Our Neighborhood

Earth

Keeping It Green

Fracking's Toll on the Indigenous
• Climate Justice Defined

Environmental Justice

Stories of Interest

• Recent News Stories

Page Updated:
Oct. 14, 2026

• • Environmentalists Picket African Energy Week

  Urging an End to New Oil and Gas Exploration

  

  Oct. 13, 2026 -Climate activists picketed outside the African Energy Week conference in Cape Town, South Africa, on Tuesday, calling for an end to new oil and gas exploration across the continent and accusing energy companies of prioritizing profits over people and the environment.

  Greenpeace Africa and Extinction Rebellion campaigners challenged efforts to position Africa as a new frontier for fossil fuel development, arguing that further investment would worsen climate change and threaten communities already grappling with its effects.

• • In One Historically Black Florida
  Community, the Drinking Water Is Brown

  In Whitted, Testing Has Confirmed the Water is Contaminated With Arsenic and PFAS/PFOS

  

  Oct. 10, 2026 -When Ann Jones runs her kitchen faucet, the water flows clear only some of the time. Sometimes the water is brown. Fill a pitcher, and the water is the color of iced tea.

  Jones, 81, is a gentle woman who has lived most of her life in this unincorporated historically Black community of 52 residents southeast of Orlando. She can recall, as a teen, glimpsing the Ku Klux Klan burn crosses not far from her childhood home, as her family drove past.

• • New Documents Add to Evidence in Climate
  Deception Case Against ExxonMobil

  Revealing New Details About Internal Deliberations at the Oil Giant

  

  Oct. 10, 2026 -IIf there was a year the world began waking up to climate change, it might have been 1988. That June, the NASA climatologist James Hansen testified to Congress that the climate was warming and would continue to do so as long as humans pumped fossil fuel pollution into the atmosphere. Months later, the United Nations established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

  And, just weeks before the U.N. vote, Frank Sprow of Exxon’s corporate research department warned his colleagues in an internal memo, “If a worldwide consensus emerges that action is needed to mitigate against Greenhouse gas effects, substantial negative impacts on Exxon could occur.”

• • New Zealand Accused of Breaching EU
  Trade Deal Over Climate Rollbacks

  The EU’s Climate Trade Rules Face Their First Major Test After a Green Group Alleged New Zealand Violated Binding Environmental Provisions Under Its Trade Deal With the Bloc
  
  {CLIMATE HOME NEWS}

  Oct. 8, 2026 -A Dutch NGO has filed the first climate complaint under the European Union's trade rules, arguing that New Zealand violated the environmental provisions of its free trade agreement with the bloc by weakening its climate regulations.

  The case will test whether binding climate provisions in the EU's free trade deals can be enforced to hold governments accountable to their climate obligations, experts told Climate Home News.

• • Anti-Gunners Reveal Motive Behind Their Under-
  The-Radar Involvement In Supreme Court Climate Case

  Gas and Gear
  
  {DAILY CALLER}

  Oct. 6, 2026 -Anti-Second Amendment groups got involved in a landmark climate case months before the first lawyer entered the Supreme Court’s chambers to deliver oral arguments in Suncor Energy v. Board of County Commissioners of Boulder County.

  Boulder County and the city of Boulder, Colorado, sued Suncor and other energy companies, claiming they misled the public about how fossil fuels affect the climate while continuing to sell them. In a little-reported 41-page brief filed with the Supreme Court in August, Brady United and the Giffords Law Center backed Boulder County, saying that they often sued firearms manufacturers using similar legal theories as the Colorado jurisdiction was using in its suit against energy conglomerates.

• • Why Cities and States Are Fighting
  Climate Change in Courtrooms

  Faced With a President Who Has Called Global Warming a Hoax, Officials Have Filed Dozens of Suits Against Oil Companies to Try to Cover the Costs of Extreme Weather

  

  Oct. 5, 2026 -The fight over who should pay the soaring costs of climate change — the intensifying wildfires, storms and heat waves — has moved to the courts.

  Nationwide, more than 60 state and local governments have filed dozens of lawsuits seeking damages from oil companies over global warming, which is caused by the burning of fossil fuels. With a president who has called climate change a hoax and a gridlocked Congress, courtrooms have become one of the few remaining options for communities seeking relief.

• • US Supreme Court Wrestles With Oil
  Companies'Bid to Scuttle Climate Lawsuit

  Ruling Could Affect Dozens of Similar US Lawsuits

  

  Oct. 5, 2026 - US Supreme Court justices wrestled with a bid by oil companies ExxonMobil (XOM.N), opens new tab and Suncor Energy (SU.TO), opens new tab to thwart a lawsuit by officials in Boulder, Colorado, seeking monetary damages for harms caused by climate change, as they opened their new nine-month term on Monday.

  US-based Exxon and Canada-based Suncor appealed after the Colorado Supreme Court let Boulder's lawsuit accusing them of state law violations proceed.

• • New California Law Aims to Stop ‘Predatory’ Developers
  From Moving in on Wildfire-Ravaged Community

  As Many As 200 to 300 New Structures Have Been Permitted In Altadena, But Homeowners Who Survived the Eaton Fire Are Struggling to Rebuild

  

  Oct. 4, 2026 -Sylvie Andrews walks among the brilliant white poppies, purple California grapes and olive-green thorns surrounding her yard’s blackened pizza oven—one of the only things that survived last year’s devastating Eaton Fire. But her eyes scan the block beyond, ever-aware of changes to her neighborhood.

  Andrews says virtually all of her neighbors have received unsolicited offers for the empty plots of land where their homes burned as part of a recent push from developers moving into the wildfire-ravaged area.

  She hasn’t herself yet, and Senate Bill 1090—the Keep Altadena Land in Altadena Hands Act—signed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom Wednesday, will make it less likely that she does.

• • WA’s Clean Energy Act Puts
  Unbearable Burden On PSE Customers

  The Result is That PSE’s Customers Are Paying a Disproportionately High Price to Meet the State’s Climate Goals

  

  Oct. 4, 2026 -For many reasons, energy bills are surging across the West: white-hot demand for electricity to power everything from electric cars to data centers; the rising risks and devastation wrought by wildfire; and the modernization of an antiquated grid, to name a few.

