Environment

The Obama-era regulation known as the Clean Power Plan is expected to be the next target for the White House to cut back regulations. It’s something of a zombie, since the Supreme Court halted its rollout, yet the EPA is required to take measures to regulate carbon pollution (due to an agency finding that greenhouse […]

The Trump administration is asking for new regulations in the name of grid reliability. Specifically, it wants to support coal and nuclear power to make sure the U.S. always has a  supply on-hand for possible times of need. But skeptics wonder if this is all a back-door bailout for power plants that simply can’t compete […]

President Donald Trump today said he’ll head to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands on Tuesday to survey damage from Hurricane Maria. Some 3.5 million residents in Puerto Rico remain without power. Food and water are scarce in the territories, and everything about the recovery is more complicated because the islands have vulnerable infrastructure.  […]

After disasters like Harvey, the USDA offers D-SNAP, a temporary version of the program commonly called food stamps. The program offers two months of benefits to people who may not have qualified for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program before. But given the long road to recovery, many who take disaster food stamps will wind up […]

The entire island of Puerto Rico is still without power today in the wake of Hurricane Maria. Local officials said it could take months to repair the damage and restore full service. And it won’t be easy. The utility was already around $9 billion in debt before the hurricane and had filed for bankruptcy earlier […]

Some economic stats released in recent weeks have — hidden within them — hurricane disruption devastation stats. Industrial production was down 0.9 percent in August — a lot of that due to Hurricane Harvey hitting Houston, with its huge oil and gas refineries and chemical factories. Utility use was down — people didn’t have electricity […]