These Floridians Rebuilt Houses in Flood Zones. Now FEMA Is Cracking Down.
Thomas Simonetti/Washington Post/Getty/Grist This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. When US homeowners buy subsidized flood insurance from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, they make a commitment to build back better after flood disasters, even if it costs them. FEMA’s notorious 50 percent rule stipulates that if a home in…
Utilities Use Customers’ Money to Advance Fossil Fuels. This Coalition Aims to Stop Them.
Protesters gather in front of the American Gas Association to demand that funding from customers’ energy bills not be used to pay for the group’s anti-climate lobbying. Joy Asico-Smith/AP This story was originally published by the Guardian and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. A group of advocates and Democratic senators gathered in Washington, DC, on Tuesday…
A New California Bill Aims to Ban Paraquat. Yep, That Toxic Stuff Is Still Around.
Harvesting almonds in Livingston, California.Dave Getzschman/Merced Sun-Star/AP Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.When Americans of a certain age hear the word “paraquat,” the first thing that might leap to mind is Mexican weed. That’s because, in the late 1970s, the United States government thought…
Democratic Senators Pressured EPA to Ease Rules on Steel Mill Pollution
Laura Hedien/Getty/Grist This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. In early March, a small group of Democratic senators from the Rust Belt sent President Joe Biden an urgent letter. They began by extolling the benefits of two of the Biden administration’s biggest achievements, the bipartisan infrastructure law and the…
Utility Fraud and Corruption Are Threatening the Clean Energy Transition
Mother Jones; El Nuevo Herald, Roberto Koltun/AP Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.This story was reported by Floodlight, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates the powerful interests stalling climate action. At a press conference last month, flanked by sheriffs and attorneys, Ohio Attorney General David…
GAO Report Warns Climate Change Could Unearth US Nuclear Waste
U.S. military officers watch nuclear waste being dumped on Runit Island in the Marshall Islands. Department of Defense This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. Ariana Tibon was in college at the University of Hawaiʻi in 2017 when she saw the photo online: a black-and-white picture of a man…