  But nowhere in Washington state are costs rising faster than for Puget Sound Energy ratepayers, whose bills have nearly doubled since 2020. The average monthly PSE bill today is already about $40 more than for a customer of neighboring Seattle City Light. Things could soon get even more lopsided.

• • Should Big Oil Pay For Climate Change?

  A Supreme Court Case Will Help Decide

  

  Oct. 4, 2026 -Kathleen Kelley’s family long had close ties to the oil industry, but the wildfire that swept over the ridge that framed her rolling 2,000-acre ranch in the Rockies prompted a reckoning.

  The Lee Fire in August 2025 was so massive that Kelley said it looked like a “giant, slow-motion” tornado of flame.

• • New California Law Aims to Stop ‘Predatory’ Developers
  From Moving In On Wildfire-Ravaged Community

  As Many As 200 to 300 New Structures Have Been Permitted In Altadena, But Homeowners Who Survived the Eaton Fire Are Struggling to Rebuild

  

  Oct. 4, 2026 -Sylvie Andrews walks among the brilliant white poppies, purple California grapes and olive-green thorns surrounding her yard’s blackened pizza oven—one of the only things that survived last year’s devastating Eaton Fire. But her eyes scan the block beyond, ever-aware of changes to her neighborhood.

  Andrews says virtually all of her neighbors have received unsolicited offers for the empty plots of land where their homes burned as part of a recent push from developers moving into the wildfire-ravaged area.

• • A Supreme Court Battle Over
  Climate Change Begins

  The Justices Are About to Hear a Lawsuit That Could Determine Whether the Oil Industry Faces Billions of Dollars In Liability For Damages Caused By Global Warming

  

  Oct. 4, 2026 -Nearly a decade ago, the outdoorsy, liberal enclave of Boulder, Colo., sued two oil companies over their role in climate change. Now, the Supreme Court will consider whether the groundbreaking lawsuit can ever go to trial.

  Its decision will resonate far beyond the Rockies.

  A win for Boulder would likely clear the way for dozens of similar lawsuits nationwide aiming to extract billions of dollars from the fossil fuel industry to fight global warming. But if the court kills Boulder’s case, that could doom the others, handing a major victory to oil companies.

• • Supreme Court Will Hear Major Climate
  Change Case Involving Devastating Marshall Wildfire

  Colorado Case is Part of a Wave of Climate Change Litigation Across the Country
  
  {THE COLORADO SUN}

  Oct. 3, 2026 -Less than an hour after the first warning that a wildfire was headed for her suburban street, Tawnya Somauroo’s Colorado home was in ashes.

  She has worked tirelessly for nearly five years to rebuild her house and help ensure her neighborhood can withstand the next blaze. But as climate change contributes to more frequent wildfires, she worries that the careful landscaping, metal fencing and flame-resistant siding are not enough.

• • State Will Provide Additional Assistance to Ouray,
  Pueblo, Custer Counties For Burn Scar Flooding Protections

  According to Officials, That Will Reduce the Costs the Counties Have to Pay to Just Over 6%.
  
  {KRDO TV}

  Oct. 2, 2026 - Gov. Jared Polis announced today that the state will cover 75% of the non-federal cost share for the Emergency Watershed Protection projects that would look at flooding risks after the "Aspen Acres" and "Gold Mountain" fires in Colorado.

  Gov. Polis says the support is being offered in Ouray, Pueblo and Custer Counties to help address next steps to protect homes and other infrastructure from flooding and other risks over as the two burn scars recover.

• • New Jersey’s Middlesex County Sues
  Big Oil Over Escalating Climate Impacts

  The Lawsuit Comes As the Supreme Court is Poised to Hear Arguments In a Similar Climate Case Against Oil Companies

  

  Oct. 2, 2026 -A New Jersey county has become the latest local government to sue major oil and gas companies, seeking to recover costs from damage caused by worsening flooding and other climate change impacts.

  The filing comes just days before the U.S. Supreme Court takes up Boulder, Colorado’s climate case against Big Oil in a proceeding whose outcome could stop these types of lawsuits in their tracks.

• • America’s Largest Producer of Foundry
  Coke Is Operating Under an Expired Permit

  Who Is at Fault?

  

  Oct. 1, 2026 -It’s time to act. It’s long past time.

  That was the case made by lawyers for the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), who filed a petition Wednesday in Jefferson County Circuit Court asking a judge to force local health officials to act on a 2023 air permit renewal application for ABC Coke, the nation’s largest producer of foundry coke.

  SELC lawyers filed the petition on behalf of the Greater-Birmingham Alliance to Stop Pollution, an environmental nonprofit better known as GASP. The filing argued that Dr. David Hicks, the county’s health officer, has failed his “statutory, nondiscretionary duty to take action” on the renewal application, resulting in the facility legally operating without an up-to-date permit.

• • States Sue Over Trump’s Repeal of
  Climate Rules for Power Plants

  The Mostly Democratic-Led States Say That the E.P.A. Acted Unlawfully When It Erased Biden-Era Limits On Carbon Dioxide From Coal- and Gas-Fired Plants

  

  Oct. 1, 2026 -A coalition of 21 states and four cities sued the Trump administration on Thursday over its move to erase all limits on planet-warming emissions from power plants.

  The lawsuit was filed in the ?U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. The mostly Democratic-run states and cities, led by New York, contend that the Environmental Protection Agency acted unlawfully when it repealed Biden-era regulations on carbon dioxide emissions from power plants that burn gas and coal.

• • Facing Climate Lawsuits, Big Oil
  Again Turns to US Supreme Court

  Boulder Accuses Oil Companies of Driving Climate Change

  

  Sept. 30, 2026 - Facing potential liability for harms related to climate change, major oil companies have again turned to the US Supreme Court, teeing up a case that could determine the fate of dozens of climate-related lawsuits by state and local governments against fossil fuel companies.

  The dispute involves a bid by ExxonMobil (XOM.N), and Suncor Energy (SU.TO), opens new tab to scuttle a lawsuit brought by officials in Boulder, Colorado, seeking to hold the companies liable for helping drive climate change and misleading the public about the risks of fossil fuels.

• • Madagascar Villagers File Claim Against
  Rio Tinto Over Alleged Mine Contamination

  An Unexpected Campaign Issue

  

  Sept. 30, 2026 -More than 6,500 people in Madagascar have filed a claim in London's High Court against Rio Tinto (RIO.L), opens new tab, alleging contamination from the mining group's mineral sands operation exposed them to dangerous levels of lead and uranium.

  The claim relates to Rio Tinto's (RIO.AX), Madagascar Minerals (QMM) mine. Communities near the site have previously protested over water releases from the mine into the surrounding environment, according to law firm Leigh Day, which is representing the claimants.

• • South West Water Fined £8m For Hundreds
  of Sewage Spills in Cornwall and Devon

  District Judge Orders Record Fine For Region Saying Incidents of Pollution Cannot Be Tolerated

  

  Sept. 29, 2026 -A water company has been ordered to pay a record fine of almost £8m for hundreds of sewage spills at popular bathing spots and sensitive habitats in Cornwall and Devon.

  On one occasion, untreated sewage gushed through a harbour wall on a bank holiday weekend but South West Water (SWW) engineers took 10 hours to attend.

• • Revealing the Invisible Injustice of Extreme Heat

  Thermal Imaging Shows How People Experience Scorching Heat Varies Depending On Their Circumstance

  

  Sept. 28, 2026 -The extreme heat scientists have warned about for decades came to Europe again this summer, killing at least 30,000 people like a silent, invisible plague. It came for poor people, the very young and very old, and those suffering from debilitating conditions.

  The final toll will likely be higher. A 2024 United Nations report estimated about 175,000 annual heat-related deaths across Europe, and total deaths in European Union countries spiked above 60,000 in 2022 and 2024.

• • US Supreme Court's Alito Won't Participate
  In Climate Case Involving Oil Companies

  Alito is ?One of the Most Conservative Justices On the court, Which Has a 6-3 Conservative Majority

  

  Sept. 28, 2026 -US Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito will not participate in an upcoming case involving a bid by oil companies to scuttle a lawsuit seeking to hold them liable for helping fuel climate change, a court official said on Monday.

  Alito owns stock in several oil and gas companies but not Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), opens new tab and Suncor Energy (SU.TO), opens new tab, the two companies involved in the dispute to be heard by the court on October 5. He had initially declined calls from watchdog and environmental groups to recuse. Alito stepped aside when the litigation reached the court at an earlier stage in 2023.

• • Fifth Person Arrested In Deadly Chelan Hills Fire

  Thermal Imaging Shows How People Experience Scorching Heat Varies Depending On Their Circumstance

  

  Sept. 28, 2026 -A fifth person was arrested last week in connection with the deadly Chelan Hills fire in July that investigators believe was started by fireworks.

  The 19-year-old from Roy, Pierce County, was arrested Thursday by U.S. Marshals, according to the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, which took him into custody the next day. The Seattle Times typically doesn’t name defendants before they have been charged.

• • Warnings Go Out About a New Drug Said
  to Be 10 Times More Potent Than Fentanyl

  A Social Media Post Circulating Among Students at Colorado State University Warns of a Deadly New Illegal Drug Called Cychlorphine
  
  {FOX31}

  Sept. 25, 2026 -The DEA’s Rocky Mountain Division, which has spent years warning about the dangers of fentanyl, said cychlorphine is making its way to the streets and into the hands of unsuspecting users.

  “Illicit fentanyl is being mixed with new, deadly and more synthetic drugs like xylazine, nitazenes, cychlorphine and medetomidine. These names may be unfamiliar, but the impact is devastating,” said DEA Associate Administrator Gary Owen in a post on a DEA social media post.

• • Nearly 3 Months Into Burning of Aspen Acres Fire,
  Fight Over Who May Be Responsible Rages On

  Another Lawsuit Was Filed, Seeking Monetary Damages From San Isabel Electric Association
  
  {9NEWS}

  Sept. 25, 2026 -As one of the state's largest wildland fires in history continues to burn in Southern Colorado, new legal action is being taken on behalf of multiple residents who are seeking damages from the local utility.

  Since igniting in late June, the Aspen Acres Fire has burned more than 102,000 acres – bigger than the area of Denver – according to data from the Western Fire Chiefs Association.

• • From a Nepal in Pain, a Young Leader
  Makes a Case for Climate Reparations

  But Concerns About His Style Are Growing At Home After Devastating Floods Left Thousands Dead Or Missing

  

  Sept. 24, 2026 -He hides behind dark sunglasses, skips Parliament meetings and communicates mostly through social media posts. But in his six months in office, Balendra Shah, the 36-year-old prime minister of Nepal, has transformed into an avatar of politically engaged youth worldwide.

  On his first trip overseas since taking office in March, Mr. Shah will address the United Nations General Assembly on an issue vital for many young people: climate reparations. Low-income countries have been battered by the effects of a global warming not of their own making.

• • Corpus Christi Could Owe Texas
  $235M For Failed Desalination Plant

  City Leaders Hope to Revive the Twice-Rejected Project to Avoid Returning Money Loaned By the State

  

  Sept. 24, 2026 -Heading into election season, leaders in Corpus Christi face a puzzling question: what to do with $235 million from the state of Texas for a seawater desalination plant that was never built.

  This month, officials in the Gulf Coast city declined to pursue the flagship water supply project for the second time in a year over cost concerns. Now Corpus Christi may have to return the money, including $50 million it already spent, plus $72 million in interest.

• • A Second Judge Strikes Down New
  York’s Climate ‘Superfund’ Law

  A Federal Judge Ruled That The New Law, Which Would Force Fossil Fuel Companies to Pay $75 Billion to Help Cover the Costs of Climate Change, Was Unconstitutional

  

  Sept. 24, 2026 -A second federal judge in New York has ruled that the state’s new climate “superfund” law is unconstitutional, dealing a blow to the nascent effort to popularize such measures around the country.

