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Category: Climate Change / Weather / Disasters

General articles about the weather, including Climate Change / Global Warming.

“Experts? We don’ need no stinking experts!”

EPA-hating EPA Director Scott Pruitt has declared that scientists that receive any federal funding from the EPA cannot also serve on the major science advisory boards regarding research and regulatory priorities for the EPA.

That has a facile sensibility to it, of course, until you realize that means the scientists doing top research in those science areas will no longer be there to give “advice.” Instead, those roles will be filled by scientists funded privately by large corporations — the very entities the EPA tends to regulate and whose research often embarrasses.

Pruitt citing a biblical reference in announcing the decision is, of course, icing on the cake.

Pruitt used a story from the Book of Joshua to help explain the new policy. “On the journey to the promised land, “Joshua says to the people of Israel: choose this day whom you are going to serve,” Pruitt said. “This is sort of like the Joshua principle — that as it relates to grants from this agency, you are going to have to choose either service on the committee to provide counsel to us in an independent fashion or chose the grant. But you can’t do both. That’s the fair and great thing to do.”

Which again sounds plausible, until you realize who it means that the EPA has chosen to serve.




Citing The Bible, The EPA Just Blew Up Its Science Advisory Boards
Referencing the Book of Joshua, EPA head Scott Pruitt announced sweeping changes to the agency’s science advisory boards, opening the door to more input from the business world.

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FEMA’s sooper-sekrit plan for a Puerto Rico hurricane … is sooper-sekrit

FEMA apparently had a highly detailed plan on how to deal with a major hurricane hitting Puerto Rico.

Was that plan adequate? Was that plan actually followed? We don’t know … because it’s a secret.

Early last week, a FEMA spokesman said he would provide a copy of the plan that afternoon. It never came. After a week of follow-ups, FEMA sent a statement reversing its position. “Due to the potentially sensitive information contained within the Hurricane Annex of the Region II All Hazards Plan, there are legal questions surrounding what, if any, portions of the annex can be released,” the statement said. “As such, the documents that you seek must be reviewed and analyzed under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by FEMA.” The statement did not explain what legal questions apply.

Apparently a similar FEMA plan for Hawaii is publicly available on a Defense Dept. website. FEMA has disavowed any influence over what the Defense Dept. might be doing with FEMA’s plans for Hawaii.

I look forward to seeing how this plays out.




ProPublica
ProPublica is an independent, non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest.

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One reason why Washington doesn’t worry a lot about Puerto Rico

It doesn’t count because it isn’t counted.

PR’s population statistics and its economic statistics (economic activity and inflation rate and unemployment) are tabulated by the US government, but not included in the national figures. So any economic downturn in PR from the impact of the hurricanes won’t be reflected in any national statistics about the economy, and so won’t cause any political headaches for national politicians.

And, of course, they don’t get to vote for anyone in Washington who matters, so they can be even more safely ignored.

Despite this, Puerto Ricans are, in fact, US citizens. For whatever that’s turning out to be worth.




Why Puerto Rico ‘doesn’t count’ to the US government

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The creeping planetary disaster that dare not speak its name

The EPA has cancelled at the last moment talks by three of their researchers at a Rhode Island conference being held today on how climate change is affecting Narragansett Bay. The researchers can attend, but are under orders not to make any presentations, or show up as the open press conference. Because Scott Pruitt and Donald Trump malicious dolts who will be dead before too many of our children and grandchildren suffer from their willful ignorance




EPA cancels scientists’ climate change talk at the last minute
The EPA is validating fears of scientific censorship by cancelling a climate change talk at the last moment.

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Seems the President didn’t get the memo about Puerto Rico being American

Of course, he was kind of dodgy about PR early on. But he clearly wants to wash his hand of the whole hurricane thing and recovery thing and US citizen thing and humanity thing and get back to important stuff, like cutting taxes on his own wealth. He somehow thinks not doing anything further in PR will maigcally quell criticism of the federal response there.

