President Obama Wins Re-election
The U.S. energy industry is expecting stricter regulations during President Obama’s second term, with tighter rules for water management, emissions and drilling on federal land, Reuters reported. Nonetheless, the President is also expected to support the development of natural gas, and will likely give eventual approval for the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.

Here, the Guardian’s Damian Carrington discusses what Obama’s re-election might mean for climate change action.

Flooding
Meanwhile, one week after Sandy, another storm is brewing along the U.S. East Coast, USA Today reported. While not as strong as Sandy, this storm could bring more snow, rain and flooding to communities that are still struggling to recover.

Heavy rains flooded hundreds of homes, triggered landslides and covered roads in northeast Slovenia, Xinhua reported.

Energy Development
Laos held a ground-breaking ceremony today for its controversial Mekong River hydropower dam, the Guardian reported. Other countries in the Mekong River basin, such as Cambodia and Vietnam, are opposed to the dam and fear it could harm downstream fisheries and agriculture.

Libya is evaluating possible shale drilling operations to increase its production of natural gas, according to Bloomberg News. The country is estimated to have 8.2 trillion cubic meters (290 trillion cubic feet) of recoverable shale gas, but hydraulic fracturing to release the gas requires large quantities of water.

The Stream is a daily digest spotting global water trends. To get more water news, follow Circle of Blue on Twitter and sign up for our newsletter.

Codi Yeager-Kozacek is a reporter for Circle of Blue based out of Enterprise, Alabama. She studied journalism and biology as an undergraduate at West Virginia University and graduated summa cum laude from the university’s Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism. She has done research at the College of the Bahamas Gerace Research Center on San Salvador Island, Bahamas, and her study on coastal dune plants is currently pending publication in the Bahamas Natural History Proceedings. Her interests include food security and ecology. She co-writes The Stream, Circle of Blue’s daily digest of international water news trends. Email: Codi Yeager-Kozacek  :: Follow on Twitter :: More Articles