Message From the Editor
Late last month, the first participants in a federally funded resettlement project — people from the low-lying and dwindling Isle de Jean Charles in Louisiana — signed papers for their new homes on higher ground.
But these homes weren’t exactly on drier ground. As Julie Dermansky reported for us, on signing day there was standing water under some of the houses at The New Isle, as the development for former Isle de Jean Charles residents in Gray, Louisiana, is called.
“I always said if I was going to move away from the water I wasn’t going to move into it,” quipped Chris Brunet, the first Isle de Jean Charles resident to sign the papers for a house in The New Isle.
The water also had been lurking under the homes earlier in August when Julie visited, and some of the participants in the resettlement program said the issue was apparent to them more than a year ago.
Despite this, Julie was unable to get a clear answer from Louisiana’s Office of Community Development, the agency in charge of the project, as to why the water was there and what was being done about it. One OCD employee told her that the standing water was caused by landscaping and would be resolved soon; another told her that an earlier signing date had been delayed when “a last-minute inspection by the Parish found some issues with the sewage and drainage infrastructure.”
The standing water is one of several concerns surrounding The New Isle that Julie dives into in her new, powerful report. She’s been following efforts to resettle the last residents of Isle de Jean Charles for years, and we’ve collected her work into a new series. Stay tuned as she continues to follow the story.
Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: [email protected]. Liz Truss is the UK’s new prime minister, and our team is already mapping her and her government's links to climate science denial. Stay on top of developments with our UK newsletter!
Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director
P.S. Environmental justice reporting like Julie’s work is made possible by our generous donors. If you’d like to help, can you donate $10 or $20 right now?
Image credit: Julie Dermansky
Isle de Jean Charles Community Members Moved into the First Federally Funded Resettlement Project in Louisiana Despite Visible Engineering Issues
— By Julie Dermansky (13 min. read) —
“There’s a void underneath the houses that is filled with water — like a complete lake over there,” said Howard Brunet on August 24, just before his uncle Chris Brunet was about to sign the final paperwork on a new home.
Once he signed, Chris would become the first lifelong resident of Isle de Jean Charles to commit to moving into one of the newly built homes provided by Louisiana’s Office of Community Development (OCD). The New Isle subdivision is the first federally funded resettlement project built for a coastal community facing immense risk from the climate crisis.
How Biden Could Use the Tennessee Valley Authority to Address the Climate Crisis
— By Nick Cunningham (7 min. read) —
President Biden signed historic climate legislation into law in August, but more action will be necessary to hit climate targets. The Biden administration has a long list of tools at its disposal, spread across multiple federal agencies, that can advance climate action in America even further, argues a 99-page report from the Revolving Door Project. One of those tools includes using the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), the nation’s largest public power utility, as a vehicle to accelerate the clean energy transition.
Biomass Lobby Makes ‘False’ Claims to Sway EU Law-makers
— By Phoebe Cooke (5 min. read) —
Campaigners have accused the biomass industry of making “false” and “misleading” claims to European members of parliament ahead of a crunch vote to tighten protections for precious forests.
Biomass power stations, such as Drax in northern England, burn wood pellets to generate electricity – which is treated in the EU and UK as a renewable energy source if the process meets certain sustainability criteria. Environmentalists have long warned that demand for the pellets is endangering irreplaceable primary forests in areas including parts of Estonia, British Columbia in Canada and the southeastern United States.
Steve Baker Leaves Climate Denial Group for Ministerial Post
— By Rich Collett-White (3 min. read) —
Steve Baker, the powerful backbench MP and fierce critic of government policies to cut emissions, has been handed a ministerial role in Liz Truss’s new Conservative government.
Baker reportedly accused campaigners of “child abuse” for “terrifying children” with warnings about climate change at a meeting in parliament earlier in the summer.
Radioactive Waste ‘Everywhere’ at Ohio Oilfield Facility, Says Former Worker
— By Justin Nobel (15 min. read) —
As Bill Torbett and his colleagues went about their work, handling the sloppy radioactive detritus of oilfields in a cavernous building in eastern Ohio, their skin and clothing often became smothered in sludge. Waste was splattered on the floor and walls, even around the electrical panels. At the end of their shifts, they typically left their uniforms in the company washing machine, which didn’t always work, and left their sludge-caked boots and hard hats in the company locker room. But when the men arrived home after a long day, the job came with them too.
From the Climate Disinformation Database: Steve Baker
Steve Baker has been the Conservative MP for Wycombe since 2010. Baker became the Minister of State in the Northern Ireland Office on September 7, 2022, in Prime Minister Liz Truss’s new government. In May 2021, Baker joined the Board of Trustees of the Global Warming Policy Foundation, Britain’s most prominent climate science denial group, based at 55 Tufton Street, a hub for pro-Brexit pressure groups. Baker stepped down from the GWPF’s Board of Trustees on September 8, 2022, the day after his appointment as Minister of
State in the Northern Ireland Office.
Read his full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database and Koch Network Database.