  The groundbreaking law would require fossil fuel companies to pay billions of dollars to cover the costs of climate change. A handful of other states are considering similar laws, which the energy industry and Republican states have vigorously opposed.

• • Court Nixes Michigan’s Novel
  Antitrust Case Targeting Big Oil

  The State Alleged That Oil Companies Colluded to Delay the Energy Transition, Driving Up Prices For Consumers

  

  Sept. 23, 2026 -A federal court in Michigan has tossed out a pioneering antitrust lawsuit brought by the state of Michigan against four major oil and gas companies and their largest U.S. trade association that alleged a conspiracy to forestall the transition to renewable energy and electric vehicles in order to maintain market dominance of fossil fuels.

• • Judge Dismisses Unusual Climate Suit
  Claiming Oil Giants Broke Antitrust Law

  The lawsuit, Filed By Michigan, Claimed Oil Companies Colluded to Obstruct Solar Power and to Misrepresent Climate Risks...

  

  Sept. 22, 2026 -A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed Michigan’s novel antitrust lawsuit against oil companies over their role in climate change.

  The lawsuit, filed in January by Attorney General Dana Nessel, accused a handful of fossil fuel companies of creating a “cartel” and raising costs for residents by suppressing the development of renewable energy and information about the risks of global warming.

• • Judge Allows Transfer of Land in
  Wildlife Refuge to SpaceX, for Now

  Clearing a Path For a Land Swap Deal That Would Expand Elon Musk’s Starbase Launch Site in South Texas

  

  Sept. 21, 2026 -A federal judge on Monday cleared the way for a land exchange that would allow SpaceX, the rocket and satellite maker run by Elon Musk, to expand its launching and production site into a federal wildlife refuge in Texas.

  The judge, Fernando Rodriguez Jr. of U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, declined a request from conservation and tribal groups for a preliminary injunction to block the land exchange.

• • Federal Court Rules There is No Consti-
  tutional Right to Safe Drinking Water

  The Ruling Signals That Black Residents May Face the most serious Consequences Of Unsafe Or Failing Water Systems While Having Limited Ability to Seek a Remedy Through the Constitution

  

  Sept. 19, 2026 -A federal appeals court has used a decades-long water crisis in one of the Blackest cities in America to rule that the U.S. Constitution does not guarantee Americans the right to clean and safe drinking water.

  The September 4 ruling came even after Jackson, Mississippi, residents alleged officials knew the water was contaminated and assured the public it was safe. To this point, the appellate court also ruled that the Constitution does not offer citizens the “right to truthful information from officials during a public health crisis.”

• • FEMA Denies Portions of Colorado's
  Disaster Declaration Request

  Including Individual Assistance
  
  {KOAA NEWS}

  Sept. 19, 2026 -Victims of the Aspen Acres Fire and subsequent flooding will not receive individual assistance for disaster recovery from the Federal Government.

  That's according to the Colorado State Government, which said in a news release Friday that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) denied portions of the Disaster Declaration Request made by Governor Jared Polis in August of 2026.

• • U.N. Chief’s Test: Shaming Without
  Naming the World’s Climate Delinquents

  António Guterres Told World Leaders Gathered in New York That Their Efforts to Address the Climate Crisis Had Come Up “Abysmally Short.”

  

  Sept. 19, 2026 -The world’s top diplomat, António Guterres, the United Nations secretary general, on Tuesday told world leaders their efforts to address the climate crisis had come up “abysmally short” and called on them to do what even climate-ambitious countries have been reluctant to do: stop expanding coal, oil and gas production.

• • For Climate-Vulnerable Countries, Debt
  Costs 25 Times More Than Climate Action

  As Climate Disasters Intensify, Mounting Debt is Leaving Vulnerable Countries With Less Money to Prepare...

  

  Sept. 19, 2026 -The countries most vulnerable to climate change are spending nearly 25 times more on repaying debt than on climate action, according to a new ActionAid report released Wednesday.

  The report, “Debt Fuels the Climate Crisis: How the Finance Flows,” is “really unpacking the narrative about how the climate and debt crises are supercharging each other,” said Teresa Anderson, one of the authors and global lead on climate justice for ActionAid International, a nonprofit global federation focused on poverty eradication and social justice.

• • Nepal Isn’t the Only Disaster-Struck Country Waiting For
  Money From the Global Climate Loss and Damage Fund

  It Was Not Merely a Request For Aid Or Charity But a Demand For Justice and “Legal and Moral Liability.”
  
  {THE CONVERSATION}

  Sept. 18, 2026 -As it faces the enormous task of rebuilding from a deadly flood that tore through communities in the Himalayas, Nepal is seeking compensation from the international Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage – meaning from countries that are major contributors to climate change, which it blames for the disaster.

  “Nepal’s greenhouse gas emissions are virtually negligible. Yet, we are paying the ultimate price for a global crisis we did not create,” Khanal told the Kathmandu Post. “The rapid melting of glaciers and these catastrophic mountain tsunamis are direct consequences of global climate change.”

• • Judge Rules Epa Illegally Terminated $7 Billion
  Solar Program Intended to Help Poorer Americans

  The EPA Said Friday It is Reviewing the Decision and Considering Options For Appeal

  

  Sept. 18, 2026 -The Trump administration illegally terminated a $7 billion Solar for All program intended to make solar power accessible to more than 900,000 lower-income Americans, a federal judge in Rhode Island ruled Friday.

  The Environmental Protection Agency rescinded the Solar for All funds in August 2025 after President Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending law passed in Congress a month earlier, with Administrator Lee Zeldin calling the Biden-era grant program a “boondoggle.”

• • At Least 124 Land and Environmental Defenders Killed in 2025

  Mostly in Latin America
  
  {EARTH.ORG}

  Sept. 17, 2026 -At least 124 land and environmental defenders were killed last year for standing up to protect their lands and livelihoods from destruction, a new report has revealed.