Puerto Rico is still without drinking water for over a third of its population, and 90% of the island lacks electricity. But from Day 1, Trump and conservatives have been talking about how bad Puerto Rico’s infrastructure already was, and offering “Lucky Ducky” grumbling at how Puerto Ricans might somehow “benefit” from the hurricane disaster.

Quoth our Beloved Leader on Twitter this morning:

“Puerto Rico survived the Hurricanes, now a financial crisis looms largely of their own making.” says Sharyl Attkisson. A total lack of….. …accountability say the Governor. Electric and all infrastructure was disaster before hurricanes. Congress to decide how much to spend…. …We cannot keep FEMA, the Military & the First Responders, who have been amazing (under the most difficult circumstances) in P.R. forever!

But, then, it’s not like they’re real Americans, right? Good, English-speaking, WASPy, conservative, Trump-voting Americans, that is. Even if they do enjoy having paper towels tossed to them.




Trump threatens to abandon Puerto Rico: ‘We cannot keep military and first responders there forever!’

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For all you cretins saying “Why bother helping Puerto Rico recover?”

… and then adding, implicitly or explicitly, “It’s not like they’re real Americans anyway, amirite?” Believe it or not, and ignoring the human toll on the island that you seem to be so willing to do (“I mean, they don’t even talk American!”), it appears that PR is a major manufacturing site for pharmaceuticals that save lives of, yes, other Americans on the mainland.

The products affected are smaller-volume bags of sodium chloride, known as saline, and dextrose. These normally ubiquitous solutions are used to rehydrate patients and to dilute medications from antibiotics to painkillers to cancer drugs. Their manufacturer, Baxter International, has said that “multiple production days” were lost in the wake of Hurricane Maria, and it has set up an allocation system for hospitals based on past purchases.

[…] More than four dozen FDA-approved drugmaking facilities are in Puerto Rico, including ones owned by Pfizer Inc., Merck, Eli Lilly, Johnson & Johnson, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Amgen. The plants produce treatments for cancer and HIV, as well as immunosuppressants for patients with organ transplants. Among the top-selling medications manufactured there are the blood thinner Xarelto and the cholesterol drug Lipitor, according to a report by Healthcare & Life Sciences Review.

While some of the plants were damaged, the delays in getting power and water restored have also been an issue, as well as being able to haul via truck and ship in and out raw materials and the finished pharma products. Hell, given the devastation it’s been hard for workers to come into the plants, those which haven’t had to evacuate.

So, yeah, maybe doing more to help those fellow Americans would actually be helpful to all Americans. Crazy idea, I know, but it just might work.




washingtonpost

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“Some men just want to watch the world burn”

Why would Donald Trump impose tariffs on imported solar panels, when even conservative groups like the Heritage Foundation think is awful policy?

Because he can.

Because then he’s imposing tariffs and can tell his base that he’s sticking it to those unfair foreigners and all their dumping and job stealing, even if it does nothing to bring jobs to the US.

And because then he can say to his coal-mining buddies, “See? People said coal was dying because the economics weren’t there. Well, now you owe me.”

And because for him it’s flipping a big middle finger at all the tree-hugging, climate-change-believing, pussy liberals he so despises and whose outrage he’ll relish as a sign that he’s the biggest alpha dog in the pack and can piss on anything he wants.

It’s not about policy. It’s never about policy. It’s about ego.




Trump Is About to Stifle U.S. Solar Power. Why?
He’ll also hamper the fight against climate change.

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Burning memories

So this Anaheim Hills fire in California is taking place about a 10 minute surface street drive from my in-laws’ old house. Nohl Ranch Road … Santiago … I’ve driven those streets. My wife went camping in the regional park where the fire is burning most fiercely. I’ve been along all those freeways shown.

It’s very weird seeing this going on in places I know. And my best wishes for the folk I know who still live there. Be safe.




