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As The Hottest Year On Record, Natural Disaster Insurance Claims Also Continue To Rise

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S&P Global reports, 2024 was the warmest year on record, according to US and European scientists. (Free registration on the S&P website may be required.) An El Niño weather pattern contributed to the high temperatures, but Gavin Schmidt, who directs the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, said the global mean temperature will not level off as long as greenhouse gas emissions continue. With the heat and record high water vapor levels, the planet also saw catastrophic heatwaves and rainfall in 2024.

“The 2024 temperature assessment came the day after insurance giant Munich Re said North America suffered $190 billion in losses from natural disasters during the year, more than any other region.” Globally, 2024 was the third costliest year for Munich Re, which cited the link between climate change and more violent storms.

The Smishing Scam Continues, Worldwide

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Officials in Florence, South Carolina, are warning residents about scam text messages purporting to collect tolls for the Southern Connector Toll Road, WPDE reports.

Massachusetts DOT is warning the public of fraudulent text messages pretending to collect money for EZDriveMA, according to WCVB.

And The New Zealand Herald informs readers that phony messages impersonating the New Zealand Transport Agency Waka Kotahi have been reported in the city Tauranga. One astute recipient said her suspicions were raised by the message’s incorrect grammar and the sender’s overseas phone number.

Congestion Pricing Roundup: Shorter Tunnel Times, Electric Bus Investment “Unlocked”

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Early data from the student-run Congestion Pricing Tracker shows travel time through the Holland and Lincoln tunnels was down by as much as half in the first week of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA’s) Manhattan congestion pricing scheme, New Jersey Monitor reports. Traffic inside the congestion zone, however, remained largely unchanged. The tracker also recorded some “spillover” effect on alternate routes, but those increases appeared to be out-measured by traffic reductions on affected routes. Official data from the George Washington Bridge and other crossings won’t be available till next month.

MTA Chairman Janno Lieber appeared at a press conference last week to showcase the agency’s first purchase “‘unlocked’” by congestion pricing revenues, NBC News New York reports. “Lieber revealed that 265 new electric buses had been purchased, part of the MTA’s promise to put all the buses in a new energy efficient depot and cut down on the pollution from the old diesel buses. The new 40-foot, zero-emission buses will operate on routes across the city.”

An MTA press release provides additional information about the agency’s fleet electrification, including construction of the new “green” bus depot and overhead pantograph charging systems.

CBS News offers a more general overview of congestion pricing’s early days.

FHWA Announces $635 Million In Grants To Continue Expanding EV Charging and Refueling Infrastructure

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FHWA today announced the award of $635 million in grants “to continue building out electric vehicle (EV) charging and alternative fueling infrastructure.” The funding, made possible by USDOT’s Charging and Fueling Infrastructure (CFI) Discretionary Grant Program and a 10 percent set-aside from the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program grants, will fund “49 projects that will deploy more than 11,500 EV charging ports and hydrogen and natural gas fueling infrastructure along corridors and in communities across 27 States, four Federally Recognized Tribes, and the District of Columbia.” (TRN inserted a link in quoted text.)

The announcement recaps progress made in expanding public EV charging capacity since the 2021 enactment of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). It notes the Biden administration “set a goal of building out 500,000 publicly available EV chargers by 2030 – and we are on track to achieve that goal early. As of today, there are more than 206,000 publicly available EV charging ports with 38,000 new public chargers turned on in 2024 thanks to private sector investment, and a combination of direct federal funding, federal tax incentives, and state and local funding.”