How Trump Could Slow the L.A. Recovery

Thousands of homes and buildings have been destroyed. Many people have not yet been able to return to see the damage to their property. The fires have also destroyed jobs, especially for low-wage workers, such as housekeepers, gardeners, and other service employees. For those who want to rebuild, there are concerns that there will not be enough laborers should the incoming president carry out his campaign promises to deport those without legal status.

Since Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the workforce that rebuilds communities after climate disasters has grown, according to the Associated Press. They are now referred to as the “second responders,” many of whom are undocumented and move around to where they are needed. The second responders comprise day laborers, roofers, and carpenters. They do the difficult jobs of removing debris and after hurricanes they repair roofs and windows and remove moldy walls and downed trees. They are vulnerable to wage theft and other exploitations. Sometimes they sleep in vehicles or camp outside.

One contractor told the Associated Press that the threatened mass deportations would significantly hinder clean-up efforts and rebuilding. He noted that they are still fixing things after Hurricane Harvey in the Houston area years ago.

Meanwhile, it may be weeks before utilities can determine the extent of contamination to drinking water systems, which may contain harmful chemicals from melted plastic supply pipes and fixtures. Officials have warned not to drink the water or boil it, as that will not destroy the volatile organic chemicals it may contain. The pink and red dyed retardant that has been dropped by aircraft over fire zones is made up mostly of common ingredients in fertilizer, and NBC News reports that planes are required to avoid dropping it within 300 feet of waterways. Yifang Zhu, of UCLA School of Public Health told NBC that the benefits of using the retardants outweigh the risks, adding that there’s little evidence of long-term health risks from it, while wildfire smoke is of much more concern.

The decision means that the City of Honolulu’s lawsuit will move forward instead of being cut off at the knees, which Shell, Exxon, Mobil, and others had wanted. If the defendants had won, it is likely they would have asked that all the other climate cases be paused.

Across the U.S., states and municipal governments want to hold the fossil fuel companies responsible for the effects of floods, wildfires, and pollution that are made worse by climate change. In the Hawai’i cases, the city of Honolulu is suing the large oil companies for their involvement in increasing fossil fuel consumption and greenhouse gas emissions that have caused damage. The state’s highest court had allowed the case to proceed and now, so has the Supreme Court. Lawyers for Honolulu will now proceed to get documents from the companies and question executives about their knowledge of how their products caused global warming and when they knew it.

The high court’s ruling last week does not mean the cases won’t still face an uphill battle when they get back to the conservative-dominated justices in the future.

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have used detailed criteria to get a more accurate picture of the potential of using so-called “floating PV” atop federally owned or regulated reservoirs.

Not all reservoirs are equal when it comes to floating solar, and the team is the first to identify which ones would work best, in terms of being deep enough, not too cold, and not too steep to secure panels in place. Some reservoirs are not good candidates because boat wakes could damage mooring lines or impact an array’s infrastructure.

Floating PV has many benefits, such as not gobbling up lots of land for a solar installation. They can shade and cool reservoirs to help prevent evaporation and conserve supplies. In turn, the water can cool the panels to improve their efficiency and increase electricity output. Despite all this, there aren’t any large-scale floating installations over 10 megawatts currently in the U.S.

The team says that hydropower reservoirs could be ideal locations for floating solar since they are already connected to transmission lines. The floating PV could provide more reliable and resilient energy to the grid if, for example, a drought drops water levels too low to run turbines.

In their next study, the researchers plan to review environmental impacts such as how panels would affect aquatic plants and wildlife, as well as look at potential locations, like estuaries and even the ocean.

The study was published in the journal Solar Energy.

Biologists at the University of Cincinnati say mosquitoes can weather prolonged droughts by drinking blood, which can help them boost their populations when it finally rains. Typically, female mosquitoes draw blood from a host—an animal or you and me—to fuel their egg production. About four days later, they lay their eggs and hunt for another blood meal to repeat the process.

But during drought, they will suck a lot more blood to stay hydrated before laying their eggs. This extra biting could give mosquitoes the chance to spread diseases like dengue fever, Zika, or malaria, said lead author Christopher Holmes. In particular, Aedes aegypti mosquitoes—known vectors of many viruses that kill more than 700,000 people annually—can survive long dry periods on blood alone and the females’ eggs can last for up to a year and then hatch when it rains.

Holmes adds that mosquitoes are benefiting from climate change as winters get warmer and extreme swings between drought and flood become more common. Also, the insects are highly adaptable. The oldest ones predate dinosaurs and no doubt annoyed prehistoric creatures too.

The study was published in the journal iScience.