Infrastructure

"In the past decade, as extreme weather killed nearly 700 people in Texas, the state relinquished $225 million in federal grant money that it was supposed to spend on protecting residents from disasters, federal records show."  "States across the country have not used billions of dollars from FEMA intended to reduce damage from flooding and other disasters."

"House Republican appropriators would cut NOAA by nearly $400 million for fiscal 2026, but they’re rejecting deeper reductions proposed by the White House."

"Kerr County failed to secure a warning system, even as local officials remained aware of the risks and as billions of dollars were available for similar projects." 

"BESSEMER, Ala. — Developers of a proposed hyperscale data center may find themselves lacking a resource essential for the operation of what would be one of the largest such facilities in the United States: water."

"In an effort to shrink the federal government, President Trump and congressional Republicans have taken steps that are diluting the country’s ability to anticipate, prepare for and respond to catastrophic flooding and other extreme weather events, disaster experts say."

"State regulators, consumer advocates, and environmental groups say the Department of Energy is acting illegally in forcing aging, costly power plants to stay open." 

"The Trump administration is diverting federal funds away from the Energy Department’s wind, solar and electric vehicles programs, despite the spending levels set under the current congressionally passed budget, according to a document posted on the agency’s website."

"As the Guadalupe River swelled from a wall of water heading downstream, sirens blared over the tiny river community of Comfort -- a last-ditch warning to get out for those who had missed cellphone alerts and firefighters going street-to-street telling people to get out."

"US regulatory actions to ensure oil and gas pipeline safety have plummeted to a record low for the start of a presidential administration as Donald Trump pushes to streamline the government and cut red tape."

"The Department of Energy report is widely viewed as groundwork for the White House to order coal and gas plants slated for closure to run for longer."