  This represents a decrease from 2024, when Global Witness, the environmental watchdog behind Wednesday’s report, documented 142 killings and four disappearances, and from 2023, when it verified 196 killings. Since it began gathering data in 2012, the NGO was able to verify and report on 2,375 killings globally, although each year it warns that the figures are likely a “significant underestimate,” as many cases go unreported.

• • The Racial Disparities of Flood Buyouts

  This, According to New Research

  

  Sept. 17, 2026 -After a flood, homeowners are often faced with a difficult choice: Rebuild and risk a repeat disaster or move away. The federal government’s efforts to nudge them toward the second option have resulted in more than 43,000 buyouts in recent decades for damaged and at-risk homes, which are destroyed or moved.

  But new research has unearthed a troubling racial gap in what homeowners are paid for their properties, which are sold through the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Hazard Mitigation Grant Program

• • The Push To Get Polluters To Pay For Nepal's Floods

  The Tiny Country Contributes Less Than 0.1 Percent of Annual Global Greenhouse Gas Emissions—But...

  

  Sept. 16, 2026 -In the days, weeks, months, and years before a two-square-kilometer mass of glacier ice and rock collapsed from the Langtang Lirung mountain to the valley floor in Nepal’s Rasuwa district in the Himalayas—generating a debris flow that killed over 1,300 people and left 5,000 more missing—climate change was at work, conditioning the slope for failure.

  That’s the conclusion of an international group of researchers that rapidly analyzed the disaster for World Weather Attribution, an initiative that studies the role climate change plays in specific extreme weather events.

• • Sarasota Flood Victims Get New
  Chance In Lawsuit Against County

  Sarasota County Homeowners Flooded By Tropical Storm Debby Get a New Chance to Pursue a Negligence Claim After a Judge Reconsiders Her Ruling

  

  Sept.16, 2026 -Sarasota County homeowners whose houses flooded during Tropical Storm Debby in 2024 may get another chance to pursue a negligence claim against the county after a judge agreed to reconsider an earlier ruling in their lawsuit.

  On Sept. 4, 12th Judicial Circuit Judge Dana Moss granted a motion from Laurel Meadows residents to reconsider her Aug. 12 ruling.

• • An Environmental Defender Is Murdered Every Three Days

  At Least 124 People Were Killed In 2025 For Protecting Their Homelands, Forests, Farms and Waterways From Pollution and Other Harms

  

  Sept. 15, 2026 -Every three days someone is killed for defending nature.

  In 2025, watchdog group Global Witness documented 124 such deaths worldwide, a toll researchers say is likely only a fraction of the total number because repression and armed conflict make many deaths impossible to verify.

• • WA Top Court Deals Death Blow to Natural Gas Initiative

  That Measure, Which Would Have Killed the State’s Fledgling Carbon Market, Was Shot Down By Voters

  

  Sept. 15, 2026 -The Washington Supreme Court has ruled the state’s natural gas initiative unconstitutional, ending a 2024 effort to turn voters out against policies intended to curb climate change.

  Voters passed Initiative 2066 with 52% of the vote, but it was struck down in Superior Court in 2025. Not long after, state Attorney General Nick Brown and the Building Industry Association of Washington asked the state’s Supreme Court to weigh in.

• • Congressional Republicans Aim to Shield
  Fossil Fuel Companies From Climate Lawsuits

  The House Judiciary Committee Will Consider the Stop Climate Shakedowns Act as the Trump Administration Moves to Roll Back Federal Limits On Greenhouse Gas Emissions

  

  Sept. 15, 2026 -Republicans in Congress are continuing their efforts to shield the fossil fuel industry from legal liability for its role in unleashing the heat-trapping gases linked to a cascade of deadly, record-setting disasters across the globe.

  On Wednesday, the House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to debate and vote on a bill introduced in April by Rep. Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) titled the “Stop Climate Shakedowns Act of 2026.”

• • TVA Fad a Busy Week In Court

  TVA Sees Fossil Fuels As Key For Near-Term Reliability (It’s Eyeing 7-26 GW of New Gas By 2040 and Delaying Coal Retirements), and Many Ratepayers Aren’t Pleased
  
  {energy central}

  Sept. 12, 2026 -Environmental groups are suing TVA, claiming the utility failed to obtain the proper air quality permit for a 1.45-GW gas plant in Tennessee (located next to a coal plant that TVA had planned to retire by late 2028—but decided to keep online).

  The new ruling: In a separate case, a federal court ruled that TVA violated the law in building a $2.5B, 1.5-GW plant elsewhere in Tennessee (also on the site of a recently revived coal plant). Why? The utility “failed to evaluate cleaner and cheaper alternatives to the gas plant” and “improperly committed” billions in ratepayer funding before even deciding to build the plant, according to a statement from the Center for Biological Diversity. The court decision overturns the environmental impact statement for the plant.

• • Mesa Verde National Park to Return Thousands of
  Native American Artifacts and Indigenous Remains to Tribes

  Federal Records Show National Park Service Found 4,304 Objects Associated With Death Rites and Remains of 85 People
  
  {The Denver Post}

  Sept. 12, 2026 -Mesa Verde National Park plans to return more than 4,000 sacred Native American objects and the remains of 85 Indigenous people in its possession, marking the largest potential repatriation in the park’s recorded history.

  Park officials told The Denver Post last week that they have been conducting a thorough inventory of human remains and culturally significant objects in Mesa Verde’s collection over the past two years, as required by a 1990 federal law designed to return Native American remains and artifacts to tribes.

• • National Science Foundation and White House
  Sued for Refusing to Release Government Records

  Lawsuit Calls For More Transparency Around the Decision to Dismantle Critical Research Center That Supports Our Nation’s Public Safety, Economic Prosperity, National Defense, and Understanding Of Climate Change
  
  {Union of Concerned Scientists}

  Sept. 10, 2026 - Today, Union of Concerned Scientists, represented by Earthjustice, and Environmental Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for withholding information about their plans to dismantle the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR).

• • States Sue Over Trump’s Cuts to Endangered Species Rules

  Two Lawsuits Seek to Reverse the Trump Administration’s Moves to Open the Habitats Of Imperiled Wildlife to Commercial Activities

  

  Sept. 9, 2026 -Twenty states and the District of Columbia sued the Trump administration on Wednesday over what they called the most severe cuts to protections for wildlife in the half-century since the passage of the Endangered Species Act.

