Justice & Health - Inside Climate News

North Carolina’s Iconic College Town Struggles to Redevelop a Toxic Coal Ash Mound

By Lisa Sorg — Sun, 21 Jul 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Chapel Hill officials envision an office park, perhaps, with trails. But some community members and lawyers say a few feet of clean fill can’t protect against chemicals linked to serious illnesses.

By Lisa Sorg

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—No dog parks. No golf. No soccer or football.

In Idaho, Water Shortages Pit Farmers Against One Another

By Daniel Rothberg — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 09:15:00 +0000

This summer, a short-lived curtailment order brought a dispute to a head between farmers irrigating from the Snake River and those dependent on groundwater. Without a long-term plan to share water, the cuts could come back next year.

By Daniel Rothberg

TWIN FALLS, Idaho—Along the banks of the Snake River, below the Magic Valley’s fields of barley, wheat and corn, groundwater from a massive aquifer springs from steep, dark rock and crashes down the cliff to the river.

In New Mexico, a Walk Commemorates the Nuclear Disaster Few Outside the Navajo Nation Remember

By Noel Lyn Smith — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 09:10:00 +0000

The Church Rock spill released more radioactive material than the partial meltdown at Three Mile Island four months earlier. Last week’s walk highlights the continuing cleanup and the ongoing hazards uranium mining poses to tribal lands.

By Noel Lyn Smith

RED WATER POND ROAD, New Mexico—As Tony Hood walked along New Mexico Highway 566 last Saturday, he thought about where he was 45 years earlier, when an earthen dam broke at the site of a uranium mill operated by the United Nuclear Corp., releasing 94 million gallons of radioactive water and 1,100 tons of uranium waste across portions of New Mexico, Arizona and the Navajo Nation.

Louisiana’s ‘Business-Friendly’ Climate Response: Canceled Home Insurance Plans

By Terry L. Jones, Floodlight — Sat, 20 Jul 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Under a new state law, residents will no longer be protected from homeowners’ policy cancellations, higher deductibles or big rate increases.

By Terry L. Jones, Floodlight

This story was originally published by Floodlight, a nonprofit investigative newsroom focused on climate accountability.

When a Retired Scientist Suggested Virginia Weaken Wetlands Protections, the State Said, No Way

By Sarah Vogelsong — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 09:05:00 +0000

After the Supreme Court weakened federal protection of wetlands last year, a Trump transition team member from Fairfax County urged the state to follow suit. But Virginia’s top environmental regulator stood his ground.

By Sarah Vogelsong

A little over a year after the U.S. Supreme Court narrowed the range of wetlands the federal government can protect, a Virginia board turned down a petition that would have similarly limited local officials from regulating certain wetlands within the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Funds to Help Low-Income Families With Summer Electric Bills Are Stretched Thin

By Martha Pskowski, Jenaye Johnson — Fri, 19 Jul 2024 09:00:00 +0000

A federal program helps people in poverty cover the costs of heat and cooling. But advocates say it disadvantages states like Texas and Arizona, even though extreme heat is a key cause of weather-related deaths.

By Martha Pskowski, Jenaye Johnson

In San Elizario, Texas, tucked between cotton fields and the U.S.-Mexico border fence, nearly 30 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.

In Alabama’s Bald Eagle Territory, Residents Say an Unexpected Mining Operation Emerged as Independence Day Unfolded

By Lee Hedgepeth — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 09:05:00 +0000

Aside Lake Guntersville, bald eagles are royalty. But locals say a planned chert pit is already changing that status.

By Lee Hedgepeth

LANGSTON, Ala.—In a state-owned lodge atop Taylor Mountain in Lake Guntersville State Park, the walls are covered with paintings of bald eagles. Busts of the national bird carved in stone adorn end tables in the wood-paneled lobby.

Tribes and Environmentalists Press Arizona and Federal Officials to Stop Uranium Mining Near the Grand Canyon

By Noel Lyn Smith — Wed, 17 Jul 2024 09:00:00 +0000

Activists hope to shut down an existing mine within a new national monument and to prevent the transportation of uranium on state and federal roads across Navajo Nation lands.

By Noel Lyn Smith

PHOENIX—Members of environmental groups stood together in the lobby of the Arizona State Capitol Executive Tower late last month to deliver a petition to Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs, requesting that she stop uranium mining activities near the Grand Canyon National Park.

Employees Suing American Airlines Don’t Want Their 401(k)s in ESG Funds

By Mathilde Augustin — Tue, 16 Jul 2024 09:05:00 +0000

Their class-action lawsuit could have broad repercussions, prompting other companies to go quiet on sustainable investing.

By Mathilde Augustin

A class-action lawsuit against American Airlines filed by employees opposed to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) funds used in their 401(k)s could redefine how employers handle ESG investing and respond to further litigation.

As a Nevada Community Fights a Lithium Mine, a Rare Fish and Its Haven Could Be an Ace in the Hole

By Wyatt Myskow — Mon, 15 Jul 2024 09:00:00 +0000

The Ash Meadows Wildlife Refuge has been called the “Galapagos of the Mojave Desert,” but nearby residents fear a proposed lithium mine’s impacts on the region’s water will hurt both the wildlife and their town.

By Wyatt Myskow

AMARGOSA, Nev.—Eight thousand years.