Disasters

"Trump administration funding cuts and a loss of federal workers who help support wildland firefighting continues to make planning for the upcoming wildfire season a challenge, according to forest and fire officials in Washington state and Oregon."

"BILLINGS, Mont. — An asbestos screening clinic in a small Montana town where thousands have been sickened by toxic dust from a nearby mine has been abruptly shuttered by authorities following a court order to seize the clinic’s assets to pay off a judgment to the railroad BNSF."

"A bipartisan group of House members is drafting a sweeping bill to overhaul the Federal Emergency Management Agency — and in some cases expand its services — in an effort to head off President Donald Trump’s threats to shrink or abolish the agency."

"The ouster of Cameron Hamilton, less than a month before the start of the hurricane season, came a day after he told lawmakers that FEMA was vital to communities “in their greatest times of need” and should not be eliminated."

"Key datasets used to monitor the impacts of climate change in the Arctic have emerged as the latest victim of cost-cutting by the Trump administration at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration."

"A group of Democratic-led states filed a lawsuit on Monday to challenge the Trump administration's decision to gut the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services by firing 10,000 of its employees and shuttering entire agencies within the department."

"The agency’s acting head faced questioning by lawmakers over canceled grants, plans to limit relief and a projected $8 billion disaster fund deficit."

"An anti-government group is making threats against weather equipment that it says is a “weather weapon” controlled by the military, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warned employees."

"As it shifts responsibility for recovery efforts to local authorities, FEMA workers will stop knocking on doors to provide aid to survivors in disaster areas, per a memo obtained by WIRED."

"U.S. disaster declarations totaled 108 last year, touching 137 million people. “Climate change is here, it’s impacting people, and it’s going to get more severe,” says one activist."