Infrastructure

"A federal appeals court has vacated a ruling that would have helped to clear the way for a project to build a road through a national wildlife refuge in Alaska. The court said it would rehear the case, which involves a land swap that was approved by the Trump administration."

"Texas officials claimed that no prisoners have been killed by heat. A new report shows they're wrong." "In the dozens of Texas prisons that don’t have air conditioning, new research shows that 13 percent of deaths during the six hottest months every year from 2001 through 2019 were likely due to extreme heat."

"Climate change is unleashing “far-reaching and worsening” calamities in every region of the United States, and the economic and human toll will only increase unless humans move faster to slow the planet’s warming, according to a sprawling new federal report released Monday.

"Five years ago, when ExxonMobil came calling, city officials eagerly signed over a large portion of their water supply so the oil giant could build a $10 billion plant to make plastics out of methane gas."

"Major dams have disrupted gene flow between platypus populations, making them more vulnerable to threats, according to new research."

"There are two simple reasons. One, it makes money. And two, people just love water."

"As the federal government injects a historic amount of money from the bipartisan infrastructure law into the nation’s sewage and drinking water systems, research shows the money has not historically reached the underserved rural and minority communities that need it most."

"A crucial aquifer is running low, so officials are pumping in treated sewage. It’s an increasingly common strategy as heavy demand and climate change strain water supplies."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday opened an investigation into Mississippi state agencies to determine if they violated civil rights in the majority Black city of Jackson in the course of funding of the city's water infrastructure."