Disasters

"Hazardous chemical accidents happen in the U.S. about every other day. Who will investigate them now?" 

"Floodplain buyouts can reduce the financial toll of future disasters. But some small towns losing property and people are now saying no."

"President Donald Trump has fired a Democratic commissioner for the federal agency that oversees nuclear safety as he continues to assert more control over independent regulatory agencies."

"President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered government officials to consolidate wildland firefighting into a single program, despite warnings from former federal officials that it could be costly and increase the risk of catastrophic blazes."

"A widely used federal website that publishes information about changing weather patterns, drought conditions, agricultural best-practices, atmospheric changes and greenhouse gas emissions will no longer be updated, according to current and former employees familiar with the site. The website will stop publishing new content on July 1."

"The head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s disaster command center, who coordinates the national response to earthquakes, floods and other disasters, has submitted his resignation, according to two people familiar with the matter." "His resignation came after other senior staff members have left and a day after President Trump said he would wind down the federal agency by November."

"More than 460 laid-off employees at the nation’s top public health agency received notices Wednesday that they are being reinstated, according to a union representing the workers."

"Human-caused climate change boosted Iceland and Greenland ’s temperatures by several degrees during a record-setting May heat wave, raising concerns about the far-reaching implications melting Arctic ice has for weather around the world, scientists said in an analysis released Wednesday."

"The Trump administration will begin dismantling the Federal Emergency Management Agency later this year, the president announced on Tuesday, setting a tight timeframe for a breakup that many experts warned would likely harm the nation’s ability to respond to disasters."

"President Donald Trump said Tuesday that his administration plans to “wean” states off Federal Emergency Management Agency assistance after this year’s hurricane season, offering in the most explicit terms yet his plans for states to respond to natural disasters and other emergencies on their own."