• Energy

Mauritius Declares Emergency After Massive Oil Spill From Japanese Tanker Threatens Coast

• disaster
• emergency
• environment
• oil pollution
• oil spill
• oil tanker

Last month, a Japanese-owned ship ran aground off the coast of Mauritius, causing over 1,000 tons of oil to leak into the sea. Last week, Mauritius residents “stuffed fabric sacks with sugar cane leaves” in order to create “makeshift oil spill barriers,” as CBS News reported earlier this week.

Why This Matters: If the ship breaks in half, an already horrifying situation will be made worse, seeing as there are still 2,500 tons of oil currently contained in the ship.

• Climate Change

Mayor Stephen Hagerty: Buttigieg Plan Is What Communities Need to Respond to Natural Disaster

• active shooter
• disaster
• emergency
• FEMA
• Fire
• flood
• hurricane
• tornado

  By Stephen H. Hagerty, Mayor of Evanston, Illinois Our nation is facing a heightened risk from natural and man-made disasters. Hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, fires, active shooters. We see it practically every time we turn on the television, pick up a newspaper, or glance at social media. Due to a changing climate, so-called 100-year flooding […]

• Land

Trump Fights Green Groups, Appeals to SCOTUS on Border Wall Funding

• border wall
• emergency
• endangered species
• Sierra Club
• Supreme Court

President Trump is challenging in the Supreme Court two orders from lower federal courts that froze funding for 100 miles of the President’s border wall because the President took the money from other federal programs and projects without Congress’ consent based on his border “emergency” declaration.  On Friday, the Associated Press reported that the Administration […]

• Water

Midwest Still Flooded With Complications

• bottled water
• Budweiser
• disaster assistance
• drinking water
• emergency
• flood
• Kansas City
• Leavenworth
• Missouri River
• turbidity

Last weekend, Missouri River flood waters in Kansas City overwhelmed city water treatment plants and the City was required by law to notify citizens that their drinking water had failed to meet a state safety standard. 

• Water

The Midwest Is The Latest Region To Experience Deadly Flooding

• air force
• Amtrak
• Corps of Engineers
• dams
• emergency
• Flooding
• floods
• levees
• Mississippi River
• Missouri River
• tornadoes

Flooding across the Midwest over the weekend caused residents to flee as levees were breached by the rising floodwaters and emergency workers had to use boats to rescue stranded residents of towns along the Platte, Missouri and Elkhorn Rivers, and at least two people have perished.  The rising floodwaters are the aftermath of the massive storm system that pushed through the nation’s midsection on Thursday and Friday, pushing rivers to record flood levels in Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, and Minnesota, according to the Associated Press. 

• Politics

Possible Detention Center for Migrant Children on Texas AF Base Is Contaminated

• air force
• border wall
• Chemicals
• Earthjustice
• emergency
• EPA
• Goodfellows Air Force Base
• Superfund
• Texas
• toxic waste

Reuters reported yesterday that the Trump Administration had planned to open a new detention center at Goodfellow Air Force Base in Texas to house up to 7,500 unaccompanied migrant children, but the site may not be safe.  Earthjustice issued a report yesterday in which it raised concerns with this site because the organization has identified fouSuperfund sites on base in proximity to the proposed housing site, including a former landfill, artillery range, fuel depot, and fire training areas. While some areas have been cleaned up not all have been remediated, thus Earthjustice argues in the report that more extensive testing is warranted to ensure the site is safe because the clean up may not have been sufficient to house children there.