Current conditions:Ireland and the UK are preparing for heavy rain and 90 mile per hour winds from the coming Storm Eowyn, which will hit early Friday morning • A magnitude 5.7 earthquake struck the Philippines on Thursday • The Los Angeles fire department quickly stopped a new brush fire that erupted near Bel Air on Wednesday night from progressing.
THE TOP FIVE
1. Thousands flee massive Hughes Fire
The Hughes Fire, which broke out Wednesday morning near a state recreation area in northwest Los Angeles County, grew rapidly to more than 10,000 acres — nearly the size of the Eaton Fire in Alatadena — within just a few hours. CalFire, the state fire agency, ordered more than 30,000 people to evacuate, and 20,000 more were warned to prepare for mandatory evacuation. Harrowing footage posted online by United Farm Workers shows strawberry pickers in nearby Ventura County harvesting through a thick orange haze. But by Wednesday night, the fire was 14% contained and had only burned through brush — no structures have been reported as damaged. L.A. County is still under a red flag warning until Friday morning. A light rain is expected over the weekend.
Resting after evacuating near Castaic, California.Mario Tama/Getty Images
2. Europe sees the sun
The European Union got more of its electricity in 2024 from solar panels than from coal-fired power plants — the first time solar has overtaken coal for an entire year in the bloc, according to a new analysis by the think tank Ember. The group found that natural gas power also declined, cutting total 2024 EU power sector emissions to below half of their 2007 peak. Renewable energy now makes up nearly half of EU energy generation, up from about a third in 2019, when the European Green Deal became law. Another 24% of its power comes from nuclear, meaning that nearly three-quarters of the EU’s power is now carbon-free. “Fossil fuels are losing their grip on EU energy,” Chris Rosslowe, a senior analyst at Ember and lead author of the report said in a press release.
Chart courtesy of Ember
3. Chemical industry execs rotate back to the EPA
Three former Environmental Protection Agency staffers who played key roles undoing chemical, climate, and water regulations during Trump’s first term are heading back to the agency. Nancy Beck, a toxicologist and former director of regulatory policy for the chemical industry’s main trade group, the American Chemistry Council, has been named a senior adviser to the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety, according to The New York Times. She famously re-wrote a rule that made it harder to track the health effects of “forever chemicals.” Lynn Ann Dekleva, who had a 30-year run at DuPont (which invented forever chemicals) before joining the first Trump administration, has been appointed a deputy assistant administrator overseeing new chemicals. Lastly, David Fotouhi, a lawyer who most recently fought the EPA’s ban on asbestos and previously helped Trump roll back federal protections for wetlands, has been nominated to return to the agency as one of its top brass — deputy administrator.
4. Half-finished nuclear plant 4 sale — 2,200 megawatts avail
Two partially-built nuclear reactors at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in South Carolina, abandoned in 2017 after their construction became a boondoggle, could be the latest prize for a data center developer looking for clean, 24/7 power. South Carolina state-owned utility Santee Cooper, which owns the reactors, is seeking proposals from buyers interested in finishing construction or doing something else with the assets. The company claims it is “the only site in the U.S. that could deliver 2,200 megawatts of nuclear capacity on an accelerated timeline.” The plant was about 40% complete when the project was halted.
5. Trump signals shakeup at FEMA
Trump floated the idea of putting states in charge of disaster response in an interview on Fox News Wednesday night. Trump told Sean Hannity that he’d “rather see the states take care of their own problems” and that “the federal government can help them out with the money.” The statements come ahead of Trump’s plans to survey recovery efforts from Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and the aftermath of the wildfires in California later this week — his first trip since beginning his second term. The interview followed reporting from The New York Times that Trump has installed Cameron Hamilton, a former Navy SEAL “who does not appear to have experience coordinating responses to large scale disasters,” as temporary administrator at the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
THE KICKER
California State Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris wants to set up a pilot program to test the potential for self-driving helicopters to put out wildfires under conditions that are too dangerous for human pilots. The idea might not be so far off — Lockheed Martin demonstrated that its autonomous Black Hawk helicopter could locate a fire and dump water on it in Connecticut last fall.
An autonomous Black Hawk demonstrates its potential.Courtesy of Lockheed Martin
Resting after evacuating near Castaic, California.Mario Tama/Getty Images
Chart courtesy of Ember
An autonomous Black Hawk demonstrates its potential.Courtesy of Lockheed Martin
