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.
Historic rainfall that devastated the Southeast was generated by conditions that still exist. What lessons can local governments in other parts of the country take from Helene?
The U.S. Geological Survey estimates that California could lose up to 75 percent of its beaches in the next 75 years. The changes have sparked multimillion-dollar restoration projects and lawsuits along the state’s coast.
Tax credits in the Inflation Reduction Act were designed to drive private-sector investments in clean energy. Where are investments and jobs landing?
Turning some of it into fuel, as a Michigan facility plans to do, is labeled as “recycling,” but it may be worse for the environment than dumping the waste into a landfill.
The oil major’s U.S. onshore wind energy business, based in Houston, is valued at about $2 billion and has interests in 10 wind farms across seven states.
The state’s Industrial Commission, made up of the governor, attorney general and agricultural commissioner, has approved a project to expand education about carbon dioxide capture and storage, which includes a newly debuted website.
Local governments have jurisdiction over the third-largest source of methane emissions: the decomposition of organic waste in municipal solid waste landfills.
Rainfall patterns are changing. What can local leaders do to curb the growing risks?
They face a unique long-term threat from global efforts to address climate change, strategies that will sharply reduce demand for fossil fuels. The best time to build a more resilient economy is before a crisis arrives.
The idea that the lakes’ bounty will quench the thirst of the western United States is an obstacle delaying the West’s inevitable reckoning with the unsustainable status quo.
While environmentalists say the new rules don’t do enough to protect groundwater, oil and gas operators are contesting stricter requirements for waste pits near wells.
San Francisco residents will vote in November on whether they want to permanently close two miles of coastline road from cars, which, if passed, will become a historic pedestrian project. But the city is deeply divided on the project’s impacts.
The state’s power grid produced abundant solar power during school hours this August and scarcity is primarily an issue after students have been dismissed for the day. But state Rep. Jared Patterson thinks a delayed start could have benefits.
In 2023 the state created the Texas Energy Fund to finance about 10 gigawatts of electric generation capacity in hopes of reducing strain on the ERCOT power grid. Regulators approved 17 companies to receive loans if their projects are viable.
As many as 450,000 barred owls could be killed across three Pacific Northwest states over the next 30 years to prevent the extinction of another type of owl. The program aims to kill less than 1 percent of the current barred owl population.
On Aug. 18 a slow-moving storm system brought remnants of Hurricane Ernesto to Connecticut and New York. Within 12 hours, the region saw two 1,000-year rainfalls just 35 miles apart. Experts say this will likely become more common.
Since the state has adopted its ban on single-use plastic bags at grocery stores, grocery stores just adopted thicker, multi-use plastic bags and the waste worsened. Now, lawmakers are proposing to block large grocery stores from offering plastic bags at all.
A bipartisan group of more than 350 mayors has committed to ambitious targets for fleet electrification and charging infrastructure.
If Eversource Energy, a New England energy provider, follows through with its plan to replace 49 miles of transmission lines in New Hampshire, Maine ratepayers may see changes to their monthly bills throughout the duration of the project.
The state’s largest current fire has encompassed nearly all 41,000 acres of the Ishi Wilderness, which hadn’t seen significant fire since 1990. No one from Cal Fire has been able to set foot in the wilderness area since the Park Fire began.
A study found that earthquakes before 2017 in Texas’ Delaware Basin originated at shallow depths that correspond to where wastewater from fracking was disposed. Nearly 2,000 earthquakes hit West Texas in 2021.
Minneapolis just unveiled a $60 million water tunnel to help the city manage runoff. But what about the state’s small rural communities?
Tribes in the Lower 48 states need about $1.9 billion over the next 50 years for climate-related infrastructure needs. But as oceans warm, rise and acidify, Indigenous communities across the coast are especially vulnerable.
The Inflation Reduction Act includes tax credits that reimburse governments for clean energy investments. New online resources make the program more understandable and accessible.
Despite fires and floods, they keep coming in search of affordability and warm winters. But there are strong signs that the stampede is slowing.
From buckling roads to twisted rails, it’s under a lot of stress. Engineers have some ideas for minimizing the problems.
Last year’s Lahaina wildfire killed 102 people and forced thousands to flee. But more than 90 percent of 1,478 residential lots have been cleared of fire-related debris and a historic settlement will resolve 450 lawsuits.
The state’s “exceptional” drought has caused historically low water levels this year, risking pasture loss, severe crop damage and depleting water resources.
Fire authorities wish people would stop doing stupid stuff like burning toilet paper, igniting smoke bombs or tossing cigarette butts out of cars. People, not nature, are responsible for most wildfires.
The large oil spill was first detected on Saturday and was traced back to a leaking fuel tank at the Crescent Midstream pumping station. So far, 17 aquatic salamanders, two turtles and one crawfish have been found dead as a result.
The money flowing from Washington can go a long way toward decarbonizing the buildings we live and work in. But it’s crucial to design the implementation of these projects to benefit everyone.
