October, 12 2018, 12:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Keith Rushing, Earthjustice, (202) 797-5236 (o) 757-897-2147 (c), [email protected]
Earthjustice Calls for Support for Those Devastated by Hurricane Michael
Failure to take federal action to address climate change has left the nation vulnerable
WASHINGTON
Hurricane Michael, one of the most powerful storms to strike this nation, with winds reaching155 miles per hour, devastated communities in the Florida Panhandle Wednesday. At least 11 people are known to have died and that number is expected to rise. More than 1.5 million were without power Thursday and many remained displaced.
Earthjustice President Abigail Dillen called for action to help those who have suffered because of the storm.
"We call on the federal government and state governments in areas affected by the storm to make all the necessary resources available to help people attain shelter, recover, and move forward with their lives," Dillen said.
"From more devastating storms on the East Coast to raging wildfires across the West, extreme weather is threatening all of us," said Dillen, adding: "Hurricane Michael was fueled by a warming ocean, and sea level rise is leading to more devastation, dangerous storm surges and greater flooding, increasing risks to property and human life."
Dillen said the failure of the nation's leaders to address and reverse climate change increases everyone's vulnerability to harm.
"In failing to take every action possible to arrest climate change, and in failing to invest in our communities to better prepare them for new climate realities, our government is failing us," said Dillen, adding: "When we look away from climate change, we look away from people in harm's way, and now we are living with consequences that are tragic."
Just over three weeks ago, North Carolina residents faced loss of life and massive displacement due to severe flooding and storm surges from Hurricane Florence. Residents must also grapple with the dispersal of coal ash into waterways along with waste from vast industrial hog farms.
Dillen said that serious immediate action from our elected leaders can reduce the threats we face from extreme weather.
"It's not too late to act to prevent more warming and even more frequent and forceful hurricanes. We have the tools today to slash carbon pollution. We just need the political will."
Earthjustice has filed more than 110 lawsuits to defend environmental safeguards that have been attacked by the Trump administration.
Earthjustice is a non-profit public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the magnificent places, natural resources, and wildlife of this earth, and to defending the right of all people to a healthy environment. We bring about far-reaching change by enforcing and strengthening environmental laws on behalf of hundreds of organizations, coalitions and communities.
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GOP Still Lacks Votes to Pass Budget Bill 'Because It's a Moral Monstrosity,' Says Senate Democrat
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Even after an all-night session of amendment votes and wrangling behind closed doors, Senate Republicans still did not have enough support to pass their reconciliation package as of Tuesday morning, leaving party leaders scrambling to placate GOP holdovers who are purportedly nervous about the legislation's unprecedented cuts to Medicaid and federal nutrition assistance.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) argued in a social media post that the reason for the GOP's inability to quickly rally its own members around the legislation is straightforward: "Because it's a moral monstrosity."
"We have been debating amendments for 21 hours and we are still going because through 12 hours of debate and 21 hours of amendment votes, Republicans still don't have 50 votes for their bill," Murphy wrote at roughly 5:30 am ET, as the marathon "vote-a-rama" continued with no end in sight.
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Israeli forces ramped up their genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip Monday, killing at least 95 Palestinians in attacks including massacres at a seaside café and a humanitarian aid distribution center and bombings of five school shelters housing displaced families and a hospital where refugees were sheltering in tents.
An Israeli strike targeted the al-Baqa Café in western Gaza City, one of the few operating businesses remaining after 633 days of Israel's obliteration of the coastal strip and a popular gathering place for journalists, university students, artists, and others seeking reliable internet service and a respite from nearly 21 months of near-relentless attacks.
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Warning: Photos shows image of death
Survivor Ali Abu Ateila toldThe Associated Press that the café was crowded with women and children at the time of the attack.
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"We were targeted by artillery," survivor Monzer Hisham Ismail told The Associated Press. Another survivor, Yousef Mahmoud Mokheimar, told the AP that Israeli troops "fired at us indiscriminately." Mokheimar was shot in the leg, another man who tried to rescue him was also shot.
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Another 13 people were reportedly killed Monday when IDF warplanes bombed an aid warehouse in the Zeitoun quarter of southern Gaza City, according to al-Ahli Baptist Hospital officials cited by The Palestine Chronicle. IDF warplanes also reportedly bombed five schools housing displaced families, three of them in Zeitoun. Israeli forces also bombed the courtyard of al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, where thousands of forcibly displaced Palestinian families are sheltering in tents. It was reportedly the 12th time the hospital has been bombed since the start of the war.
The World Health Organization has documented more than 700 attacks on Gaza healthcare facilities since October 2023. Most of Gaza's hospitals are out of service due to Israeli attacks, some of which have been called genocidal by United Nations experts.
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"This current blockade is starving Palestinian civilians in violation of international law, and the militarization of food will not help."
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On Sunday, U.S. President Donald Trump reiterated a call for a cease-fire deal that would secure the release of the remaining 22 living Israeli and other hostages held by Hamas.
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