Disasters

"Amid one the West’s worst droughts in centuries, more than 5,600 wildfires scorched more than 600,000 acres last year in California alone. It could happen again."

"A federal judge ruled Friday that the Army Corps of Engineers' construction and management of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MR-GO) channel had created a "ticking time bomb" for the New Orleans area and that the federal government must pay for some of the flood damage from Hurricane Katrina and subsequent storms."

"U.S. and Canadian officials unveiled regulations [Friday] that would effectively overhaul the entire fleet of U.S. crude oil tank cars in five years."

"More than 300,000 gallons of gasoline have leaked from Texas-based energy company Kinder Morgan’s pipeline in Belton, S.C., since a structure failure in December, according to the Savannah Riverkeeper."

"On Friday, May 1 at 10:30 a.m., U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and Canada’s Minister of Transport Lisa Raitt will hold a press conference to announce the next generation of stronger, safer rail tank cars for the transportatio
n of flammable liquids in North America. Secretary Foxx will also announce other aspects of DOT’s final rule. The press conference will be streamed live online here."

"It would sit in the icy waters of the Arctic, and provide a constant supply of electricity to a massive rig drilling for oil. They could be mass produced, potentially cutting the cost of drilling projects. The twist? The electricity on these floating power plants would come from a nuclear reactor."

"If Royal Dutch Shell’s Arctic drilling program leads to a major spill, it could cost the oil company — and therefore its shareholders — an entire year’s worth of profit, according to a Tuesday legal filing by the conservation group Oceana and a University of Chicago law clinic."

"'Wildfire season' seems to be a thing of the past for drought-stricken California, with fires now raging throughout the year."

"As rescuers desperately searched for survivors who may be buried amid the rubble in the Nepalese capital of Katmandu or trapped in remote mountain villages, officials announced that more than 3,700 people are now confirmed dead after the earthquake that struck Saturday."

"Underneath the bubbling geysers and hot springs of Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming sits a volcanic hot spot that has driven some of the largest eruptions on Earth. Geoscientists have now completely imaged the subterranean plumbing system and have found not just one, but two magma chambers underneath the giant volcano."