"This time of year, pilots in small blue and white airplanes are busy gathering information about how much snow is on the ground — and more importantly, how much water that snow contains."
"Interior Secretary David Bernhardt Friday tweeted a video of President Trump’s declaration of a national emergency and lauded his boss for taking “decisive — even unprecedented — actions to protect the American people” from the coronavirus. But just two days earlier, Bernhardt’s office had sent talking points to Interior officials that downplayed the virus threat."
"Climate change is causing record high water levels in the Great Lakes basin only years after record lows, battering coastal communities and fundamentally changing aquatic ecosystems."
"The top U.S. grid security monitor urged power utilities to prepare for the new coronavirus in a rare alert yesterday, adding to a chorus of warnings from federal and private organizations."
COVID-19 is an unpleasant reminder that when a public health emergency hits, it pays for journalists — including environment reporters — to be prepared. The latest TipSheet offers advice on handling the unknown and gathering an emergency “go bag,” as well as tracking story ideas and numerous federal, state/local and media resources.
"Republican senators from four states that have seen severe flooding from the Missouri River are backing legislation that would require the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to change its management of the river to reduce flooding risk."
"The Trump administration is moving to allow railroads nationwide to ship liquefied natural gas as part of a push to increase energy exports — a practice that has been banned until now because of the uncertain hazards it presents."
"New emails released from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) show how much concern there was within the agency, and how much questioning and anger from the outside, regarding the credibility of its critical-to-life hurricane forecasts as a result of actions taken during Hurricane Dorian last fall."
"For the second year in a row, much of the U.S. is primed to suffer multi-billion dollar flood losses, with farmers already steeling themselves for planting delays."
"The federal government must spend up to $12 billion to improve the nation's flood maps and should do more to steer development out of flood-prone areas, according to two recent studies that warn about increasing flood damage from climate change."
