but it is finding ways to address factors that make heat dangerous for residents.
Nitrate pollution is likely to force more water-use restrictions. Iowa’s problems are uniquely severe: It has plenty of water, but bans on car washing and lawn watering underscore the state’s long struggle with high nitrate levels.
Flood events are bigger and more frequent. Governments can’t change the weather, but they can invest in infrastructure that is better able to handle it.
Even where abundantly available, the costs of clean water are rising faster than the CPI. Where it’s scarce, there’s double trouble. Ultimately, securing enough clean and affordable water will require state laws mandating realistic long-term pricing.
The Lone Star State accounts for roughly a third of all damages caused by extreme weather in the U.S. during the last 10 years.
A slew of measures that passed the Senate failed to come up for a vote in the Assembly. Advocates blame Speaker Carl Heastie, who says they’ve failed to build up support for legislation.
It won’t be easy, but former mayors Michael Tubbs and Aja Brown hope to prevent displaced lower income Altadena residents from being displaced for good.
The incinerated town of Lahaina has barely begun to recover. Policymakers have scrambled to ease inflexible laws and regulations but rebuilding would be happening much more quickly if that had happened before the fires.
House Republicans want to repeal tax credits for clean-energy projects, and the industry is already slowing. But the jobs and benefits would boost GOP-leaning states and congressional districts.
It could slow growth in crucial sectors and cost states jobs across industries, according to a new report.
There are places we shouldn’t be living. With federal disaster aid uncertain, states and localities should build voluntary buyout programs to relocate residents from floodplains.