Canyon fire No. 2 in Anaheim Hills

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Trump’s EPA kinda-sorta starts rolling back the Clean Power Plan, maybe-kinda

Though Trump thunderously Executive Ordered the Clean Power Plan to be rescinded, it turns out that, no, you can’t just do that. The EPA has now formally announced it’s going to start undoing the Clean Power Plan — which never went into effect, due to law suits from folk like … well, like Scott Pruitt, now the head of the EPA. But to undoing it, they have to go through a whole new set of rulesmaking, which will take years (not counting court activities), and still have to take into account the EPA’s own ruling that, well, yeah, releasing greenhouse gasses is dangerous.

So … not much will actively change for quite some time, but on the bright side not much will actively change for quite some time. Except, of course, the climate.

More here.




Trump administration to announce repeal of the Clean Power Plan
Faced with a judge’s deadline, the EPA will try something new, can’t say what yet.

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The environmental contamination cost of Hurricane Harvey

Testing indicates massive amounts of dioxins — linked to birth defects and cancer — from Superfund sites have been found downstream of the flooding. Pity that Trump has proposed cutting the Superfund budget by a third.

Oh, well, it’s Texas. I’m sure they all appreciate the liberty that comes from a deregulated society.




EPA says dioxins might have washed downriver during Harvey
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Environmental Protection Agency says an unknown amount of a dangerous chemical linked to birth defects and cancer may have washed downriver from a Houston-area Superfund site during the flooding from Hurricane Harvey.
EPA said Thursday night it has ordered the companies responsible for the San Jacinto River Waste Pits site to immediately address damage to a protective cap of fabric and rock intended to keep sediments highly …

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Tweetizen Trump – 2017-10-01: “Again with the Tweeting!”

Donald! It’s been weeks and weeks since I’ve delved into your Twitter stream. Honestly, it stopped being fun repeating the same mantra (“That’s untrue, Donald. That’s a distortion, Donald. You already said that, Donald. That’s silly, Donald. That’s unbecoming, Donald.”) every day.

But, hey, this weekend seems to have been a perfect storm of Twittiness that bears at least some acknowledgment. So let’s remember how we were doing this zaniness and have at, starting with Saturday morning!

PUERTO RICO (and the US VIRGIN ISLANDS)

What remains a deep, dark, terrible mystery in your Presidency, Donald, is how seriously to take you. When you make comments like this, should we assume that you actually believe (maybe because Fox News told you) that the media are actually saying harsh things government relief workers in Puerto Rico? Should we assume that you believe criticism of the magnitude (or lack thereof) of the relief effort is a criticism of the hard, painful, backbreaking work being done on the ground? Or should we read this as a casual ploy to deflect criticism of you, Donald, into being criticism of those relief workers?

In other words, Donald, are you nuts, or simply lying? I look forward to the answers in the history books of the future.

In the meantime, Donald, cite your facts. Tell us where CNN or NBC are “disparaging” FEMA and other relief workers on the ground. What specifically have they said?

In fact, the White House was asked about specific coverage, and didn’t have any answers. And a review of those networks’ coverage shows that they talked about the clear hardships being experienced there, the problems in getting relief to people around the island because of its devastated infrastructure, and criticism of the job that you and your administration (not the boots on the ground) were doing in addressing the problems.

Nobody’s criticizing those “First Responders.” They’re criticizing you.

(By the way, I’m not sure “First Responders” is the correct term here. That is usually reserved for Police and Fire Fighting folk. Disaster relief is a bit different. Again, this could be simple terminology confusion on your part, or could be an intentional effort to make it seem like the media is criticizing Fire Fighters and Police about Puerto Rico.)

Well, I guess that’s better than hanging out in New Jersey over the weekend and playing golf (even if you did nobly dedicate the golf trophy to hurricane victims).

So what are you planning on doing there, Donald? Will this in any way reflect an increase or escalation in government effort to assist the disaster relief efforts? Or just be another photo op?

