Southwest (AZ NM OK TX)

"Two floodgate failures on 90-year-old Guadalupe River Valley dams — and the plan to lower the remaining four — are highlighting Texas' underfunded, aging flood infrastructure."

"The plastics industry is responsible for nearly a fourth of the industrial air pollution in the Houston area, a share that is expected to rise as the number of new plants and expansions doubles in the next few years, a new study found."

"The Trump administration named a former oil executive who has voiced doubts about man-made global warming as the top Environmental Protection Agency official in the South-Central United States, a hub of the fossil fuel industry as well as the site of recent climate-driven disasters such as Hurricane Harvey."

"The state of Texas is suing Exxon Mobil for environmental violations, including releasing millions of gallons of firefighting wastewater into the Houston Ship Channel after the petrochemical giant’s most recent fire and explosion in Baytown."

"A federal judge blocked construction of a giant copper mine in Arizona’s Coronado National Forest, overturning a decision by the federal government and handing a major victory to environmental groups and tribes that have been fighting plans for the mine."

"A fire at an Exxon Mobil plant in Baytown Wednesday morning injured 37 people and sent a plume of smoke over a Houston-area chemical facility for the fourth time since April."

"Severe droughts parched western North America hundreds of years ago. They may return, thanks to climate change."