Disasters

"Storm-Prone States Ease Up On Building Codes Despite Growing Risks"

"A report being released on Monday shows Florida isn’t alone in easing up on building regulations even as the effects of global warming escalate. The Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety examined building policies in 18 Atlantic and Gulf Coast states and found that despite the increasing severity of natural disasters, many of those states have relaxed their approach to codes - or have yet to impose any whatsoever."

Source: Bloomberg, 03/20/2018

FEMA Flood Maps Underestimate Real Risks: Study. Florida’s A Hot Spot.

"Flood risk, a perpetual concern in porous, low-slung South Florida, is far worse here and across the continental U.S. than now projected under Federal Emergency Management Agency flood maps used by homeowners to decide where to buy insurance, according to a new assessment."

Source: Miami Herald, 03/15/2018

Offshore Safety Chief Meets Almost Exclusively With Industry

"Documents show that Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE) Director Scott Angelle has spent more than 98 hours meeting with oil and gas lobbyists and executives since he began the role last May. In contrast, during this same time he only spent 1.75 hours with NGOs."

Source: Think Progress, 03/14/2018
April 7, 2018

Covering Extreme Weather

Journalists and environmental communicators are invited to a free workshop in Detroit, co-sponsored by MSU's Knight Center for Environmental Journalism and Wayne State University. Space is limited. Register by Mar 23.

Visibility: 
Topics on the Beat: 

"Trump Rollbacks Target Offshore Rules ‘Written With Human Blood’"

"PORT FOURCHON, La. — A dozen miles off the coast, on a rusty, aging platform, workers in hard hats and overalls spend their days extracting oil and gas from the ocean floor before retreating at night into tiny weather-beaten steel cubes that act as dorms."

Source: NY Times, 03/12/2018

Pages

Subscribe to RSS - Disasters