Will states lead — or leave US communities to face disaster alone?

The document warns that intensifying hurricanes, fueled by fossil fuel-driven climate change, are posing an escalating threat to US communities, especially those near petrochemical facilities. It highlights a systemic failure where the US government is dismantling essential safety agencies and forecasting tools, while insurance companies profit from fossil fuel investments while withdrawing coverage from vulnerable homeowners. The authors call on state and local leaders to implement safety rules and halt fossil fuel expansion to protect residents from toxic releases and financial ruin.

• The Gulf Coast is highly vulnerable to hurricanes due to its concentration of petrochemical infrastructure, with over 870 hazardous chemical facilities located within 50 miles of the coast and 4 million residents and 1,500 schools within 1.5 miles of a high-risk facility.
• The Trump administration has systematically weakened US disaster preparedness by cutting staff at NOAA and the National Weather Service, dismantling the Chemical Safety Board, proposing rollbacks of the Risk Management Program (RMP), and planning to eliminate FEMA.
• Petrochemical infrastructure both increases disaster risk and contributes to the climate crisis; 80 percent of new petrochemical projects proposed over the last decade were sited within 20 miles of a hurricane or tropical storm path.
• The insurance industry is accused of a contradictory business model: increasing home insurance premiums (which rose by 10 percent or more in 40 states from 2021 to 2024) and withdrawing coverage from vulnerable areas while simultaneously investing in and underwriting fossil fuel infrastructure, including LNG export terminals.

APA

Jurca, L., Slidders, C., & Pace, B. (2025). Will states lead — or leave US communities to face disaster alone? Center for International Environmental Law. https://www.ciel.org/hurricane-petrochemicals/

Chicago

Jurca, Lindsey, Charles Slidders, and Barnaby Pace. Will states lead — or leave US communities to face disaster alone? Center for International Environmental Law, 2025. https://www.ciel.org/hurricane-petrochemicals/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Jurca |first1=Lindsey |last2=Slidders |first2=Charles |last3=Pace |first3=Barnaby |title=Will states lead — or leave US communities to face disaster alone? |publisher=Center for International Environmental Law |date=21 August 2025 |url=https://www.ciel.org/hurricane-petrochemicals/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{jurca2025will, author = {Jurca, Lindsey and Slidders, Charles and Pace, Barnaby}, title = {{Will states lead — or leave US communities to face disaster alone?}}, publisher = {Center for International Environmental Law}, year = {2025}, month = aug, url = {https://www.ciel.org/hurricane-petrochemicals/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }