Free Republic

Elon Musk’s blowup with President Trump may have doomed Washington’s most potent partnership, but the billionaire’s signature cost-cutting project has become deeply embedded in Mr. Trump’s administration and could be there to stay.At the Department of Energy, for example, a former member of the Department of Government Efficiency is now serving as the chief of staff.At the Interior Department, DOGE members have been converted into federal employees and embedded into the agency, said a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliation. And at the Environmental Protection Agency, where a spokeswoman said...

California has focused on fortifying communities against wildfires. But with growing threats, that may not be enough. This week’s fires around Los Angeles present a puzzle: Why is California, the state best equipped to deal with wildfires, seemingly unable to prevent blazes from consuming entire chunks of the country’s second-largest city?California’s building code for wildfires is among the most protective in the nation. Its local fire departments are backed up by CalFire, the state fire agency, which has a $4 billion budget and some of the best trained firefighters in the world. The state’s huge tax base generates effectively unlimited...

Companies started pulling back from the state as earlier fires made it harder to turn a profit. Experts warn the exodus could grow.It’s too soon to know the financial cost of the wildfires burning around Los Angeles. But the toll on California’s troubled insurance market could be enormous.The fires struck just as California officials have been working to stop insurance companies from fleeing their state. That exodus, driven by rising losses from wildfires that have grown larger and more frequent, could accelerate because of this week’s fires, experts said.“The California insurance market has been balanced on a knife edge,” said...

As a poster child for the climate emergency, Miami Beach has become a world leader in mitigating the effects of sea-level rise. Now the subtropical Florida city is cutting back on its famous swaying palm trees as it seeks shadier alternatives to preserve its environment and try to keep residents and visitors cool. Officials have embarked on a 30-year plan to reduce the percentage of palm trees in the city to only one quarter of its total canopy by 2050... ...“Palms, while an iconic part of Miami Beach’s landscape, have moved from being an accent plant to a major component...

The seas are certain to rise in Miami, or so says the New York Times in their story on Tuesday by Christopher Flavelle and Patricia Mazzei, "Miami Says It Can Adapt to Rising Seas. Not Everyone Is Convinced."Could it be that "not everyone is convinced" because they have yet to see proof that the sea is actually rising? The article certainly presents no such proof. Although the story is chock full of projections of future sea level rise, the reader can not find any evidence that the sea has, well, actually risen in the past which would indicate a trend...