No, the media are working overtime to show how your authorized efforts are inadequate to the task. They aren’t blaming soldiers, etc., they are blaming you. And you’re trying to dodge it.

Great people, yes. Amazing job, certainly by the individuals there. Adequate job to the task? Really, it seems not.

So when people don’t complain, and instead praise you, then you lavish them with complements. When someone, like Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz of San Juan, says that efforts aren’t happening fast enough and that people are suffering and dying, you criticize their leadership and their people.

That is, perhaps, very human of you, Donald (nobody likes being called out for criticism) — but not very leaderly.

Also, it helps explain in party why some people choose to complement you.

They would respond, Donald, but they have no power or cell phone infrastructure to see your tweet.

Sigh. I would reply to each of your tweets, Donald, but they all fall into the same pattern: complement people who are complementing you, assert that you are doing incredible stuff, pretend that criticism of you is criticism of relief workers on the ground, accuse Fake News of being fake. Lather, rinse, repeat.

So let’s just quote the tweets for effect.

 

That one came with a nine minute video with the caption “KEEP UP THE GREAT WORK & IGNORE THE FAKE NEWS! I want everybody on the ground in PR & USVI assisting in Hurricane Maria relief efforts to know that we are grateful & thankful to all of you! Ignore the FAKE NEWS & keep up the GREAT WORK! THANK YOU!”

I will leave it at that, except to suggest that “all buildings now inspected for safety” in Puerto Rico, an island of 3.4 million, where trucks can’t even bring food and water supplies, is so ludicrous as to not even warrant a snort.

I mean, come on, Donald — at least pretend to be giving us an accurate report.

AND IN OTHER CRITICAL LEADERSHIP NEWS …

You then retweeted:

https://twitter.com/SLandinSoCal/status/912099544975806464

So let me say this about that:

1. Compelled political speech — and, yes, this is political speech — is not only unconstitutional as a government order, but unseemly as a suggestion.

2. Why do you get to dictate what people are actually protesting about?

3. This, this is what you are spending time tweeting about, both these and other messages last week? In what universe is this a national priority that deserves the Bully Pulpit?

Heck, someone might think you were merely trying to rile up some support after, I don’t know, you failed (once again) to repeal Obamacare, had to fire your HHS Secretary, faced mounting criticism over Puerto Rico, and ran out of schoolyard insults toward North Korea.

4. This is pretty much the same hand-waving you did above regarding “If anyone is criticizing me, they are criticizing the hard-working folk on the ground in Puerto Rico.” Asserting that criticism of the how our nation is handling one piece of public policy (albeit a profoundly important piece) is somehow spitting in the faces of military alive and dead and denigrating everything our nation stands for is silly at best, and dangerously offensive at worst.

5. I will throw out to your supporters this particular piece I found online.

If you voted for someone who said he prefers soldiers who don’t get captured, who insulted the parents of a gold star captain, who said he knew more than the generals, who said he always wanted a Purple Heart, who dodged the draft, and who called the US military a disaster, please don’t pretend that you’re angry at those who kneel during the anthem because it’s disrespectful to our military.

And if you voted for that person because he’s not politically correct and he says what’s on his mind, please don’t tell me that kneeling during the anthem is wrong.

And if you voted for a reality show star because he’s an outsider and not a career politician, please don’t tell me that athletes shouldn’t voice their political views.

And if you voted for him because he cares about the Constitution, please don’t tell me that people shouldn’t exercise their right to free speech.

And if you voted for him because, despite his wealth and comfortable life, he was willing to go out there, be made a target, and say what’s really wrong with this country, please don’t tell me that black athletes should just shut up and be grateful to be rich.

In other words, Donald, there’s no reason to listen to you as a moral authority on this subject (or, in my opinion, any subject.)

THAT’S STRANGE …

I’m sure Luther Strange comforts himself with that thought now every night he goes to sleep.

