Cedar Rapids home buyout for flood control system
Interesting story about Cedar Rapids wanting to buy out ~20 homeowners in order to build a flood-control system
Idea came after a flood in 2008
Would force 20 homeowners to move in order to (hopefully) prevent another displacement of 10,000 people
This is related to the topic covered in "The Great Displacement" by Jake Bittle about the Kinston, NC. He reviewed how the town used FEMA funds to buy out homeowners in a flood plain. Although many relocated locally and the program was deemed a success, many people eventually left the town. There, they were surrendering the land to the river, not willing to fight the flooding. In this case, they are fighting the flooding, but the low income households are still the ones making the biggest sacrifice.
The neighborhood in question in Cedar Rapids would be turned into a greenway allowing for flooding without damage, this is the idea of a managed retreat from climate change induced flooding
The city bought some 1,350 properties after the flooding in 2008 that displaced thousands
Investing £50M by 2025 to reduce storm overflows by 20%
Would impact Deals, Whitstable, and Margate
The focus is on reducing the volume of water entering the system during storms, not increasing capacity of the system
UN moving forward with plan to avoid oil spill
UN is paying to remove oil from an almost 50 year old ship that is sitting off the coast of Yemen
Although they have to pay for a replacement ship and the transfer from the ship, the Safer, it could prevent a $20B environmental disaster in the Red Sea
The UN raised $95M, but still needs about $34M which it is doing in part through crowd-funding
Low reservoir levels foreshadow difficult summer in Europe
With the Sau reservoir at 6% capacity the government of Catalan government announced it was closing down the reservoir
Events like this were forecasted to occur by 2050, so we're clearly ahead of schedule in terms of water scarcity in Spain
The dry winter combined with the warm spring are likely to result in a difficult summer for Europe with many governments imposing water restrictions
Deaths in Sudan and food and water run low
The combination of floods and famine have wreaked havoc in Sudan
Famine was formally declared in 2017
Low water levels have meant that the people have been unable to drill successful boreholes
Below average monsoon in India
Lack of rain will negatively impact agricultural output likely driving up food prices
This comes after a serious heat wave last year also reduced wheat output
Pilgrim Nuclear Plant agrees to wastewater study, but says it won't pay for it
Holtec, the company decommissioning Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station, agreed to test the wastewater, but do not intend to pay for it
There is $518M in a trust to decommission the plant
Holtec is an engineering firm with an estimated ~$250M in annual revenues
Citizens are concerned about the 1.1 million gallons that have been cooling spent nuclear fuel being released into the bay
Holtec acquired Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in 2019 and makes money by decommissioning the plant with the trust fund set aside for that, they get to keep any remaining money+
EPA allocates $776M in Clean Water revolving funds
This number is lower than anticipate because so much of the funds were earmarked for specific projects in states
Seattle investing in continuity of wastewater treatment plant
Installing a battery to ensure continuity of power to the plant
Goal is to prevent untreated sewage from entering Puget Sound
Chemicals used in fracking are confidential, but being found broadly
17M Americans live within a mile of an oil well
Fracking liquids are exempt from Safe Drinking Water Act due to the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (while Dick Cheney, former CEO of Halliburton) was Vice President
23 states require companies to report chemicals used to Frac Focus and ~60%-70% of these fracks used at least one chemical that the Safe Drinking Water Act recognizes as detrimental to human health
These chemicals are showing up in the food chain years (a decade!) later