US energy agency asked scientists to scrub references to climate change – “If that’s what it takes to keep science going for a couple of years, we will I guess play along”

By Jeff Tollefson and Amy Maxmen 25 August 2017 (Nature) – Multiple researchers who received grants from the US Department of Energy (DOE) say that they have been asked to remove references to “climate change” and “global warming” from the descriptions of their projects, they say. In one case, a lab official at the DOE’s […]

Harvey is what climate change looks like – Harvey is the third 500-year flood to hit the Houston area in the past three years

By Eric Holthaus 28 August 2017 (Politico) – In all of U.S. history, there’s never been a storm like Hurricane Harvey. That fact is increasingly clear, even though the rains are still falling and the water levels in Houston are still rising. But there’s an uncomfortable point that, so far, everyone is skating around: We […]

Houston levees overflow, residents south of Houston urged to flee – “Get out now!”

29 August 2017 (WPBF) – Another levee has breached in Texas, just south of Houston.Brazoria County officials said the levee at Columbia Lakes had breached and told residents to “Get out Now!!” County officials also expected widespread flooding of the Brazos River. County spokeswoman Sharon Trower said about 90% of flooding in the central and […]

Trump reversed regulations to protect infrastructure against flooding just days before Hurricane Harvey – “We will rebuild things that should not be rebuilt”

By Eliza Relman 28 August 2017 (Business Insider) – Just 10 days before Hurricane Harvey descended upon Texas on Friday, wreaking havoc and widespread flooding, President Donald Trump signed an executive order revoking a set of regulations that would have made federally-funded infrastructure less vulnerable to flooding.The Obama-era rules, which had not yet gone into […]

B.C. premier, forests minister tour wildfire-affected regions – Record 10,600 square kilometres burned so far in 2017

KAMLOOPS, B.C., 28 August 2017 (The Canadian Press) – British Columbia’s premier spent Monday touring some communities affected by this year’s unprecedented wildfire season, promising financial assistance but cautioning it will take more than cheques to help with the recovery. John Horgan said it will take years for ranchers, tourism operators and communities to recover […]

Rains from Harvey obliterate records, flood disaster to expand

By Matthew Cappucci and Jason Samenow 28 August 2017 (The Washington Post) – The record-shattering rains behind the flood catastrophe in Southeast Texas will continue for several more days and are predicted to expand into southwest Louisiana, where double-digit rainfall totals are likely.As of early Monday, locations near Houston in Harris County had seen up […]

Collapse at salmon farm in Puget Sound renews debate about fish farming

By Phuong Le 28 August 2017 SEATTLE (Associated Press) – A marine net pen holding 305,000 farmed Atlantic salmon collapsed recently, releasing thousands of fish into Puget Sound and renewing concerns that a new proposed salmon farm could harm wild salmon stock and cause other environmental damage. The release at Cooke Aquaculture’s facility comes as […]

Graph of the Day: Opioid prescription rate for the U.S. in 2016

By Julia Watson 18 August 2017 (NCMI) – It is well known that the US currently faces an opioid epidemic and according to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) since 1999 the rate of overdose death related to opioid, including both heroin and prescription drugs, has quadrupled. According to the National Institute on […]

The EPA under siege: Trump’s assault in history and testimony

June 2017 (EDGI) – The Trump administration currently poses the greatest threat to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in its entire 47-year history. Twice before, presidential administrations in North America have targeted their own environmental agencies with comparable aggression, in the early Reagan administration (1981-1983) and under Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper (2006-2015). Trump’s […]

Crews rescue hundreds from homes and cars as Harvey floods Houston

By Ruthy Munoz and Gary McWilliams 27 August 2017 HOUSTON, Texas (Reuters) – Emergency crews raced to pull people from cars and homes as flood waters rose across southeast Texas on Sunday, rescuing more than 1,000 people in the Houston area as Tropical Storm Harvey pounded the region.Harvey came ashore late Friday as the most […]

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