  Two lawsuits filed in federal court in California challenged a series of regulatory changes that opened the habitats of imperiled animals to drilling, farming, logging and other commercial activities.

• • Blocking New UK Oil and Gas

  Climate Justice
  
  {LOE.ORG}

  Sept. 4, 2026 -Great Britain is Europe’s third largest oil and gas producer, even with a commitment to a net-zero economy by 2050. A small group of climate activists is helping the UK meet that target by winning a Supreme Court decision that’s blocking any new UK oil and gas projects that don’t assess climate impacts. Sarah Finch of Surrey, near London led the fight against proposed oil and gas drilling in the region known as the Weald, and she’s been recognized with the 2026 Goldman Environmental Prize for Europe.

• • As Extreme Weather Worsens, Black and Hispanic
  Homeowners Are Paying More for Insurance

  Residents in Predominantly Hispanic Communities in Florida Are Paying On Average $5,014 More Annually For Their Policies

  

  Sept. 4, 2026 -Homeowners in Hispanic and Black communities nationwide are paying a disproportionate share of skyrocketing home insurance costs, according to a recent report. The disparities leave communities of color at greater risk as climate change increases the frequency of billion-dollar disasters.

  The report, released in July by the Consumer Federation of America, a nonprofit representing nearly 250 consumer groups, concluded that homeowners in predominantly Hispanic ZIP codes pay on average a 30 percent higher premium ($950 more annually) compared with homeowners in white communities. In predominantly Black ZIP codes, homeowners pay, on average, a 16 percent higher premium ($500 more annually).

• • MoD Withheld Information About
  Nuclear Test Veterans' Records

  Absolute cover-up' on nuclear test veterans' medical records
  
  {BBC NEWS}

  Sept. 3, 2026, -Former veterans minister Tobias Ellwood has accused the Ministry of Defence (MoD) of deliberately withholding the medical records of Cold War veterans who oversaw nuclear tests, calling it "an absolute cover-up".

  Ellwood told BBC Newsnight he now believes some information he gave to Parliament about the UK's nuclear programme, based on MoD briefings, was "a complete lie".

• • No Relief for Maui Wildfire Survivors
  Losing Thousands to Contractors
  

  Homeowners Rebuilding In Lahaina Have Lost Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars to Unlicensed Or Unreliable Contractors. Government Officials Have So Far Failed to Hold Anyone Accountable

  

  Sept. 2, 2026, -Three years after the deadly Lahaina wildfire destroyed her childhood home, Raquel Utrillo cannot bear the thought of returning to the block where she grew up.

  Others in the neighborhood have finished rebuilding, but her family’s lot remains almost empty. It is a painful reminder of how long it has been since Utrillo last heard from the contractor she hired to construct a new home for her mother and sister.

• • Man Arrested In Connection With Deadly Chelan Hills Fire

  The Chelan Hills Fire Was One of Many Large, Dangerous Blazes Burning Across the State and Region in What Became a Difficult Wildfire Season

  

  Sept. 2, 2026, -Authorities on Wednesday arrested an 18-year-old Kent man in connection with the Chelan Hills wildfire that ignited July 4 in Central Washington, killing one person and burning about 15 square miles.

  Detectives from the Douglas County sheriff’s office traveled to Kent to make the arrest, according to a news release from the office.

• • Colorado Congresswoman Introduces Legislation
  to Update Radiation Exposure Compensation Act
  Missing After Indonesian Ferry Capsizes

  The Legislation Would Expand Eligibility For Residents In 57 Colorado ZIP Codes...
  
  {CBS NEWS}

  Sept. 1, 2026 -A long-standing piece of federal legislation could soon be updated and have a high impact on Colorado residents who live or have lived near nuclear facilities. Rep. Brittany Pettersen, a Democrat representing Colorado's 7th Congressional District, helped introduce the Radiation Exposure Compensation Reauthorization Act of 2026 alongside Republican state Rep. James Moylan.

  "This is a huge issue in Colorado. We still are dealing with the ramifications from Rocky Flats as well as in Fremont County for Cotter Mills," said Pettersen.

• • The Amazon’s Defenders Declare a State of Emergency
  

  As Governments Push Oil and Mining Expansion, Thousands of Indigenous Leaders and Activists Gathered in Ecuador to Chart Another Path

  

  Sept. 1, 2026, -People fighting oil wells, mines and other threats to their homelands did not come to this Amazonian city to lobby politicians at an environmental conference hosted by governments. They built the conference themselves.

  The 12th Pan-Amazonian Social Forum, known as FOSPA, brought together Indigenous leaders, Afro-descendent communities, women, youth and other environmental defenders and social-movement members from across the Amazon and Andes for six days of debate in August about how to protect the region from the forces reshaping it.

• • Judge Strikes Down New York’s Climate ‘Superfund’ Law

  The Court Said the Measure, Which Required Energy Companies to Pay $75 Billion to the State, Conflicted With Federal Law

  

  Sept. 1, 2026 -A federal judge struck down New York State’s new climate “superfund” law on Monday, ruling that it conflicted with federal law.

  The New York law was modeled on the 1980 federal Superfund program to clean up industrial waste, and several other states have been considering similar climate legislation. Republican-led states, the Trump administration and business groups have challenged New York’s law as well as a similar one in Vermont.

• • Nepal Puts Cost of Disaster at $5
  Billion, Blaming Climate Change

  The Country is Seeking Urgent Help From a Special U.N. Climate Fund, But...

  

  August 31, 2026 -Putting the cost of recovery at $5 billion, a senior Nepali official said his country had requested urgent financial help from the United Nations’ special fund for climate-disaster recovery.

  The official, Maheshwar Dhakal, the climate change chief in the Ministry of Agriculture, Forest and Environment, explicitly asserted that human-caused climate had been a factor in last week’s horrific glacial collapse and flooding. In an interview on Monday he framed the event as an inequity in which decades of greenhouse-gas emissions from richer nations are harming vulnerable countries like his that can’t cope.