I mean, how freaking insecure do you have to be, Donald, to be saying, “Well, hey, even though I said he’d be elected, even though I campaigned hard for him, even though he lost, at least he rose in the polls because of me”?

Hell, even Breitbart snickered over that one.

It also doesn’t help your case, when you start deleting tweets you made in support of Strange. Yeesh.

AND IN CASE ANYONE HAD STOPPED WORRYING ABOUT NUCLEAR WAR …

That’s just great, Donald. People are really nervous about North Korea, and the prospect of nuclear-tipped DPRK missles landing on Guam … or Hawaii … or Alaska … or the West Coast of the US. Or even Japan, or South Korea, or pretty much anywhere.

And then, after the world watching you and Kim trade insults like gang chieftains in a back alley, we learned, much to some relief, that there were actual diplomatic channels open between Us and Them — nothing guaranteed, but, for the love of God, people actually talking and negotiating, rather than double-dog daring each other. Tillerson, your Secretary of State, even reassured us that “Americans should sleep well at night.”

Which … you then pissed all over, undercutting your own chief of foreign policy. Again.

I’m sure that Americans will sleep even better, knowing you are at the helm.

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The Finns are moving forward with permanent nuclear waste storage

It’s the radioactive elephant in the room about nuclear energy — nuclear plants generate waste, and that waste is dangerous for tens of thousands of years, and what the hell do you do with it?

The answer to date from countries using nuclear plants is to stick it in metal drums in ponds (to cool it) and hope someone figures out a long-term solution before the drums rust through.

Finland is tired of waiting. It thinks it has a decent solution now that will serve for the extremely long period that the waste needs to be stored, and are proceeding with same. It’s not clear that the combination of geography, geology,, Finnish government, and community approval is transferable to other nations (these remain, in the US at least, an intractable problem), but I have to applaud them for taking action that sounds reasonable and makes as much sense as anything else proposed.




The World’s First Permanent Nuclear-Waste Repository
Buried deep under an island in the Baltic, the project is nearing completion. If all goes according to plan, future generations may not know it’s there.

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Churches and FEMA funding of post-hurricane relief

I have no problem with FEMA funds going to assist / reimburse churches that are providing relief and shelter for hurricane victims. That’s the sort of thing that, if the churches weren’t doing it, FEMA or other governmental relief agencies would have to (or it would be left undone).

I have huge problems, however, with the idea using FEMA funds to rebuild church sanctuaries and other aspects of the worship life at places of faith that have been damaged by storms and flooding. There are other ways to do so through SBA loans and other post-hurricane relief, the same as businesses and individual residents. Federal tax money going to restore a place of worship strikes me as a huge overreach with the First Amendment. Even Trinity Lutheran v. Comer was about church facilities that are used for a broadly secular purpose.




Will Trump Direct FEMA to Fund Churches Hit by Harvey? – The Atlantic
The president weighs in on a long-standing debate over using public money to support religious organizations.

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Americans want to be heroes, not care workers

An interesting article on an interesting observation: Americans go gangbusters to help in an emergency — throwing donations, giving blood, doing the heavy lifting to help people in crisis survive. Heroic stuff, absolutely necessary, highly laudable.

But when it comes to the proactive steps needed to keep emergencies from happening … welllllll, not so much. Regular donations to disaster relief organizations, vs one-off checks … encouraging zoning laws, rather than dealing with the floods or fires that result when they’re ignored … eating healthy, instead of just getting cardiac surgery when our arteries clog up … taking steps to help prevent homelessness, rather than dealing with the homeless when a winter cold snap threatens lives … maintaining bridges, as opposed to building new ones …

… we all love the beau geste, the heroic response, the one-off effort that takes care of the particular acute problem we face. That’s a lot more fun (or a lot less drudgery) than dealing with chronic early-stage problems that are preventable or can be managed or paid for (even if more efficiently) on a drudging, day-to-day basis.

