Disasters

"U.S. environmental regulators issued emergency fuel waivers on Tuesday to help alleviate shortages in reformulated gasoline in 12 states and the District of Columbia as supplies tighten five days after a cyberattack shuttered the nation's biggest pipeline.

The Environmental Protection Agency initially said the fuel vapor rule waiver would continue through May 18 for fuel sold in Washington, D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia, and that it may take other steps along with the Department of Energy (DOE).

"California Governor Gavin Newsom on Monday issued an expanded “drought emergency proclamation” for 41 of the state’s 58 counties, citing above-average temperatures and dry conditions for April and May."

"Climate change is set to ravage tea production in Kenya, the biggest global supplier of black tea, threatening the livelihoods of millions of plantation workers, a report by British charity Christian Aid warned on Monday."

"President Biden said on Monday that the United States would “disrupt and prosecute” a criminal gang of hackers called DarkSide, which the F.B.I. formally blamed for a huge ransomware attack that has disrupted the flow of nearly half of the gasoline and jet fuel supplies to the East Coast."

"The United States on Friday said it had revoked a last-minute effort by the Trump Administration to loosen safety regulations for the oil industry in the Arctic Ocean off Alaska."

"The operator of the largest petroleum pipeline between Texas and New York, which was shut down after a ransomware attack, declined on Sunday to say when it would reopen, raising concerns about a critical piece of infrastructure that carries nearly half of the East Coast’s fuel supplies."

"Scientists on Wednesday reported another reason the world should sharply rein in global warming: doing so would likely cut in half the current projected amount of sea level rise from the melting of ice this century."

"The growing risk of overlapping heat waves and power failures poses a severe threat that major American cities are not prepared for, new research suggests."