 Hurricane
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Hurricane Flo Is Heading for NC But Is FEMA Ready to Respond?
Yesterday in an oval office press availability, the President touted the Administration’s response to Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico as “an incredible, unsung success” in an effort to assure the public that the government is prepared for Hurricane Florence as it strengthens and heads for the Carolina coast. But these assurances rang hollow. Mainstream news outlets, such as The New York Times and ABC News, immediately pushed back on the President’s claim that the government’s response to Hurricane Maria was a success at all, citing the recent increase in the official death toll numbers in Puerto Rico from 64 to nearly 3000 after two independent studies validated the vastly higher numbers.
In addition, news reports cited a recent report by the government’s in-house watchdog, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), that revealed that FEMA had been so overwhelmed with storms and wildfires by the time Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico that more than half of the workers it was deploying to disasters were known to be unqualified for the jobs they were doing in the field. CNN reported that “[b]y the time Maria hit Puerto Rico, they were down to the bottom of the barrel,” Chris Currie, director of emergency management issues at the GAO told reporters.
Why This Matters: To state the obvious, the government’s ability to protect its citizens is its most fundamental job — lives are at stake here. According to CNN, current FEMA Administrator Brock Long claimed last month that FEMA had made many changes as a result of internal “after action” reports on last year’s hurricanes to focus more closely on “critical lifelines.” But will those changes be enough? Former FEMA administrator Craig Fugate drew a contrast, telling ABC News that “during the Obama Administration the National Security Council served as the principal representative for the White House on conference calls leading up to major storms to coordinate with the National Hurricane Center, relevant weather service offices and federal agencies as well as states likely to be impacted.”
To Go Deeper: Here is The New York Times Fact Check analysis of the falsity of the President’s claim.
To Go Higher: Check out this Tampa Bay ABC Action News video (below) of the NOAA hurricane hunter aircraft flying through Florence to gain important data for the storm forecast.
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NOAA’s Hurricane Hunters Flies Through Hurricane Florence to Improve Storm Forecast
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 Water
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A flooded hog-manure lagoon in Wayne County, North Carolina. Photo: Waterkeeper Alliance
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Hog Waste Pits Susceptible to Florence Flooding
North Carolina has about 9 million hogs on nearly 2,300 hog farm operations which means that there are almost as many hogs as there are people. The problem with having so many animals is that they produce an enormous amount of waste that is put into massive cesspools for storage. During normal weather conditions these pits can leak and contaminate nearby rivers and streams but during a hurricane, they can completely overflow and spread bacteria and toxins for miles. With Hurricane Florence rapidly approaching the Carolinas as a category 4 storm, people are worried that flooding will cause millions of tons of hog waste to wash into nearby rivers.
As NPR reported, experts at North Carolina State University say that if farmers manage to partially drain pits by spraying the manure on fields ahead of the hurricane, lagoons should be able to handle almost three feet of rain. But the problem is that these facilities haven’t ever been forced to accommodate that much rain. Hurricane Matthew caused major flooding in 2016 but the storm was downgraded to an extratropical cyclone by the time it neared North Carolina. Florence, on the other hand, is expected to be a fully-fledged hurricane by the time she makes landfall and is expected to hover over land which will surely cause flooding. Marlowe Vaughan of Ivy Spring Creek Farm in Goldsboro, N.C told NPR that it’s impossible to know if waste pits can hold up to hurricane flooding adding, “We don’t really know, we try to pump down as much as we can, but after that, it’s kind of in God’s hands. We’re kind of at the mercy of the storm.”
Why This Matters: Community activists and environmentalists have been fighting to get the North Carolina state government to regulate these waste pits more thoroughly. Meanwhile, state Republicans have worked to prevent residents from suing hog farms when they get sick from hog waste contamination. Industrial hog farmers have a lot of political clout with lawmakers but the management of hog waste pits (and especially to make sure they’re ready for natural disasters) is a perfect example of why regulation matters, as self-regulation is proven not to work.
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 People
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Photo: Jacquelyn Martin, AP
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Kavanaugh “Grossly Misrepresented” His Record on Conservation
In his testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, Judge Kavanaugh claimed despite his pro-business reputation, that in four cases he had voted against the pro-business litigant, implying that he is open-minded and relatively balanced in his judicial approach to environmental cases. But the Environmental Working Group’s Scott Faber took a hard look at this statement and has concluded that Kavanaugh “grossly misrepresented” his record. Of the four cases, Faber found that Kavanaugh’s statement was only true with respect to one of those cases. Faber wrote that In one case, “Kavanaugh actually ruled in favor of weakening air quality rules for cement plants.” He went on to say, “[i]n another, Kavanaugh doubled down on his position that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lacks the legal authority to regulate the greenhouse gases that cause climate change.” And finally, “[i]n a third case, Kavanaugh’s concurring opinion laid the groundwork for challenges of EPA regulations by polluting industries.”