• • Who Pays for Wildfire Damage? California Can’t Agree

  Lawmakers Balk at Newsom’s Proposal to Limit Utilities’ Wildfire Liabilities, Sending Shares Down Sharply
  
  {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL}

  August 31, 2026, -A last-minute bid by California Gov. Gavin Newsom to reduce electric utilities’ wildfire liabilities failed in the state legislature after an outcry from survivors.

  Instead, California lawmakers introduced a bill Saturday that includes limits on executive compensation at utility companies that start wildfires, a “fast pay” program for victims, and a ban on private-equity funds from buying wildfire claims. They are set to vote on it Tuesday before closing out their current legislative session.

• • A Native Tribe’s Way of Life
  Was Threatened By Canada Tariffs

  More Are Coming

  

  August 29, 2026 -The July day dawned warm and dry, like it was designed for haying, but by midafternoon, farmer Wayne Smith had yet to cut a single blade of grass.

  His baler had broken that morning, and as soon as he fixed it, his tractor refused to run. He knew what would make the machine go again — a pointed metal fitting the size of a half-smoked cigar — but he also knew that he didn’t have one and, because of President Donald Trump, the part would be hard to find

• • Delaware Gov. Matt Meyer Signed First-of-Its
  Kind Legislation Requiring Data Centers
  to Generate (and Pay for) Clean Energy

  Proposed Data Centers Are Set to Double Delaware’s Energy Usage and Raise Electricity Prices By Up to 80% By 2029
  
  {energy central}

  August 27, 2026 -BYONCE: Data centers and other large energy users must supply their own power while aligning with state renewable standards (which order DE utilities to source 40% clean energy by 2035).

  The package: Meyers signed a handful of laws to protect ratepayers, including legislation that 1) requires large loads to pay for infrastructure upgrades 2) bans data centers from obtaining certain tax credits and 3) restricts costs that monopoly utilities can recover from residential customers.

• • Who Pays For Wildfire Damage?

  Newsom Returns to a Defining California Fight
  
  {FACTOR THIS}

  August 27, 2026 -The bookends of California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s nearly eight years in office have been defined by a crucial question: Who should cover the cost of damage from wildfires caused by utility equipment?

  The most destructive wildfire in state history, a blaze that killed 85 people and destroyed more than 18,000 buildings in Northern California, started two days after Newsom won the governorship in 2018. Investigators determined it was caused by Pacific Gas & Electric equipment. Facing tens of billions of dollars in liability, the giant utility filed for bankruptcy just weeks after Newsom’s inauguration.

  Months later, Newsom signed a law creating a $21 billion fund, paid for by utility shareholders and ratepayers, to help utilities pay for wildfire damages if they take certain safety measures.

• • Nevada Sues in Federal Court to Block Colorado River Cuts

  Nevada Officials Pointed Directly at Colorado and Its Fellow Upstream States Saying Water Cuts Need to Be Shared By Everyone
  
  {THE COLORADO SUN}

  August 25, 2026 -Nevada became the first to sue over the Colorado River’s future Monday, citing frustrations over the steep, federally imposed water cuts it faces and the lack of mandatory cuts in upstream states, like Colorado.

  The lawsuit came three days after the Department of the Interior released its final management plan for the river basin’s key reservoirs, Lakes Mead and Powell. States and tribes have heatedly debated how to manage the reservoirs after 2026, when the current management rules expire. The decision impacts 40 million people, economies and environments across the West.

• • The Biggest Carbon Polluters Are to Blame for
  Half of U.S. Western Water Lost to Climate Change

  Some of the Most Impactful Changes Have Come in the Stressed Colorado River Basin

  

  August 25, 2026 -Some of the largest fossil fuel companies on Earth are disproportionately responsible for the water crisis in the American West, according to a first-of-its-kind study published Tuesday.

  From 2014 to 2024, climate change sapped over a third of the region’s typical annual snowpack and decreased streamflows by about 13 percent, the authors found in the paper, which appeared in Nature’s Communications Earth and Environment journal. About half of those losses are attributable to emissions from “carbon majors,” 122 fossil fuel companies and cement producers, the study concluded.

• • It Just Got Way Easier to Sue Fossil
  Fuel Companies Over Climate Change

  For Years, Industry Has Argued You Can’t Prove Which Company Caused Which Disaster. A New Study Says Otherwise
  
  {Mother Jones}

  August 24, 2026 -Deadly heatwaves in May smashed records in the UK, France, Spain, and parts of North Africa. India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh saw April temperatures soar to 113-122 degrees Fahrenheit. A late spring heat dome in the US marked the hottest March on record, and in a 1,000-year July storm, parts of Texas were left reeling after flash flooding killed multiple people. That same month, wildfires in Canada turned skies orange and exposed over 106 million North Americans to hazardous air quality. In the US alone, catastrophic events from 1980 to 2026 have killed approximately 17,377 people and cost over $3.2 trillion.

  In terms of the sheer scope of heat and extreme weather, 2026 has been a year of climate disasters.

  Meanwhile, the fossil fuel industry—by far the greatest contributor to global climate change, accounting for approximately 68 percent of greenhouse gas emissions and almost 90 percent of carbon dioxide emissions—is holding firm.

• • Sarasota Flood Victims Suffer Setback
  In Fight For Compensation

  Victims Seeking Compensation After Tropical Storm Debby Suffer a Setback in Their Lawsuit Against the County

  

  August 24, 2026 -Residents seeking compensation from Sarasota County for flooding from Tropical Storm Debby in 2024 received a setback Aug. 12 when 12th Judicial Circuit Court Judge Dana Moss granted most of Sarasota County’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

  The lawsuit includes an inverse-condemnation claim alleging that Sarasota County’s actions or inaction resulted in an uncompensated taking of the plaintiffs’ property or substantially deprived them of its beneficial use.

• • Mold Is Driving America’s Homeowners Crazy

  And They Want Builders to PaY
  
  {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL}

  August 24, 2026 -It is in showers, behind walls, and deep in linen closets. It is black and slimy, white and fuzzy, or green and spongy. It is making homeowners struggle to breathe and costing them millions in repairs and healthcare bills, they say.

