On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Debtwire ABS Editorial Director Eric Homer and Reporter Kunal Kamal about commercial real estate.

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks to Adam Smith, applied climatologist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration about billion-dollar climate and weather disasters.

The podcast begins with Adam explaining his job with NOAA.

Adam provides an overview of the findings from NOAA’s billion-dollar climate and weather disasters report released on 9 January 2024.

Adam discusses the methodology used to create the report and emerging trends.

Adam discusses the time required for post-disaster recovery.

Adam then turns the conversation to explaining how the size of a municipality affects recovery dynamics.

Adam concludes the podcast by discussing the consequences on the property and car insurance markets due to the frequency and intensity of these billion-dollar disasters.

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Simone Baribeau about recent developments with the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bankruptcy proceedings.

Simone begins the podcast by providing a historical overview of PREPA’s restructuring. That leads into a discussion about the upcoming confirmation hearing in March 2024.

Simone discusses the various actions that certain creditors have taken to upend or change the legal trajectory of the bankruptcy proceedings including the rationale behind these moves and why it’s happening now.

Simone provides some perspective on the likelihood of success by those creditors with their legal maneuvers.

Simone concludes the podcast by discussing litigation around whether the commonwealth’s oversight board has “bought votes” and whether this poses a substantive risk to confirming the plan of adjustment.

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Greg Clark, head of research, about trends and updates for lower-rated nonprofit hospitals.

The podcast begins with Greg providing an overview of the surveillance project he initiated last year on nonprofit hospitals and hospital systems. The impetus was the financial problems brought on by the pandemic.

Greg then discusses the methodology behind the hospitals chosen for surveillance and why a quarterly review is done.

Greg highlights each hospital has been placed into one of three categories: declining credit strength, improving or stable.

To close the podcast, Greg provides examples from each category.

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with a journalist on the team, Kunal Kamal, about coronavirus spending by states and localities.

The podcast begins with Kunal providing an overview of the spending of coronavirus state and local fiscal recovery funds.

Kunal then discusses the distinctions between how much funding has been obligated vs. the amount spent. He notes that states and localities have until 31 December 2024 to obligate funds and must be spent by 31 December 2026.

Kunal moves the discussion towards the seven spending categories identified by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and focuses on the two largest ones, revenue replacement and negative economic impacts.

To close the podcast, Kunal discusses GAO findings around compliance and reporting of state and local fiscal recovery funds.

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks to Morgan Zabow, Community Heat and Health Information Coordinator at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration about extreme heat.

The podcast begins with Morgan explaining her job and the Urban Heat Island mapping campaign.

Morgan goes on to explain the role of citizen science volunteers and project implications.

Morgan proceeds to discuss an overview of potential municipal costs and local economy resulting from extreme heat. She then drills down on impacts to vulnerable communities.

Morgan discusses the meaning of the term “tree canopy” and its importance as a key climate and mitigation strategy.

Morgan then turns to conversation to explaining a “one size fits all” approach is not effective. Different regions of the country may have unique strategies for combating extreme heat.

Morgan concludes the podcast by discussing the most surprising results from the mapping campaign.

#ESG #extremeheat #muniland

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks to a journalist on the team, Kunal Kamal, about the effects climate and weather risk on the municipal market.

The podcast begins with Paul providing an overview of climate and weather risk in the United States.

Kunal then discusses on climate change is affecting municipalities across the country including the physical impact, economic ramifications, resource management challenges, population migration and regulatory pressures

To close the podcast, Kunal discusses the implications of climate and weather risk on municipal bonds in areas such as credit rating vulnerability, risk pricing, market volatility, insurance and liability, as well as investor perception.

#ESG #muniland #infrastructure

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with Debtwire North America Analyst John Sinna, about the future of Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc.

The podcast begins with a recounting of the Maui wildfire in August and the resulting fallout for Hawaiian Electric (HE) which includes a congressional House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing scheduled for September 28 with utility and Hawaii regulatory officials.

John’s moves on to discuss HE's business and their unique situation of owning a bank (American Savings Bank, F.S.B.).

The conversation shifts to a discussion of the potential financial damages that HE faces.

John provides a comparison of Pacific Gas & Electric to HE.

John goes on to discuss how owning a bank makes the situation for HE more complicated.

Finally, John provides his view on the potential scenarios that could play out for HE.

#wildfire #catastrophicrisk #muniland

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Chuck Stanley of Infralogic discusses the status of electric vehicles (EVs) and its charging infrastructure for states, local government entities and nonprofits.

To kick off the podcast, Chuck provides an overview of federal electric vehicle incentives and its importance to state and local governments.

The conversation turns to a breakdown of federal EV charging infrastructure funding for states (USD 5n) and community level EV deployment (USD 2.5bn). The dialogue moves to the time required to build an EV charging station and the areas of the country seeing the fastest growth.

The conversation shifts to a breakdown of federal fleet electrification funding for mass transit buses (USD 5.6bn) and school buses (USD 5bn).

The discussion moves to the tax credits provided under the Inflation Reduction Act to incentivize nonprofits, government agencies and consumers to purchase EVs.

Chuck concludes the podcast the discuss the potential for cybersecurity risks.

Chuck Stanley is a senior policy reporter covering the renewable energy transition for Infralogic.

Paul Greaves serves as the moderator and is the managing editor for Debtwire Municipals.

On the latest episode of the Debtwire Municipals Muni Lowdown podcast, Managing Editor Paul Greaves speaks with one of the team’s journalists, Deb Pace, to discuss water issues in the Southwest focusing on Texas, Arizona, and Nevada.

Deb begins the podcast by discussing the efforts of the Texas Water Development Board, their recently released water report that showed that 31% of Texas is under drought conditions, and nearly 40% of the state is vulnerable to drought soon. Deb turns her attention to the agreement reached in the Texas legislature to allocate USD 1bn toward addressing the state's water challenges and highlights a few of the projects funded.

The conversation then turns to Arizona and specifically how the state has stopped approving development projects in Phoenix over water concerns. There are also projects highlighted that are benefiting from federal funding. The discussion swings to the USD 1bn in funding over three years to the state’s Water Infrastructure Financing Authority to help boost water supply through alternative water projects.

The dialogue moves toward Nevada, with Deb discussing its mitigation efforts. Specifically, a state law signed allowing the Southern Nevada Water Authority to limit residential water use during a declared federal emergency water shortage through flow-limiting devices. Deb then highlights pipeline construction efforts in the state. The podcast concludes with the latest plans for the Las Vegas Valley Water District.

As a reporter for Debtwire Municipals, Deb Pace covers transportation, utilities, and tax-backed credits in the State of Illinois.

#water #drought #conservation #muniland