I’ve seen this over and over in volunteer organizations: if there’s an emergency, a crisis, something huge, people step up to save the day. But try to get them to step up for just the normal ongoing grunt work? You can hear the crickets chirping.

I don’t know if it’s a particularly American quirk, or a human one. It’s not efficient or effective. But it’s how we do things.




How Americans View Natural Disasters
Stephanie Zvan introduced me to Minnesota activist Sigrid Ellis, who put out a series of tweets that are really spot-on. I’d never thought about this before, but she’s absolutely right. Americans love to help when disaster hits — and that’s great — but we don’t want to do the hard work to help in the …

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Rush Limbaugh is a Dolt (Great Big Wind Edition)

What, me worry?

Yes, I know. We all thought Rush was gone. Yet he keeps bobbing back up like a bad penny. Or … something large and fatty that keeps bobbing back up.

Anyway, in this bit of blather, Rush manages to convey all of the following points viz the impending Hurricane Irma:

  1. Hurricane warnings are a conspiracy of ratings-hungry media, hardware and grocery store owners, and liberal climate change conspirators. You can’t trust them because they are always changing.
  2. He is not a meteorologist / climatologist, but they’re all goofballs anyway, but he has a special model that he personally uses to predict hurricane tracks, but he won’t tell you what it is.
  3. Evacuations and states of emergency shouldn’t be announced until right before a hurricane hits, because why panic people?
  4. The next hurricane after Irma is Jose! Isn’t that funny? Insert Hispanic joke here!
  5. You can’t trust anyone but him, and all this hurricane stuff is just a conspiracy against Trump by the Deep State and the Fake Media and Big Climate. Did he already mention that a few times?
  6. Sure, Harvey was bad, but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been, and probably the media is exaggerating just to push climate change and an anti-Trump policy. Make sure you remember that this time.
  7. Oh, sure, they keep talking about “Category 4” and “Category 5,” but you know there are parts of the hurricane that aren’t that powerful. See! Fake meteorology designed to panic you! Nothing to worry about!
  8. He would ride out Irma at home in Florida, but they expect to lose electricity, which would stop him broadcasting, even though he has a backup power source, though he can’t tell you what it is because of security, so he’ll be somewhere else when the fake hurricane hits.
  9. Remember, he’s not a meteorologist and therefore can’t predict anything, but he can so predict all of this stuff.

I mean, honestly, as an example of Poe’s Law [1], it’s hard to tell whether this is really Rush Limbaugh or if The Onion has somehow stolen his web domain.

Yeesh.

 

My Analysis of the Hurricane Irma Panic
RUSH: I am not a meteorologist, and nothing I say today should be considered to be a forecast or a prediction. I am not the National Hurricane Center. I am not a climatologist or meteorologist. All I do is analyze the data that they publish. Just as I am the go-to tech guy in my family and here on the staff, when it comes to a hurricane bearing down on south Florida, I’m the go-to guy.

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Texas wind farms actually did okay in the hurricane

One might expect the turbines of a wind farm to be heavily hit by the very winds they are designed to stand up in, but the initial reports in Texas have at least one farm surviving and back online faster than the power transmission system can handle.




In Big Test of Wind Farm Durability, Texas Facility Quickly Restarts After Harvey
For the first time in the history of the burgeoning U.S. wind industry, a wind farm got hit by a hurricane—and it was back producing power within days.

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The EPA seems to consider journalists more dangerous than flooded waste sites

After an AP story about the numerous Houston-area Superfund sites that have been flooded but have apparently not been inspected yet by the EPA to see what contamination may be occurring, or what toxins may be flowing offsite, the EPA refuted the story by noting that inspections had occurred, water toxicity tested, and that teams were onsite addressing all problems.

