Alex Lubben
@alexlubben.bsky.social
Environment reporter with The Times-Picayune in New Orleans. Before that: VICE News, other places.
GARS can be indicators of river-floodplain restoration from Minnesota down to Mississippi and Louisiana! Thanks @alexlubben.bsky.social for joining us in the field with photojournalist Sophie Germer for this story @nolanews.bsky.social! bit.ly/4brAgY0 @garlab.bsky.social
Are Mississippi River restoration efforts working? Scientists say this fish could hold the answer.
They went 1,000 miles for one baby fish. Finding it means a Mississippi floodplain restoration is working.
bit.ly
NEW: SpaceX wants to launch rockets from a remote swamp in southwestern Lousiana. Story here: www.nola.com/news/busines...
SpaceX is planning a rocket-launching spaceport in coastal Louisiana. Here are the plans.
After months of speculation, a source close to the deal has confirmed an 18-mile stretch of coastal south Louisiana called Pecan Island will be the site for a new space port for Elon Musk's SpaceX.
nola.com
Our first story in a series at @nolanews.bsky.social on the Gulf: The water is hot and getting hotter. We lay out what that means for the future of coastal Louisiana. a thread here:
Powerful feature article by @alexlubben.bsky.social on rapidly heating Gulf of Mexico, driven by human-caused climate change, with enormous consequences for hurricane intensification & sea-level rise. Meanwhile, Trump wants to cut funding of observations. Gift 🔗 www.nola.com/news/environ...
The Gulf’s heating faster than the world's oceans. Louisiana is at ground zero.
The Gulf is in the throes of a turbulent new era that holds enormous consequences for Louisiana and the other states along its coast. “These are not theoretical concepts, one Tulane scientist said. “T...
nola.com
Last year, we wrote a report on Air Products' proposed hydrogen production and carbon capture project in Louisiana. We found that there was no net climate benefit under reasonable operating conditions. Now, it has been scrapped. via @alexlubben.bsky.social buff.ly/5u3T66t
Gov. Jeff Landry says Louisiana has reached a 'final agreement' with Exxon in coastal lawsuits www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/... via @alexlubben.bsky.social #lalege
Gov. Jeff Landry says Louisiana has reached a 'final agreement' with Exxon in coastal lawsuits
Gov. Jeff Landry says Louisiana and ExxonMobil have reached a final settlement in the coastal lawsuits, in which parishes alleged the company polluted the coastline and contributed to land loss. The t...
theadvocate.com
New Orleans' levee board voted last month to release an investigative report within 30 days. It's been more than a month now — no report has been made public. Instead, on Wednesday, the board held a probably illegal closed-door meeting to talk about… not releasing the report.
Louisiana just passed a law banning lawsuits over the impacts of climate change. Though its author told me he didn't talk to national conservative groups pushing this kind of legislation, his bill reproduced language in laws passed in other states, verbatim.
New Orleans levee police chief placed on leave after lawmakers question contract (from @alexlubben.bsky.social) #lalege www.nola.com/news/environ...
New Orleans levee police chief placed on leave after lawmakers question contract
The embattled police chief of the agency overseeing New Orleans' $14.5 billion hurricane protection system has been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation, the governor's New Orleans ...
nola.com
Exxon and Louisiana have a deal "in principle" to settle the coastal lawsuits alleging that oil companies contributed to the state's land loss crisis. The settlement could also clear the way for Exxon to sell a tract of coastal marshland to SpaceX. www.nola.com/news/busines...
Louisiana reaches deal with Exxon on 'coastal land disputes,' Gov. Jeff Landry says
ExxonMobil is the latest oil giant to reach a deal with Louisiana over claims it helped destroy the state's coast, leaving Chevron as the last major company still fighting. The terms, like the other s...
nola.com
A private citizen got Sen. Cassidy's ear to draft a bill that would have transferred 140,000 acres of national forest, privatized a federal prison, and paid kids for good grades. The parish's own government killed it.
Louisiana Wildlife Federation Executive Director Rebecca Triche framed the plan as part of an “alarming trend toward reducing and redirecting federal public lands away from federal management.” www.nola.com/news/environ...
A plan to transfer part of Louisiana's only national forest drew outrage. What was behind it?
A Grant Parish citizen and Sen. Cassidy's office drafted a sweeping plan to transfer part of Louisiana's only national forest to local control, privatize a federal prison, and pay kids for good grades...
nola.com
After getting grilled by lawmakers in Baton Rouge over the flood protection authority’s police chief’s remarkably generous employment contract, which the board president said the chief wrote himself, the board lowered his salary to $197,000 from $208,000.
A private citizen got Sen. Cassidy's ear to draft a bill that would have transferred 140,000 acres of national forest, privatized a federal prison, and paid kids for good grades. The parish's own government killed it.
The New Orleans flood protection board president let the agency's police chief write his own employment contract, which could have paid out up to $910,000 in severance. He didn't run the contract by the agency's lawyer because the attorney was 'not in town that week.'
Newell Normand on @wwlradio.bsky.social discussing our story about the chief of the levee police's very generous contract. "There a bunch of rules in place so that people don’t do silly ass things like this."
A New Orleans flood agency's board president signed a generous contract with his police chief. He told me it "was done because of you, all the heartache that you caused in the newspaper." When asked about the leaked document, he called his own employees "rats."
