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This week on NOW:
In Louisiana's St. Bernard Parish, the destruction in the wake of Hurricane Katrina stretches for miles--once a bustling community of 68,000 people, it is now an eerie wasteland. NOW travels to the heart of the damage where an oil refinery spilled over a million gallons of thick black crude oil into yards and living rooms of nearly 3,000 homes. Authorities say they are doing what they can, but some environmentalists worry about the long-lasting impact of toxic chemicals. Residents are devastated. "I'm kind of scared to come back. But I love Saint Bernard…and I've been here for 50 years," says one resident. "I'm heartbroken. I mean what else can I say? That's how I feel. I'm heartbroken."
A recent Supreme Court ruling gives states the right to take property for private economic development, but should the government be allowed to force people to give up their homes to make way for condos and shopping malls? For years, the government has used the power of eminent domain to take private property for so-called "public uses," such as building roads, schools, and police stations. Today, cash-strapped cities and towns are arguing that the economic benefits of private development are a legitimate "public use," and they're using eminent domain to force people out of their homes The report examines what some have called "an unholy alliance" between financially stressed cities and eager developers that is endangering the rights of homeowners across the country.
Scientists say that during the last century, almost every glacier on earth has gotten smaller and that the Arctic is warming twice as fast as anywhere else. It's part of the body of evidence, they say, that proves humans are causing global climate change, which has enormous implications for the health of the planet. But some in government still claim that global warming is a hoax. Recently, six former EPA heads, including five Republicans, said the U.S. government isn't doing enough and a NASA scientist accused the Bush administration of stifling scientific evidence of the dangers of global warming in an effort to keep the public uninformed. NOW analyzes the latest from the scientific and political fronts on climate change.
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