The Federal government wants to restrict Federal Funds for Wetlands Restoration, New Jersey shows how to fight back!
South Alabama is where it all washes out.
Here, in the nation’s second-largest delta, the waters of the Deep South wind through the pines and cypresses of the Yellowhammer State, snaking their way into Mobile Bay and on to the Gulf. Among the most biodiverse regions in the country, the Mobile-Tensaw Delta drains 44,000 square miles of Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. It’s where the rivers—the Mobile, Tensaw, Blakely, Apalachee, Middle and Spanish Rivers—meet in land dubbed the “American Amazon” by E.O. Wilson, a renowned naturalist born in the state.
The Delta’s history is America’s. At its heart are the island mounds of Bottle Creek, the “principal political and religious center” for the Indigenous Pensacola culture for 300 years before European contact.
About a dozen miles south, beneath the surface of the Mobile River’s muddy waters, lies the wreckage of the Clotilda, widely regarded as the last slave ship to enter the United States. And farther south, still, the Mobile River empties into Mobile Bay, itself a veritable biodiversity hotspot and the cornerstone of a vibrant coastal culture and ecosystem.
But all of that, many residents, experts and environmentalists say, is at risk, because of Alabama Power’s coal ash waste, a toxic leftover from decades of burning coal for electricity.
One 600-acre pit of the toxic coal ash lies along the banks of the Mobile River in the Upper Delta, about 25 miles north of Mobile Bay. There, smokestacks from the James M. Barry Electric Generating Plant rise like a sore thumb from a horizon of green, towering over an unlined pond filled with more than 21 million tons of the toxic residue. Holding back the toxic waste from the Mobile River? Earthen dikes.
More of our coverage of the biggest story on the planet:
- The Trump administration is moving to narrow which wetlands qualify for federal protection. But New Jersey’s stricter legal framework shows how states can fight back.
- New York City’s man-made wetlands and ponds can help prevent flooding in homes and buildings, and return cleaner water to the ocean.
- The Valley Fire torched Idaho’s Lucky Peak in the fall of 2024. Bird researchers in the state are channeling their grief into a study of how avians respond to climate-driven blazes.
How Alabama Power Has Left the ‘American Amazon’ at Risk
BY LEE HEDGEPETH
As its polluting coal ash ponds remain in groundwater, Alabama Power has doubled down on fossil fuel energy investments.The Year in Climate: Attacks on Science, the Start of Trump’s Second Term and Surging Electricity Demand Foreshadow a Future Filled with Uncertainty
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Global inaction on fossil fuel and plastic treaties, the dismantling of federal agencies and regulations and the rapid rise of data centers were just a few of the consequential stories that Inside Climate News tracked in 2025.Now in its 25th Year, a Historic Effort to Save the Everglades Evolves as the Climate Warms
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Dr. Farah Waseem has advocated for climate awareness since childhood. Now, it’s a matter of life and death for her patients in Pakistan.Maine’s Shellfish Harvesters Are Caught up in Climate-Related Closures
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Heavier rains are triggering regulatory pauses on harvesting oysters and clams—and putting fishermen out of work.A Network Blooms to Connect Fiber Farmers With Fabric Artisans
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New Jersey Fibershed is an affiliate of a global movement that supports creating more sustainable clothing and fabrics from the wool of local sheep, alpacas and goats.Michigan’s Other Water Crisis: PFAS’s Prevalence in Private Wells
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Ahead of the curve when it comes to testing city water for PFAS, Michigan has met its match with the state’s over one million private wells, urging residents to get their water tested.A Maine Folk Band Finds Its Voice in a Warming World
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GoldenOak’s music turns floods, forest loss and climate anxiety into folk songs rooted in Maine and shaped by activism.
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ICN international climate policy reporter Bob Berwyn reviews the past decade of the United Nations Climate Change Conference.
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