  Mold is driving Americans crazy, and they want their home builders to pay.

  Modern energy efficiency codes have lowered the margin of error for builders when it comes to moisture management. And construction defects can cause mold growth, which thousands of Americans believe is making them sick.

• • Environmental Group Sues Trump Administration
  Over Plan to Dismantle Boulder’s NCAR

  The EDF Filed a Lawsuit Against the Trump Administration Seeking to Stop Its Attempt to Dismantle Boulder’s National Center for Atmospheric Research
  
  {Boulder ReportingLab}

  August 20, 2026 -The lawsuit follows a similar lawsuit filed in March by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, a nonprofit consortium of 129 universities that manages NCAR. Like UCAR’s lawsuit, the environmental group argued that the federal government violated the Administrative Procedure Act by failing to provide an explanation for the attempt to dismantle NCAR.

  The Trump administration first moved to break up NCAR in December, shortly after Trump attempted to pardon election official Tina Peters, who was convicted of felonies related to 2020 election conspiracy theories. The pardon was ineffective because Peters faces state, not federal, charges. Both UCAR and EDF argue that the attempt to dismantle NCAR was retaliation for Peters’ conviction and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis’ refusal to pardon her.

• • A Supreme Court Case May Be Slowing
  Trump’s Next Climate Rollback

  “EPA is Trying to Have Their Cake and Eat It, Too,”
  
  {E&E NEWS}

  August 20, 2026 -The Trump administration’s next major step toward dismantling federal climate regulation has been stalled at the White House for more than three months. A looming Supreme Court case may help explain why.

  EPA’s planned repeal of Biden-era power plant carbon standards has been under Office of Management and Budget review since May, an unusually long pause for an administration that trampled procedural norms last year in its haste to get out of the business of regulating climate emissions.

• • Inside the Struggle to Dismantle
  America’s Greenhouse Gas Data

  New Accounts Show the Oil and Gas Industry Trying to Weaken Methane Reporting While Saving the Federal Emissions System It Relies On
  
  {DeSmog}

  August 18, 2026 -When the Trump administration announced plans last year to repeal the federal government’s greenhouse gas reporting system, rather than celebrate, many oil and gas companies publicly urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to preserve it. But for more than a year, behind closed doors, the fossil fuel industry has been pushing to weaken one of the reporting program’s most consequential elements.

  Oil and gas companies fear this Biden-era revision to the methane reporting rule, known as Subpart W, would force them to disclose much higher — and previously hidden — pollution levels. Those concerns, brewing for years, grew into a wave that ultimately would break onto the friendly shores of the Trump EPA, in response to the agency’s expected overhaul of both the methane reporting rule and the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program, the most comprehensive system for tracking the nation’s greenhouse gases, industry comments and public records show.

• • Environmentalists Sue to Halt First
  Sale of Seabed-Mining Rights

  U.S. Decision to Allow Mining For Minerals In American Waters Didn’t Consider the Potential Harm to Endangered Species

  

  August 18, 2026 -A coalition of environmentalists and community advocates sued the federal government Tuesday in an effort to halt the first-ever commercial sale of deep sea mining leases in American waters.

  The Marine Minerals Administration, which oversees offshore mineral mining, last month announced plans to sell mining leases for 31 million acres of seabed in the Pacific Ocean off American Samoa, in U.S. territorial waters. The lawsuit challenges a finding by the National Marine Fisheries Service that mining “is not likely to adversely affect” species protected by the Endangered Species Act. That finding greenlit the sale.

• • Court Blocks Road Through Alaskan Wildlife Refuge

  The Trump Administration Broke the Law When It Approved a Deal to Allow a Road Through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge

  

  August 18, 2026 -A federal judge on Tuesday blocked a land exchange that would have allowed a contentious road to be built through the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge, a vast wild area in southwestern Alaska.

  The decision by Judge Sharon L. Gleason of U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska was a setback for the Trump administration, which finalized the land swap deal in October. It was a victory for Alaska Native tribes and environmental groups that sued to stop road construction.

• • They Were Told to Park Outside.
  Then Their Cars Burst Into Flames

  Modern Vehicles Don’t Need to Be Moving — Or Even Turned On — to Catch Fire

  

  August 17, 2026 - Late last year, when Sarah Lammersen learned her 2022 Jeep Wrangler plug-in hybrid was being recalled because the high-voltage battery could catch fire at any time — even when the vehicle was parked — she jokingly texted the dealership, “I hope the car doesn’t catch on fire while we wait to schedule an appointment.”

  Days later, the Jeep burst into flames. No one was injured in the blaze, which occurred while Lammersen’s daughter drove the vehicle, but the Jeep was destroyed, according to a lawsuit over the incident.

• • Fixing Seattle’s Power Outages
  Continues a 1960s Class Divide

  More than 300 miles of These Cables Are Decades Past Their Useful Life. They Will Cost More Than $2 Billion to Fix Over at Least 15 Years

  

  August 16, 2026 -Since moving to Queen Anne in 2021, Anna Romanova has lost power more than 20 times, including six times through the first half of the year.

  When the lights go out, her family and neighbors are living through a failing more than 50 years in the making: deteriorating underground power lines.

  The fraying cables were mostly installed as part of a 1960s-era beautification effort in the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods. Today, they are leading to more frequent blackouts in parts of Seattle, making it one of the slowest utilities in the country for restoring power outages.

• • The ‘Country Hicks’ Who Refused
  $26 Million from an AI Data Center

  A Kentucky Mother and Daughter Turned Down a Life-Changing Offer for Their Farmland
  
  {THE WALL STREET JOURNAL}

  August 15, 2026 -The offer arrived out of nowhere just over one year ago.

  An unknown company was scooping up Kentucky farmland, and few plots were more valuable than those owned by Delsia Bare and her mother, Ida Huddleston.

  The money would be life-changing. From Bare’s farm, the company wanted 463 acres at $48,000 apiece. From Huddleston’s nearby piece of property, it sought 71 at $60,000 per acre.