Breaking Waves: Ocean News

Residents claim raw sewage and poorly treated effluent as result of Thames Water’s failings are threat to health Communities across south-east England are filing the first coordinated legal complaints that sewage pollution by Thames Water negatively affects their lives. Thames Water failed to complete upgrades to 98 treatment plants and pumping stations which have the worst records for sewage pollution into the environment, despite a promise to invest in them over the last five years. Continue reading...

Site removes feature after real estate agents and some homeowners say scores appear arbitrary and hurt sales Zillow, the US’s largest real estate listing site, has removed a feature that allowed people to view a property’s exposure to the climate crisis, following complaints from the industry and some homeowners that it was hurting sales. In September last year, the online real estate marketplace introduced a tool showing the individual risk of wildfire, flood, extreme heat, wind and poor air quality for one million properties it lists, explaining that “climate risks are now a critical factor in home-buying decisions” for many Americans. Continue reading...

Trump promised to cut consumers’ energy costs within his first year in office but gas price is up 4% on average Americans using gas stoves to cook during the holidays, or any other meal in the near future, are set for persistently higher bills, with the price of gas expected to keep rising into next year. US households will pay 4% more for gas power this year, on average, compared with 2024, with the industrial and power plant sectors experiencing a much higher price rise, a recent analysis from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has found. Continue reading...

The case of a planned Cumbrian coalmine shows how governments around the world are being threatened by litigation in shadowy offshore courts How do you reckon our political system works? Perhaps something like this. We elect MPs. They vote on bills. If a majority is achieved, the bills becomes law. The law is upheld by the courts. End of story. Well, that’s how it used to work. No longer. Today, foreign corporations, or the oligarchs who own them, can sue governments for the laws they pass, at offshore tribunals composed of corporate lawyers. The cases are held in secret. Unlike our courts, these tribunals allow no right of appeal or judicial review. You or I cannot take a case to them, nor can our government, or even businesses based in this country. They are open only to corporations based overseas. George Monbiot is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...