On A1 today. Friday's SCOTUS ruling shook up Louisiana's 13-year fight to hold oil companies accountable for coastal damage. A $745M verdict is in jeopardy, 40+ more lawsuits are in limbo, and Gov. Landry may now be more likely to settle. Here's what comes next: www.nola.com/news/courts/...
Louisiana wants oil firms to pay for coastal damage. A Supreme Court ruling just made that harder.
The Supreme Court sided with Chevron Friday in a fight over Louisiana's eroding coast, moving a landmark case to federal court and threatening a $745 million Plaquemines Parish jury verdict. Gov. Jeff...
nola.com
Of the 6,400+ orphaned oil wells in Louisiana, 2,100 were added to the list in the last year alone. Just four companies orphaned 1,200 of those wells. Here's where they are:
A quarter of New Orleans' flood protection budget now goes to cops. I was on @WWNO talking about how that happened.
Louisiana now has nearly 6,500 orphaned wells — more than ever before, and 2,000 more than it had just two years ago. We tracked down four companies that are largely responsible for that spike. They owned almost 1,200 now-orphaned wells. www.nola.com/news/busines...
Louisiana's abandoned oil wells surge to record numbers. Is the bill coming due?
Louisiana is now responsible for plugging nearly 6,500 abandoned oil and gas wells — a record — after companies went bankrupt or dissolved. Plugging them all would cost taxpayers $730 million, and the state has managed to plug just 490 since mid-2023.
nola.com
New Orleans flood agency wants to expand its police force again www.nola.com/news/environ... via @alexlubben.bsky.social #lalege
New Orleans flood agency wants to expand its police force again. Key vote is upcoming.
The New Orleans Flood Protection Authority is proposing to expand its police force and raise spending by $2 million. Watchdog groups say the agency’s focus should remain on flood protection.
nola.com
New Orleans levee board turmoil rises after resignations, allegation police chief was punched; Two remaining board members not appointed by Gov. Jeff Landry are resigning www.nola.com/news/politic... via @alexlubben.bsky.social #lalege
New Orleans levee board turmoil rises after resignations, allegation police chief was punched
A battery allegation against a levee board member has intensified a year-long dispute at a New Orleans–area flood authority.
nola.com
More than 3,600 wells once drilled on land or in wetlands are now in open water — a result of decades of erosion, sinking land and rising seas. Some leak. Many endanger boats. Hundreds may fall to taxpayers to clean up. www.nola.com/news/environ...
Louisiana drilled more coastal oil wells than any other state. Thousands have sunk in the Gulf.
A shrimp boat’s sudden sinking reveals a hidden danger: thousands of Louisiana oil wells drilled in marsh now lie underwater. They endanger boats, leak oil, and may leave taxpayers with the cleanup co...
nola.com
Louisiana has more coastal oil wells than any other state. They're sinking: Thousands, once in marsh, are now in open water, thanks to land loss & rising seas. Many leak, some sink boats, and cleanup costs could fall to taxpayers. My latest for @nolanews.bsky.social: www.nola.com/news/environ...
Louisiana drilled more coastal oil wells than any other state. Thousands have sunk in the Gulf.
A shrimp boat’s sudden sinking reveals a hidden danger: thousands of Louisiana oil wells drilled in marsh now lie underwater. They endanger boats, leak oil, and may leave taxpayers with the cleanup co...
nola.com
Louisiana has more coastal oil wells than any other state. They're sinking: Thousands, once in marsh, are now in open water, thanks to land loss & rising seas. Many leak, some sink boats, and cleanup costs could fall to taxpayers. My latest for @nolanews.bsky.social: www.nola.com/news/environ...
Louisiana drilled more coastal oil wells than any other state. Thousands have sunk in the Gulf.
A shrimp boat’s sudden sinking reveals a hidden danger: thousands of Louisiana oil wells drilled in marsh now lie underwater. They endanger boats, leak oil, and may leave taxpayers with the cleanup co...
nola.com
NEW: The Corp found funds to do crucial annual levee inspections in New Orleans. We reported last week that the inspection would not happen this year due to federal funding cuts. My latest for @nolanews.bsky.social: www.nola.com/news/environ...
Federal cuts threatened to curtail New Orleans area levee inspections. Money has now been found.
The Army Corps has secured funding for annual inspections of New Orleans’ levee system after earlier budget cuts. But next year’s funding is still in doubt.
nola.com
NEW: 20 years after Katrina, the Corps doesn't have funding to fully inspect New Orleans’ levees this year or next. Story for @nolanews.bsky.social here: www.nola.com/news/environ...
New Orleans' vital levee system will be inspected less often. Federal cuts are to blame.
For the first time in years, New Orleans’ levees will skip annual safety inspections. Federal budget cuts are halting the checks that protect the city from the type of flooding that occurred 20 years ...
nola.com
My profile for @nolanews.bsky.social of John Carmouche, the attorney who just won a $745 million verdict against Chevron: www.nola.com/news/environ...
Sometime before Katrina, one of the world's biggest mining companies stocked a fishing pond on its corporate lodge in Plaquemines Parish with tilapia, a non-native fish that can gobble up everything and take over ecosystems.
