Feature Stories | Water News
Global Perspectives: How Dry Weather in Argentina Could Affect Chicken Prices in Chicago
Written by Codi Yeager
Wednesday, 22 February 2012 12:41
No Comments
A South American drought keeps global grain reserves tight, but it could mean good things for North American corn producers.

A South American drought keeps global grain reserves tight, but it could mean good things for North American corn producers.

Read more ...
 
President Obama’s 2013 Budget a Mixed Bag for Water, a Boon for Clean Energy
Written by Brett Walton
Tuesday, 14 February 2012 14:25
No Comments
President Obama spoke to students at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Va., on Monday, the day he submitted his fiscal year 2013 budget to Congress. (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)

The president throws more clean energy money at the Energy Department, while cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget come at the expense of water and sewer infrastructure.

Read more ...
 
Connected by Pipeline from Canada, Tar Sands Represents Bonus and Risk to Great Lakes
Written by Circle of Blue
Tuesday, 07 February 2012 06:00
No Comments
Thousands of BP employees support Whiting’s businesses, including Happy Jack's Liquors. "That that has been a very significant benefit for the downtown economy," said Brian Lowry, a member of the Whiting Redevelopment Commission.

Transporting and processing corrosive crude raise new questions about consequences. At least 3,000 kilometers (1,900 miles) separate the tar sands mines and processing plants of northern Alberta, Canada, from British Petroleum’s mammoth refinery here along the southern shore of Lake Michigan.

Read more ...
 
Visions of Solar Energy’s Future Compete in Colorado’s San Luis Valley
Written by Brett Walton
Friday, 27 January 2012 10:05
4 Comments
Solar array from Iberdrola Renewables

The U.S. government is in the process of designating more than 6,000 hectares of federal land in the nation’s highest agricultural region for solar energy development.

Read more ...
 
State of the Union: New Economics of Energy Production Tilts Obama’s “All-of-the-Above” Strategy One Way
Written by Keith Schneider
Wednesday, 25 January 2012 20:50
2 Comments
keith-590x250

In the era of deficit and disinvestment, water-intensive fossil fuel production is overwhelming the water-sipping clean energy sector.

Read more ...
 
Water Law: Public Trust May Be Fresh Approach to Protecting Great Lakes
Written by Keith Schneider
Tuesday, 17 January 2012 14:09
5 Comments
LakeMichigan-250

Canadian and American advocates join to promote big oversight idea of the “commons.”

Read more ...
 
Food vs. Water: High Commodity Prices Complicate Aquifer Protection in Colorado’s San Luis Valley
Written by Brett Walton
Thursday, 12 January 2012 13:19
5 Comments
brett-banner

Decades of groundwater pumping have left one of the San Luis Valley aquifers in a perilous state. To restore its health — and the foundation of the local economy — valley leaders are developing a plan to pay farmers to fallow up to 16,000 hectares. But with commodity prices soaring, will anyone go for it, or will the state have to step in?

Read more ...
 
Top 10 Water News Stories of 2011
Written by Circle of Blue
Wednesday, 11 January 2012 15:17
1 Comment
2011-stories-featured-590-2

Understanding the interplay between water, food, and energy is crucial for business, policy, data, science, environment, and human welfare. In 2011, the Circle of Blue team brought you exclusive, top-of-the-line reporting from the coal mines of northern China to the deepest intrigue of the Wikileaks documents, from the Texas drought to East Africa’s famine, from the desks of the data gurus to the design mavens.

Read more ...
 
Water News: What’s Ahead in 2012
Written by Brett Walton
Thursday, 05 January 2012 06:00
No Comments
Panama is one of the fastest-growing economies in the Western Hemisphere, largely thanks to a new free-trade agreement with the U.S. and an ongoing $US 5.25 billion expansion of the Panama Canal. Slated for completion in 2014, the expansion will double the canal's capacity, which will reduce emissions, and the new system will recycle 60 percent of the water in each transit, along with an overall decrease of 7 percent less water than is used by the existing locks.

News headlines are often dominated by the big, unexpected events — BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010, for example, or Japan’s earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear catastrophes in 2011 — but some events come with advance warning. Here is a preview of the water news to look for in 2012.

Read more ...
 
Plumbing WikiLeaks: Water’s Role in U.S. Foreign Aid
Written by Brett Walton
Thursday, 15 December 2011 06:00
2 Comments
Children in Nawa

Diplomatic cables show that the U.S. State Department aims to strike a balance between the need for diplomatic dances and the desire to produce tangible results from on-the-ground projects.

Read more ...