![Hurricane Harvey as it crossed the Gulf coast on Saturday.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170828230642im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/y/4/y/d/w/image.related.landscape.460x307.gy5cmy.png/1503953450007.png)
Houston, you have a problem, and it's of your own making
As the oil and gas capital of the world, Houston should have known storms like Harvey were coming.
Peter Hannam is Environment Editor at The Sydney Morning Herald. He covers broad environmental issues ranging from climate change to renewable energy for Fairfax Media.
As the oil and gas capital of the world, Houston should have known storms like Harvey were coming.
Sydney is likely to post one of its coldest weeks of winter just as the season makes way for a burst of spring.
Claims that Shenhua's restricted coal mining will avoid affecting the aquifers of the rich farmlands of the Liverpool Plains are "false and ignorant", former state and private agronomists have said in a letter to Premier Gladys Berejiklian.
The biggest overhaul of native vegetation laws in NSW in a generation is sending mixed signals.
The unusually warm and dry winter across much of NSW has prompted the Rural Fire Service to bring forward the official start to the fire season for nine local government areas including the Blue Mountains.
The paucity of independent monitoring of waste water from coal mines in NSW is leaving communities exposed to decades of pollution, long after mining operations have ceased, Ian Wright, a leading water ecologist, said.
Weather agencies including Australia's must step up cooperation to close a "widening gap in capacity" with developing nations, with the urgency of action increasing as the planet heats up, David Grimes, president of the World Meteorological Organization, says.
Coal mining in Sydney's catchment is having a "cumulative and possibly accelerated" impact on water flows but its full effect is unknown because of a lack of data and monitoring.
Cyclonic-strength wind gusts have hammered Sydney and most of eastern NSW, disrupting air travel and stranding trains on the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Glen Turner's family says in a letter to the government new native vegetation codes will diminish "the value of his life".
Search pagination
Save articles for later.
Subscribe for unlimited access to news. Login to save articles.
Return to the homepage by clicking on the site logo.