Alabama Archives - Inside Climate News

Longleaf Pine Restoration—a Major Climate Effort in the South—Curbs Its Ambitions to Meet Harsh Realities

By Marianne Lavelle, and Sarah Whites-Koditschek and Dennis Pillion of AL.com — Sun, 17 Dec 2023 10:00:00 +0000

A Public-Private Partnership Confronts the Challenges of Nature-Based Solutions, Including Urban Growth, Logging Pressures and a Warming Planet

By Marianne Lavelle, and Sarah Whites-Koditschek and Dennis Pillion of AL.com

TUSKEGEE, Ala.—On a fall walk through Tuskegee National Forest, ecologist John Kush kept his eyes on the ground, looking for sprouts of hope.

As Financial Turmoil Threatens Plans for an Alabama Wood Pellet Plant, Advocates Question Its Climate and Community Benefits

By Lee Hedgepeth — Fri, 15 Dec 2023 10:00:00 +0000

Enviva made big promises to the small Alabama town that would produce the fuel for “sustainable” energy in Europe. The company’s struggles have left politicians who supported it mum and activists who opposed it hopeful.

By Lee Hedgepeth

EPES, Ala.—Portia Shepherd said “it’s a God thing.”

Q&A: Catherine Coleman Flowers Talks COP28, Rural Alabama, and the Path Toward a ‘Just Transition’

By Lee Hedgepeth — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 17:00:00 +0000

From the Deep South to Dubai and back, Flowers has brought rural issues to the global stage.

By Lee Hedgepeth

Catherine Coleman Flowers brings Alabama’s Black Belt with her everywhere she goes. She can’t help it.

Vivek Ramaswamy Called ‘the Climate Change Agenda’ a Hoax in Alabama’s First-Ever Presidential Debate. What Did University of Alabama Students Think?

By Lee Hedgepeth — Mon, 11 Dec 2023 23:30:00 +0000

Two Alabama students, a conservative and a progressive, said they’re hoping for a more nuanced conversation on the environment.

By Lee Hedgepeth

TUSCALOOSA, Ala.—Grant Long never thought he’d be in the audience of a U.S. presidential debate.

Public Funding Gave This Alabama Woman Shelter From the Storm. Then Her Neighbor Fenced Her Out

By Lee Hedgepeth — Fri, 01 Dec 2023 11:00:00 +0000

Sandy Pouncey survived a 2019 tornado that killed 23. Cut off from access to her storm shelter, she’s afraid of the sound of thunder.

By Lee Hedgepeth

This article has been updated.

An Alabama Coal Plant Once Again Nabs the Dubious Title of the Nation’s Worst Greenhouse Gas Polluter

By Lee Hedgepeth — Sun, 29 Oct 2023 09:00:00 +0000

A single Jefferson County power plant pollutes more than some entire countries.

By Lee Hedgepeth

In West Jefferson, everything happens in the shadow of Alabama Power.

Alabama Wood Pellet Mill Seeks Millions in Climate Funds, but Critics Say It Won’t Cut CO2

By Dennis Pillion, AL.com — Wed, 18 Oct 2023 09:00:00 +0000

Opponents say pellet mills will harm Alabama communities already burdened by industrial air and water pollution, and are worse for the climate than burning coal.

By Dennis Pillion, AL.com

This story is republished with the permission of AL.com, the largest news provider in Alabama and winner of two Pulitzer Prizes in 2023.

As Alabama Judge Orders a Takeover of a Failing Water System, Frustrated Residents Demand Federal Intervention

By Lee Hedgepeth — Thu, 12 Oct 2023 20:02:41 +0000

The majority Black city of Prichard loses much of its purchased drinking water to leaking pipes, with water pressure so low firefighters have sometimes watched homes burn.

By Lee Hedgepeth

An Alabama judge on Wednesday ordered that the municipal water utility in Prichard, a Mobile suburb, be placed under receivership after witnesses described crisis conditions in the majority Black city due to failing water infrastructure that loses nearly 60 percent of its capacity each month to leakage.

The Danger Upstream: In Disposing Coal Ash, One of These States is Not Like the Others

By Lee Hedgepeth — Fri, 06 Oct 2023 09:30:00 +0000

Toxic coal ash has polluted Alabama’s waters for years. Is the state doing enough to stop it?

By Lee Hedgepeth

MONTGOMERY, Ala.—At an EPA meeting in Montgomery, a cup of water took center stage.

First Floods, Now Fires: How Neglect and Fraud Hobbled an Alabama Town

By Lee Hedgepeth — Fri, 29 Sep 2023 09:00:00 +0000

In the majority Black town of Prichard, deterioration of water infrastructure has led to a crisis impacting nearly every aspect of residents’ lives—and now some may be forced from their homes.

By Lee Hedgepeth

PRICHARD, Ala.—Sometimes it’s the water that plagues them. Other times, it’s the fire.