Infrastructure

"Lawsuits, protests and fierce disputes over who controls water in the parched American West have held up a crucial pipeline."

"The water in these four unincorporated communities near Lubbock has been undrinkable for years, residents say. They hope to win $3 million in state grants to improve their systems."

"Environmentally, economically and in terms of pure human suffering, the destruction of the Kakhovka dam unleashed untold damage. Months later, many communities are still reeling."

"The new bill would shorten the permitting process for some projects, with a focus on converting old dams that don’t currently produce electricity into ones that do."

"America’s hydropower industry is hoping to reestablish some of its former glory by making itself central to the nation’s transition to clean energy—and it’s turning to Congress for help.

"Office for Environmental Protection chair tells ministers plan will degrade England’s rivers and demands that they explain it to MPs".

"The first auction of leases for wind farms in the Gulf of Mexico, which the Biden administration had heralded as part of its effort to expand clean energy, ended on Tuesday with just one of three available tracts sold."

"All across the country, downtowns, office spaces and shopping centers are at risk of becoming ground zero for a new economic hazard: the urban doom loop. The fear is that a commercial real estate apocalypse could spiral out and slow commerce, wrecking local tax revenue in the process."

"Scientists and educators are searching for ways to improve air quality in the nation’s often dilapidated school buildings."

"On a sunny afternoon in a cluttered music room at East High in Denver, two sophomores practiced violin while their music teacher, Keith Oxman, labored over a desk in an adjoining office.

The ceiling fans were off to prevent the sheet music from scattering. The windows were sealed shut. East High is Denver’s largest high school and among the oldest, and there is no modern ventilation system.

"Eight locations along the nation’s Atlantic and Pacific coasts experienced a record surge in high-tide flooding days last year, a trend intensified by rising sea levels and weather patterns that El Niño is expected to escalate in 2024, NOAA said Tuesday."

"Deadly heat that has gripped Texas for much of the summer has spread into other parts of the central U.S. this week where it is forecast to stay for days, with triple-digit temperatures buckling roads, straining water systems and threatening the power grid of the nation’s energy capitol."