Climate Change

USA Today reports: The Senate voted Wednesday to confirm former congressman Lee Zeldin as President Donald Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency administrator. Zeldin, who is expected to pursue a deregulation push at the EPA, was confirmed by a vote of 56 to 42. Trump wants to rollback environmental rules, declaring when he announced Zeldin as his choice for EPA administrator that …

CNN reports: Seventy-eight years ago, scientists created a unique sort of timepiece — named the Doomsday Clock — as a symbolic attempt to gauge how close humanity is to destroying the world. On Tuesday, the clock was set at 89 seconds to midnight — the closest the world has ever been to that marker, according to the Bulletin of the …

Courthouse News reports: The Supreme Court turned down an appeal from fossil fuel giants on Monday, rejecting an attempt to skirt a climate change lawsuit seeking to hold companies liable over claims of deceptive marketing about the effect of greenhouse gases. Companies such as Sunoco, Exxon Mobil, Chevron and BP said they are facing dozens of lawsuits, leaving a vital …

NOAA reports: Last year was a record-warm year for the U.S., as the nation was hit by numerous tornadoes and devastating hurricanes, according to scientists from NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information. The average annual temperature across the contiguous U.S. was 55.5 degrees F — 3.5 degrees above the 20th-century average — ranking as the nation’s warmest year in NOAA’s …

Axios reports: A fresh Los Angeles wildfire that ignited in the Hollywood Hills on Wednesday night is threatening homes and iconic L.A. landmarks, and it’s prompted authorities to issue expanding evacuation orders. The rapidly growing Sunset Fire that’s threatening Hollywood landmarks along with homes was one of multiple fires burning out of control across Los Angeles County into Thursday morning. …

ABC News reports: At least two people are dead and many more injured as several fires broke out across Southern California amid historically dry and windy conditions. Tens of thousands were evacuated as more than 15,000 acres burned in the Palisades Fire. At least 1,000 structures are estimated to have been destroyed in the fire. Meanwhile, the Eaton Fire — …

The New York Times reports: Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York on Thursday signed a law that requires companies that are big fossil fuel polluters to help pay to repair damage caused by extreme weather, which is becoming more common because of greenhouse gas emissions. The legislation, called the Climate Change Superfund Act, mandates that the companies responsible for the …

The Associated Press reports: Almost three dozen high-rise condos and luxury hotels along the beach in South Florida are sinking or settling in unexpected ways, in some cases because of nearby construction, according to a new study. The 35 buildings surveyed along an almost 12-mile (19 kilometer) stretch from Miami Beach to Sunny Isles Beach have sunk or settled by …

The Associated Press reports: Firefighters battled a wildfire early Tuesday in Malibu that prompted evacuations near Pepperdine University, where students sheltering at the school’s library watched as the fire intensified and the sky turn deep red. “Just seeing the flames grow and seeing that bright red color of fire just get brighter and brighter and brighter — it was so …

Axios reports: Three of the biggest investment firms in the world were sued by 11 states last week, in a case that not only could transform the way trillions of dollars is managed, but could also hobble global efforts to transition to a sustainable level of carbon emissions. Texas AG Ken Paxton, along with 10 of his colleagues, is attempting …

The Wall Street Journal reports: Donald Trump’s campaign-trail vow to end President Biden’s signature climate law is running into a cold reality: Too many Republican lawmakers want to keep it. The Inflation Reduction Act has channeled billions of dollars to renewable-energy projects across the country, with Republican-led states getting the lion’s share of the funding. Even though not a single …

Reuters reports: The FBI has been investigating a longtime Exxon Mobil consultant over the contractor’s alleged role in a hack-and-leak operation that targeted hundreds of the oil company’s biggest critics, according to three people familiar with the matter. The operation involved mercenary hackers who successfully breached the email accounts of environmental activists and others, the sources told Reuters. Some environmental …

The Associated Press reports: President-elect Donald Trump on Saturday named Chris Wright, head of a Denver-based oilfield service company who has disputed the role of climate change in causing extreme weather, to head the Energy Department. Wright, a major Republican fundraiser, would be one of the loudest voices in the administration against the confirmed science that greenhouse gas emissions are …

The Pensacola News-Journal reports: AccuWeather predicts that Hurricane Sara could form as early as Friday morning, shortly after it becomes a tropical storm. From there, it’s expected to take less than 24 hours for the storm to become a major hurricane. Where could Hurricane Sara ultimately end up? Florida, of course. Sara will likely be a major Category 3 hurricane …

The Washington Post reports: There’s a growing chance that a new storm will form in the Caribbean late this week. And, while uncertainty remains, the system could strengthen into a hurricane by this weekend and emerge in the Gulf of Mexico next week. It’s an ominous sign for this late in the hurricane season, which has already featured five U.S. …

CNN reports: Last month, two major storms, Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton, caused a total of between $51.5 billion and $81.5 billion of property damage, mostly to Southeastern US states, according to estimates from CoreLogic. That’s a lot of damage – but it’s only a small fraction of what climate change has cost people around the world. A new report …

The Pensacola News-Journal reports: The National Hurricane Center has increased the chances of a tropical disturbance furthering development in the southwestern Caribbean Sea over the next seven days. A tropical depression could develop over the weekend or early next week as the system drifts into the central or western Caribbean, where conditions will likely be conducive for further strengthening. Tropical …

ABC News reports: Twenty-six people remain unaccounted for in hard-hit North Carolina, weeks after the devastation unleashed by Hurricane Helene, officials said Monday. At least 95 of Helene’s fatalities were in North Carolina, officials said. Gov. Roy Cooper called Helene “the deadliest and most devastating storm” in the state’s history. After misinformation spread about recovery efforts and the availability of …

Florida Politics reports: During an interview on Clay & Buck, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott urged listeners to “look at these storms we’ve had, and what if we have another storm Nov. 4? What’s going to happen? You don’t want to take a chance.” Scott, who holds a margin-of-error lead over Democrat Debbie Mucarsel-Powell in polls released by the University of …

USA Today reports: A storm system in the Caribbean rapidly escalated Saturday from a tropical storm into Hurricane Oscar, the 10th hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. Forecasters said Oscar’s winds were much stronger than previously thought and declared the system a hurricane at 2 p.m. ET. Oscar’s maximum sustained winds were about 80 mph with stronger gusts, which …