Ha! No, of course they didn’t. Instead they offered up a lengthy press release basically saying, “Hey, we flew over most of them, and called up some people, so that counts” and then …

… spent three-quarters of the release attacking the AP and the article’s author as being mean to the EPA Director Scott Pruitt in the past, linking to a Breitbart (!) story about how mean the journalist has been before, and extensively quoting an Oklahoma newspaper that criticized the journalist for questioning why Pruitt — previously EPA-suing Attorney General of Oklahoma — was so buddy-buddy with oil and gas industry.

Yeah, this is today’s Environmental Protection Agency, vigorously protecting … their director’s reputation.

 




Donald Trump’s EPA Is Now Attacking Journalists [Updated]
On Saturday, Associated Press journalists Jason Dearen and Michael Biesecker reported at least five toxic, Houston-area Superfund sites in the path of Hurricane Harvey had been deluged with floodwater, potentially distributing the assorted nasty things contained within across a much larger geographical area. The AP report noted while its reporters were able to access the sites via boat, the Environmental Protection Agency was not on scene, and di…

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“Great job! Too bad we can’t afford you in the future!”

Donald Trump seems very pleased with various disaster recovery and planning programs in the federal government — right now, while the spotlight is on and he’s standing in front of cameras “responding” to the Harvey disaster.

But his budget proposals are quite clear that the currently level of disaster planning, resilience, and recovery are unaffordable for the future. They cost money, which must be given back to businesses and wealthy people … who I am sure will donate all of it back when future disasters occur.




Trump would slash disaster funding to the very agencies he’s praising for Harvey response
Proposed budget cuts would slash federal money for some state and local preparedness efforts.

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Houston keeps flooding. And it’s not going to get better.

People always talk about how crazy it is that folk still build near the Mississippi and other major rivers, or along coastlines that are subject to storm surges and the like.

Meet Houston.

This very cool interactive report was published last December, and it basically paints a damning picture of politicians, public, and developers who …

… don’t believe that the increasing number of storm and flood events are a sign of the future (let alone that climate change is making things worse), and therefore don’t have to be planned for.

… think that paving over increasing amounts of land, causing water to simply run off downhill to the next set of houses and businesses, is a needful sacrifice in the cause of “economic growth.”

… believe that developing housing tracts and businesses in known flood plains or right up against reservoir basins, is not only a fine and profitable idea, not only aligned with American ideals of entrepreneurship and profit, but is their God-given Constitutional Right, so that they’ll sue anyone before they let communist concepts like “zoning” or “watr retention requirements” or “developer fees” or “taxes” get in the way of their doing so.

… if they actually do think there may be some problem, believe that a few simple widenings of existing flood control channels, or maybe adding another flood reservoir, somewhere, some time in the future, paid for by someone else (certainly not anyone who’s going to raise taxes to do so) will take care of the problem in plenty of time, even if all the development activity continues unabated.

This isn’t true of everyone in the area, but it seems to be true of enough of them that the problem just keeps getting worse, and worse.

Which makes the hypocrisy of Texas politicians who snorted, scoffed, and opposed disaster relief to places like the NY/NJ area after Superstorm Sandy, but now are begging for help for Houston and related environs, even bigger hypocrites than might be supposed. Because while the immediate need is very real, to a very large degree (even in the face of an incredible storm like Harvey) it’s a long-developing, long-term problem that has local, very human causes — and apparently little interest or will to solve.




When Climate Change Meets Sprawl: Why Houston’s ‘Once-In-A-Lifetime’ Floods Keep Happening
Unchecked development remains a priority in the famously un-zoned city, creating short-term economic gains for some, but long term flood risk for everyone.

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Houston-related memes I’ve seen today

Not to take away from the devastation and human suffering going on there — but humans often cope with horror through humor, and these mostly work as commentary around the disaster going on in Texas right now.

(I certainly encourage looking for opportunities to send assistance to folk as the recovery efforts kick in.)

Some of these I know are from previous disasters, but gallows humor doesn’t have to be original. It usually isn’t.

 

In Album 8/27/17

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