And, according to Faber, what Kavanaugh did NOT say about his record was equally damning.
Why This Matters: Judge Kavanaugh’s credibility is a key issue for many Senators who oppose his nomination. For Senators who are still undecided, Judge Kavanaugh’s truthfulness in answering the Committee’s questions should be a major consideration in determining whether he deserves a seat at the highest court of the land for the rest of his life. Kavanaugh must be completely honest, otherwise, the Supreme Court will lose the public’s confidence just like the other institutions of government.
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 Energy
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Bayou Bridge Pipeline Protesters Photo: L’eau Est La Vie Camp, Facebook
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Texas Pipeline Company ETP In Double Trouble
On Monday, NOLA.com reported that Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners (ETP) agreed to halt construction on a 38-acre section of the Bayou Bridge Pipeline project in Louisianan just ahead of a hearing over whether the company was clearing trees and trenching on private property without the landowner’s permission. Ecowatch reports that the path of the 163-mile pipeline runs through Atchafalaya Basin, the nation’s largest wetland and swamp. The pipeline is very controversial with local landowners and activists, such as the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, who are concerned that the pipeline poses a grave risk to regional water resources, wildlife, and communities. Similar to other pipeline protests, activists fighting against the pipeline have created the L’eau Est La Vie (Water Is Life) – a floating resistance camp in the Bayou.
Early Monday morning, ETP was dealt another blow when heavy rain that had saturated the ground and likely caused an Energy Transfer Partners LP (ETP) pipeline in Western Pennsylvania to slip and explode. The company is investigating the exact cause of the explosion. According to Natural Gas Intel, the residents of Center Township, about 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, were awakened early Monday by a “massive explosion” when a 24-inch segment of the pipeline burst into flames at about 5 a.m. ET. A landslide that happened near the pipeline could be a possible trigger, according to Ecowatch. Local news reports of the blast noted that nearly 5 inches of rain fell there between Friday night and Monday morning, citing National Weather Service data.
Why This Matters: Pipelines through sensitive areas like the Atchafalaya Basin are extremely risky and local landowners and nearby residents should be confident that pipeline companies like ETP will operate them safely. Given the risks of heavier storms, even pipelines in places like western Pennsylvania can be dangerous for local residents and risky for the environment. Pipeline companies must respect the rights of landowners who oppose them as well as those who support them. And they must put the health and safety of the public first. Governments at every level must ensure that they do.
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 Oceans
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Photo: Scott Keeler/Tampa Bay Times
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Red Tide Reaches Tampa
Throughout the summer we’ve covered the algal bloom known as Red Tide that has been ravaging the Gulf Coast of Florida. The heartbreaking images of dead sea turtles, manatees, and even a whale shark have been a stark reminder that nutrient pollution from our farms has lasting consequences for our oceans. For months, the Red Tide has been leaving a trail of dead fish and a stench along Florida’s most popular beaches but had not yet reached Tampa. However, over the weekend, Pinellas County environmental officials reported hundreds of thousands of dead fish on and off the coast of area beaches stretching more than 20 miles from Clearwater to St. Petersburg, confirming that Red Tide has reached the Tampa Bay area.
Officials started cleaning up dead fish along the beach last week and expect the effort to last a couple weeks. Aside from the serious harm the algal bloom has caused wildlife, it’s also ruined countless beach vacations which are a significant source of revenue for coastal towns.
Why This Matters: While the algal blooms are naturally occurring, when they mix with industrial pollutants in the water they explode and become harmful to animals and humans. In a city like Tampa that has far more people than a small coastal town, Red Tide is all the more apparent and has the potential to cause more hard. Additionally, as the Washington Post explained, in August, Gov. Rick Scott (R) declared a state of emergency and released funds to help with the massive cleanup effort and help businesses recover from lost profits. The algae has affected the coast in some way for 10 months — and has become a key political issue in the midterms for Scott, a U.S. Senate hopeful. Now that the Red Tide has hit a major Flordia city it will likely become an even bigger topic on the campaign trail.
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 Climate Change
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One Cool Thing: See You at GCAS!
I, (Miro) will be heading to the Global Climate Action Summit today and will be bringing you stories from the summit the rest of the week. If any of our readers are attending let us know if there’s something ODP should check out while I’m there! Meanwhile, to kick off the summit in style, CA governor Jerry Brown signed recently passed legislation that would require all of the state’s electricity to come from carbon-free sources by 2045. This marks one of the biggest sub-national efforts to curb climate change to date! (you can read our coverage of the bill here)
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P.S. is it basketball season yet?
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