“The Mississippi River created our parish and the many historic ridges of our landscape,” said Plaquemines Parish President Kirk Lepine. “These features protect against storm surge, reduce saltwater intrusion, provide key habitats and also help retain sediment. The marsh west of Venice has been in ...
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In the News
SCOTUS’ October term could be somewhat “mooted”
[STEVE VLADECK for SCOTUSBLOG] Recent discussions of the Supreme Court’s upcoming term have understandably focused on the implications of the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — and the seemingly inevitable confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to succeed her. At least some of that commentary, ...
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5 of the 6 largest California wildfires in history started in the past 6 weeks
[SACRAMENTO BEE] The staggering statistics keep piling up for California’s wildfire season: August and September account for five of the six biggest fires in nearly 90 years of recorded history for the state.
The destructive Creek Fire that continues to burn in Fresno County grew about 3,000 ...
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Oil Companies Are Profiting From Illegal Spills
[PRO PUBLICA] In May 2019, workers in California’s Central Valley struggled to seal a broken oil well. It was one of thousands of aging wells that crowd the dusty foothills three hours from the coast, where Chevron and other companies inject steam at high pressure to loosen up heavy crude. Suddenly, ...
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‘Nurdle Patrol’ survey finds plastic pellets on almost every Louisiana and Texas beach
At Grand Isle State Park, on a sandy beach popular with sunbathers and anglers, Jace Tunnell pointed to the tide line and its usual scattering of litter: milk jugs, water bottles, candy wrappers, plastic bags.
But there’s a lot more trash not easily seen, said Tunnell, a marine biologist with the ...
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EPA Methane Rollback Temporarily Paused by Federal Court
[BLOOMBERG] The EPA’s rollback of methane emissions standards for the oil and gas industry is temporarily suspended while a federal court weighs a longer-term freeze.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Thursday issued an administrative stay that blocks the ...
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A ‘Crossroads’ for Humanity: Earth’s Biodiversity Is Still Collapsing
[NY TIMES] The world is failing to address a catastrophic biodiversity collapse that not only threatens to wipe out beloved species and invaluable genetic diversity, but endangers humanity’s food supply, health and security, according to a sweeping United Nations report issued on Tuesday.
When ...
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How Big Oil Misled The Public Into Believing Plastic Would Be Recycled
[from NPR] Laura Leebrick, a manager at Rogue Disposal & Recycling in southern Oregon, is standing on the end of its landfill watching an avalanche of plastic trash pour out of a semitrailer: containers, bags, packaging, strawberry containers, yogurt cups.
None of this plastic will be turned into ...
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Lake Pollution a Concern in Lake Charles After Hurricane Laura
FROM KPEL: (LAKE CHARLES) Residents who live near the lake in Lake Charles are smelling something fishy. At least, we hope that what so many of you have been asking about is simply fish. As you might imagine after a destructive storm like Hurricane Laura and the close proximity of so many chemical ...
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Americans Back Tough Limits on Building in Fire and Flood Zones
From the New York Times (WASHINGTON) — Americans support far more aggressive government regulation to fight the effects of climate change than elected officials have been willing to pursue so far, new research shows, including outright bans on building in flood- or fire-prone areas — a level of ...
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