On the list: A Louisiana site contaminated with creosote should be added to the Superfund list of the nation’s most contaminated sites, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says. The Associated Press reports the American Creosote site is south of DeRidder in Beauregard Parish. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality says it was a timber treatment operation for the first half of the 20th century. The Superfund program cleans sites highly contaminated with hazardous waste. More than 1,300 sites are prioritized nationally for cleanup.State environmental quality secretary Chuck Carr Brown says his agency is happy to join EPA in adding the site to the list—adding that it’s just one of many that need immediate attention.
Burned: Bipartisan efforts to add homeowner protections and other reforms to the federal flood insurance program have hit a snag in a congressional committee. WWL-TV reports the committee’s chairman, Idaho Republican Sen. Mike Crapo, has turned part of the critical legislation—which reauthorizes the National Flood Insurance Program—into a funding mechanism for combating wildfires. Crapo is offering to reauthorize the program before it expires Sept. 30, but more than a quarter of the bill is dedicated to the wildfires that threaten Crapo’s home state. That section of the bill proposes to take $1.4 billion from the federal Disaster Relief Fund, which was established to help victims of all types of natural disasters, and use it instead to fight western wildfires. Read more.
Hop in: Ride-hailing service Lyft carried more passengers through June of this year than it did in all of last year as it capitalized on missteps by Uber. As The Associated Press reports, a Lyft says ridership through June surpassed the record 162.5 million rides it gave in all of 2016. A spokeswoman wouldn’t give an exact number. The company has made its gains as some people avoid Lyft’s much larger rival, Uber. Both companies are based in San Francisco. Uber has been without a CEO since June when company co-founder Travis Kalanick stepped down under pressure from the board. The departure took place after investigations by outside law firms uncovered widespread sexual harassment at the company. Read more.
