The threat of failing dams can prompt worries over lost lives and property, as witness hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria. But dam failure is a problem environmental journalists can get ahead of, and the latest TipSheet helps you get ready — with questions to ask, sources to pursue and resources to bone up on. Plus, more hurricane coverage resources.
"Bulldozers, excavators and construction workers are bulling their way into Patapsco Valley State Park near Baltimore this fall. They’re the advance guard for a task force charged with removing a dormant hydroelectric dam on the Patapsco River and reopening a big stretch of the river to spawning runs of migratory fish."
"In March 2014, the staged release of water into the Colorado River Delta was an international spectacle."
"The Arkema chemical plant — already facing multiple lawsuits over explosions of a volatile chemical in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey — is under criminal investigation by the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, officials confirmed Friday."
"The House passed a bill Thursday to make it easier for homeowners to obtain private flood insurance policies not provided directly through the National Flood Insurance Program. But moments later, the Senate declined to move the bill."
A new technology for coating the inside of lead service pipes could save homeowners money and make expensive replacement unnecessary. It is being tested.
"As islanders wait for doctors, medicine, fuel and manpower to rebuild, the economic toll from the storms is only starting to come to light."
"A sprawl of mobile home parks house 10,000 people in Southern California’s Coachella Valley, but their drinking water is chronically contaminated. Now some solutions are in sight."
"The United States and Mexico have agreed to renew and expand a far-reaching conservation agreement that governs how they manage the overused Colorado River, which supplies water to millions of people and to farms in both nations, U.S. water district officials said."
"The Environmental Protection Agency says it has recovered 517 containers of 'unidentified, potentially hazardous material' from highly contaminated toxic waste sites in Texas that flooded last month during Hurricane Harvey. The agency has not provided details about which Superfund sites the material came from, why the contaminants at issue have not been identified and whether there’s a threat to human health."
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