After Hurricane Maria, signs of a mental health crisis haunt Puerto Rico – “When it starts raining, they have episodes of anxiety because they think their house is going to flood again”

By Caitlin Dickerson 13 November 2017 SAN JUAN, P.R. (The New York Times) – Her memories of the storm came in flashes: neighbors’ screams, gushing water, swimming against the current with her son. For Milagros Serrano Ortiz, a 37-year-old grandmother with long, curly hair, the nightmare did not end there. After two days of sheltering […]

Fossil fuel emissions hit record high after unexpected growth in 2017

By Pep Canadell, Corinne Le Quéré, Glen Peters, Robbie Andrew, Rob Jackson, and Vanessa Haverd 13 November 2017 (The Conversation) – Global greenhouse emissions from fossil fuels and industry are on track to grow by 2% in 2017, reaching a new record high of 37 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, according to the 2017 Global […]

China Energy plans $83.7 billion investment in West Virginia for shale gas development

By Andrea Lannom 10 November 2017 (CNHI News West Virginia) – West Virginia and China Energy have signed a memorandum of understanding announcing a plan in which China Energy would invest $83.7 billion in shale gas development and chemical manufacturing projects in the Mountain State. State Commerce Secretary H. Wood Thrasher and China Energy President […]

In Puerto Rico, Whitefish Energy billed at premium rates – The lineman got $63 an hour, but the utility was billed $319 an hour

By Frances Robles 12 November 2017 SAN JUAN (The New York Times) – The small energy outfit from Montana that won a $300 million contract to help rebuild Puerto Rico’s tattered power grid had few employees of its own, so it did what the Puerto Rican authorities could have done: It turned to Florida for […]

Mudslide fears haunt Los Angeles County neighborhoods burned by huge La Tuna fire

By Anthony Clark Carpio 12 November 2017 (Los Angeles Times) – Los Angeles County and federal officials have been busy preparing Burbank residents who live near the Verdugo Mountains hillside for future heavy rainfall, especially in areas that were adjacent to the La Tuna fire, which scorched more than 7,000 acres over Labor Day weekend.Recently, […]

Trump does not publicly rebuke Duterte for death squads, calls press “spies” – “Trump seems very comfortable with strongmen. It’s not just that he won’t criticize Duterte. I wouldn’t be surprised if he patted him on the back.”

13 November 2017 (AP) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has sanctioned a bloody drug war that features extrajudicial killing. He called Barack Obama a “son of a whore.” This week, he boasted that he murdered a man with his own hands. All that went unmentioned in public by President Donald Trump when the leaders held […]

U.S. to promote “universal access” to fossil fuels at climate talks

By Valerie Volcovici 12 November 2017 WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States hopes to promote wider use of fossil fuels at a global meeting on climate change next week, a White House official said, reflecting the gaping divide between Washington and the rest of the world on the issue of global warming.President Donald Trump’s administration […]

U.S. Democrats assail Trump environmental nominees over climate science – “You have a fringe voice that denies science, economics, and reality”

By Lisa Friedman8 November 2017WASHINGTON (The New York Times) – A Senate hearing on nominees for two top environmental posts on Wednesday quickly turned testy over the Trump administration’s ambivalence on climate change science. Andrew R. Wheeler, a lobbyist for Murray Energy, which is owned by Robert E. Murray, an Appalachian coal mining magnate and […]

Lights off in Puerto Rico as power outages and dirty water plague islanders after Hurricane Maria

By Sydney Pereira 11 November 2017Nearly two months after the Category 4 Hurricane Maria barrelled into Puerto Rico, 60 percent of Puerto Ricans still don’t have power.That number temporarily surged to 80 percent on Thursday morning, when a power line repaired by Whitefish Energy failed—wiping out power for millions of Puerto Ricans, reported BuzzFeed. Friday […]

2017 ties record for most billion-dollar weather disasters in the U.S. in a single year

By Cory Reppenhagen 10 November 2017 (KUSA) – This year has been the most disastrous weather and climate year on record – and it’s not even over yet.The California Department of Insurance just announced that losses incurred from the October wildfires exceeds 3 billion dollars, and is expected to rise even further. That has now […]

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