Disasters

"In July, the transportation department proposed that older cars be retrofitted within two years""

"NBC 5 Investigates has analyzed data released by a Washington D.C.-based research group and found dozens of facilities across the Chicago area that store or use toxic chemicals which - if released in an accidental leak or explosion - could directly affect hundreds of thousands of schoolchildren throughout the city and suburbs."

"It has been nearly two years since Hurricane Sandy crashed ashore in New Jersey, devastating cities throughout the region. As cities and towns along the coast consider how to prepare for future weather patterns, and avert the kind of damage that happened in 2012, a two-pronged response has emerged — a kind of municipal fight-or-flight response."

"Nine years after levee failures flooded New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and two years after Hurricane Sandy devastated the East Coast, the nation has failed to determine the flooding risks faced by communities across the United States, the American Society of Civil Engineers said in a new report."

"NEW YORK -- Protecting the infrastructure of American cities from the effects of climate change is rising on the agenda of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to a top agency official."

"NEW ORLEANS — A federal judge has ruled that BP must stand by the agreement made with the companies it compensated for losses after the 2010 Gulf oil spill despite the oil giant saying some claims were overestimated."

"At least 18 times in the past three years BNSF Railway freight trains rolled west out of Minneapolis pulling cars filled with hazardous chemicals that were not on the train's official cargo list, according to train crew complaints."