"Hurricane Laura tore through a region that is home to dozens of major oil refineries, petrochemical plants and plastics facilities. Now, residents could be breathing dangerously polluted air from those sites, public health experts and local advocates say."

"Hurricanes that go from dangerous to deadly very quickly are occurring more often, research suggests." "Experts call the phenomenon “rapid intensification” and say it’s happening more frequently, thanks in part to warming ocean temperatures driven by climate change."

"Alberta is projecting a historic deficit for the 2020-2021 fiscal year as resource revenues decline to levels not seen in decades."

"“Routine flaring” from oil wells produces emissions that harm the climate and human health. Two states have proposed new rules to reduce it, just as the true scope of the problem emerges."

"Record setting conflagrations in California and Colorado have smothered residents of the two states with choking, stinging smoke. But the impact of that smoke is also being felt hundreds, even thousands, of miles away, and the health impacts may last for years after the flames subside."

"The number of fires in the Brazilian Amazon has risen dramatically in recent weeks and now achieved a bleak milestone: more than 500 major, largely illegal, fires have been detected in the region since the end of May."

"Hurricane Laura's top wind speeds nearly doubled in just 24 hours as it approached the border between Texas and Louisiana. ... Laura's rapid intensification is one hallmark of climate change. As the Earth warms up, the water on the surface of the ocean gets hotter."

"A fire at a Louisiana chlorine plant erupted with thick, billowing smoke Thursday after Hurricane Laura plowed through part of the country’s petrochemical corridor with storm surges and fierce wind, forcing residents around the plant to shelter in their homes."

"the extreme weather conditions now testing the country, one disaster overlapping with the next, are exactly what they’ve long warned us to expect in a warming world."

"A Los Angeles utility said Wednesday that one of its natural gas plants is leaking globe-warming methane, prompting calls from environmentalists to abandon plans to extend the life of other California facilities like it."