Climate change
This Region Has the Fewest Electric Vehicles. Here’s Why.
The Lakota named the Badlands, calling the sharp, stark canyons and buttes “mako sica.” Centuries later, French-Canadian trappers and traders likewise chronicled “les mauvaises terres a traveser” or “bad lands to travel across.” Interstate 94 has tamed the former Dakota Territory, turning the journey into a 75-mph blur of chasms and color, but it remains […]
Water Cuts Hit Western States
Read more Stateline coverage of how communities across the West are grappling with drought that’s worsening because of climate change. As much of the West remains in extreme drought and reservoirs drop to historic lows, states are facing continued cuts to their water supply, either voluntarily or by direction of the federal government. Last month, federal authorities […]
Virginia Nixes Effort to Issue Heat Safety Rules for Workers
In a surprising move, Virginia regulators voted narrowly to reject a standard to protect workers from extreme heat, two years after they initiated the rulemaking process with a unanimous decision. Virginia Safety and Health Codes Board members voted 6-5 last week to end that process, after a panel they’d appointed presented them with a proposed […]
Tribal Leaders Blast Washington Governor’s Cap-and-Trade ‘Betrayal’
A coalition of tribal leaders and lawmakers who helped push Washington state’s massive climate package to the finish line lashed out at Democratic Gov. Jay Inslee for vetoing a section of the bill last week. Inslee struck down a measure that would have mandated better consultation with tribal nations on climate projects. “This week, Jay […]
Cities From Around the World Sign Climate Agreement
Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg (center), a UN special envoy for cities and climate change, and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo, pose with local leaders and mayors from around the world at the 2015 climate talks in Paris. The Associated Press When President Trump decided to pull the United States out of the Paris climate […]
Storm Surge: How States Will Have to Step Up As Disasters Become More Frequent and Expensive
© The Pew Charitable Trusts Part One: Federal Pullback, Climate Change Could Boost State Spending on Disasters The proposed pullback, along with the threat of more frequent and more intense natural disasters linked to climate change, is already forcing cities and states to change the way they prepare for, and recover from, events like tornadoes, […]
Report: Insurers Ill-Prepared for Climate Risks
National Guard members inspect a home destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. (AP) Few U.S. insurance companies are equipped to confront the impact of climate change, a phenomenon stoking severe weather events across the country that have become increasingly costly for the industry, according to a new analysis. Just 23 out of 184 large companies doing business […]
In the West, GOP Governors, Skeptical of Cap-and-Trade, Will Watch California
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz — Utah Governor Gary Herbert is skeptical about the viability of large-scale carbon trading in the United States, but says he is “absolutely” watching as California continues rolling out its unprecedented two-week-old cap-and-trade system. Should California’s experiment work, states should take note, he told Stateline Sunday (December 2). If it fails, “we’ll be […]
With ‘Facts’ Website, California Looks to Thwart Opposition to Climate Change
(Hinrich Baesemann/Corbis) Perhaps more than any other state, California has acted on the scientific consensus that global climate change is real and man-made. By 2020, California utilities will have to obtain a third of their energy from renewable sources. And in November, the state plans to roll out a “cap-and-trade” system to limit greenhouse gas […]