By Ann Tran, Summer Intern Among the many negative impacts of climate change, rising temperatures are causing more frequent and intense heat waves in numerous regions. As many news outlets recently reported, on the weekend of June 28th, a heat wave struck in the West, breaking various temperature records and […]
Natural Disaster Response
by CCCL Intern Congress passed the Biggert-Waters Flood Insurance Reform Act just two months before Sandy scoured the northeast, and “requires rates to rise 25 percent annually on some repeatedly flooded houses, second homes and businesses,” and on properties where the costs imposed by past floods exceed the property’s selling […]
Five months after Superstorm Sandy, the recovering northeast region continues to debate whether to rebuild in the most vulnerable coastal areas or whether to retreat and leave those lands as protective buffers. A decision to engage in managed retreat would face significant legal, political, and practical challenges, but, according to […]
By Shawna Ganley. While the Clean Water Act prohibits discharge of pollutants into waterways, EPA regulations make exceptions for certain discharges in the event of extreme weather events, such as 10-year and 25-year storms. These exceptions run the gamut from toxic pollutants such as DDT, to waste from factory farm […]
by Anne Siders WNYC radio announced this morning that Mayor Bloomberg, as part of his post-Sandy recovery effort, is considering purchasing waterfront homes that were damaged by Sandy. The plan would use some portion of the $1.8 billion in Community Development Block Grant funding that has been earmarked for New […]
A coalition of energy, environmental and community interest organizations, led by Center for Climate Change Law, filed a formal petition with the New York Public Service Commission (PSC) requesting that the commission use its regulatory authority to require all utility companies within its jurisdiction to prepare and implement comprehensive natural […]
by Michael Gerrard A great deal has been said about what Hurricane Sandy was. Quite a few superlatives have appropriately been used. But I would like to list six things that Hurricane Sandy was not: 1. Hurricane Sandy was not a worst case event. It was a Category 1 hurricane […]
Monday, a regional Italian court convicted six scientists and a government official of manslaughter for failing to adequately warn local residents prior to the 2009 L’Aquila earthquake that killed 309 people. Defendants have been sentenced to six years in prison and ordered to pay 7.8 million euros ($10.2 million) in […]