US climate disaster bill exceeds $2 trillion

The economic bill that emerged as the US struggled with freezing cold weather in recent days has also come to the fore. While the cost of the last storm is estimated to be $5 billion, it is stated that the economic devastation caused by climate disasters over the past 40 years has exceeded $2 trillion. While there have been 338 weather and climate disasters in the US since 1980, their economic cost has reached $2.2 trillion. According to data released by the National Environmental Information Center, the economic cost of 56 disasters in the last three years alone, in which 1,030 people lost their lives, was $315 billion. The latest storm is already expected to cost a $5 billion bill. It is stated that there is serious damage, especially due to the cessation of operations of airline and logistics companies and the closure of many businesses. Emergency aid approval from the federal government US President Joe Biden announced that he will provide emergency federal funding to New York state, which was hit the hardest by the winter storm. The Biden administration has also stepped in regarding canceled flights. After Southwest, one of the major US airlines, canceled 10,700 flights since last week, the US Department of Transportation announced that it had opened an investigation. Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg called Southwest CEO Bob Jordan and asked for compensation for the grievances of the passengers whose flights were canceled. The public reaction has increased even more after it was revealed that Southwest was provided $7 billion in support from the Biden administration's incentive package for airlines due to the pandemic. Crypto miners in trouble The production of crypto miners in the US fell due to power outages over the weekend due to the storm that ravaged North America. Riot Blockchain and Core Scientific, two of the largest miners in the US that filed for bankruptcy protection, also stopped their operations due to worsening winter conditions. Similarly, Lee Bratcher, Founder and President of the Texas Blockchain Council Industry Group, announced that 99 percent of the industrial-scale Bitcoin mining load in Texas was temporarily shut down over the weekend.