The latest release of the annual endangered rivers list provides boatloads of environmental reporting angles, including climate change-related threats like flooding and drought. This week’s TipSheet has the backstory and the new top-10 list, plus 10 suggested starting points for stories and a half-dozen key reporting resources.
"A bipartisan group of Florida legislators introduced a bill Monday that would ban offshore drilling along Florida’s coast."
"Greenland, home to Earth’s second-largest ice sheet, has lost ice at an accelerating pace in the past several decades — a nearly sixfold increase that could contribute to future sea-level rise, according to a new study based on nearly a half-century of data." "The ice sheet has the potential to raise sea levels by more than 20 feet, were it all to melt someday."
"Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Wednesday that she’s open to allowing construction of an oil transport tunnel beneath the channel where Lakes Huron and Michigan meet, despite previously halting work on a tunnel plan developed by her predecessor."
"With climate change bringing more intense storms, urban areas are looking for better ways to manage runoff."
"A lawsuit by Flint residents against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can move forward. U.S. District Court Judge Linda Parker ruled the plaintiffs can sue the EPA. Nearly 5,000 Flint residents are part of the lawsuit. It was filed in 2017. The lawsuit alleges the EPA failed to utilize its authority under the Safe Drinking Water Act."
"Hurricane Maria was the rainiest storm known to have hit Puerto Rico, and climate change is partly to blame, according to a new study."
"An unlikely advocate seems to be around every bend of the Colorado River these days: the Walton Family Foundation. The $3.65 billion organization launched by Walmart founder Sam Walton has become ubiquitous in the seven-state basin that provides water to 40 million people, dishing out $100 million in grants in the last five years alone."
"Multiple coal ash sites in Illinois sit within or adjacent to flood plains, according to environmental watchdogs."
"With countless acres of flat, fertile farmland traversed by major rivers, Illinois is familiar with major flooding.
Just as towns were built along rivers in decades past, so were coal-fired power plants that relied on the water for cooling and transporting coal. Now, those plants — some defunct and some still operating — are also repositories for toxic coal ash that could pose a risk of contamination when floodwaters rise.
"South Carolina’s Republican-majority Senate advanced a measure on Wednesday that would require the state to block new infrastructure to transport or process offshore oil and gas as state lawmakers fear the Interior Department will open the Atlantic coast to offshore drilling."
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