Flood Basics still causing pain for some
Climate-Proofing Our Infrastructure: Building Climate Resilience with the Army Corps of Engineers
The Calm Before and After the Storm: How to Maximize Insurance Recovery for Catastrophic Weather Events
Law Brief®: David Pfeffer and Richard Schoenstein Discuss the Legal Implications of Infrastructure Collapses
Employer Responsibilities During the Texas Winter Storm
Filing Insurance Claims After the Texas Winter Storm
Hurricane Season Begins
The 2025 wildfire season has reached above-average activity across the United States with over 26,500 wildfires within the first 5 months of the year. For P&C insurance experts, the scope and implications of these wildfires...more
On May 15, 2025, the FERC’s Office of Energy Policy and Innovation, in coordination with the Office of Electric Reliability, released their 2025 Summer Energy Market and Electric Reliability Assessment, highlighting key...more
In the wake of increasingly frequent natural disasters, construction insurance has become more critical than ever. While many stakeholders view insurance as just another project cost, it is actually your first line of defense...more
In the wake of the tragic disaster still unfolding in multiple communities of Southern California, Governor Newsom has issued an executive order (Executive Order N-4-25) intended to “expedite recovery” from the disaster by...more
Catastrophic events (CAT) include hurricanes, floods, landslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, tornados, and wildfires (See Figures 1-4 below). “CAT season” is the phrase experts commonly use to describe the...more
A rash of recent natural disasters, from hurricanes to earthquakes to wildfires, serves as a timely reminder to employers of the potential for natural disasters to disrupt their operations and cause imminent hazards in the...more
2023 was the hottest year on record. Not only the hottest since U.S. meteorological recordkeeping began in 1850, but according to Scientific American, 2023 was also “the hottest temperature that our planet has experienced in...more
On December 14, 2023, the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries (L&I) finalized and adopted new rules focused on protecting workers from wildfire smoke hazards that take effect on January 15, 2024....more
The Hawaiian island of Maui has been ravaged by unprecedented and quickly moving wildfires, which have taken a particular toll on hospitality employers. As the U.S. enters peak hurricane season, the Hawaiian and Canadian...more
In their purest form, natural wildfires, most commonly caused by lightning strikes or volcanic activity, are a necessary part of the lifecycle in most ecosystems. They provide a number of important ecological benefits, such...more
The New York region has experienced some of the worst air quality in the world as a result of the recent Canadian wildfires that continue to rage out of control, something weather forecasters believe will become more common...more
The EF4 tornado that roared through Mayfield, Kentucky, in the late hours of Dec. 10, 2021, left catastrophic damage in its wake. It almost completely leveled Mayfield Consumer Products LLC’s candle factory. Sadly,...more
Lawmakers from both parties, in both houses of Congress, have proposed bills intended to speed up forest-management projects that reduce wildfire fuels, like brush and small trees, which can cause large-scale fires of the...more
To help prevent wildfires during extreme weather conditions, California electric utility companies have adopted the use of Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS). Beginning in 2017, PSPS have been utilized to reduce the risk of...more
CARB addresses California’s increasingly severe climate impacts. On May 10, 2022, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) released its Draft 2022 Scoping Plan Update (Draft Scoping Plan) for public review and comment....more
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has been publishing assessment reports describing expected climate change impacts and risks since 1990 and has warned of the growing risks from climate change in each...more
In anti-science fantasy worlds, climate change is a mere theory, an abstraction to be ignored for now. This view would be foolish under any circumstance. But it has become more counterfactual than ever, as people come to...more
EXTREME WEATHER OR EXTREME EXAGGERATION? About half of Wallace-Wells’s book, Uninhabitable Earth, is devoted to what he describes as the “Elements of Chaos” that will result from man-made climate change unless fossil fuels...more
While the onset of a natural disaster is generally unpredictable, we have become accustomed to bracing ourselves for the inevitable hurricane, tornado, flood, or wildfire. Preparation for business disruptions as a result of...more
As Tropical Storm Marco is expected to make landfall today on the coast of Louisiana, reports indicate Tropical Storm Laura is expected to strengthen to a hurricane before it makes landfall on the Gulf Coast late Wednesday or...more
Early property insurance policies, first introduced in seventeenth century England, insured against only a single peril: fire. That made sense at the time—most structures were wooden, making fire the most common risk of loss....more
Please join Nossaman Environment & Land Use Partner Linda Larson of the Firm’s Seattle office and Nossaman Water Practice Group Associate Willis Hon for "Handling the Heat: The Evolving Nature of Washington's Wildfires," a...more
Last year, the United States experienced the top three largest natural catastrophes in the world with overall losses. The three most significant events were the California Wildfire, Hurricane Michael, and Hurricane Florence....more
Uncertainty of their immediate cause(s) of the Camp and Woolsey Fires may complicate insurance recovery. How you present your claims to the insurers is critical to recovery....more
2017 was a year of records for sure. Most notably, professional eater Joey Chestnut set a new record by eating 55 glazed doughnuts in eight minutes. At a university in Ohio, 972 people set a record by dressing as penguins. ...more