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Climate change will have the greatest economic effect on crops in the Midwest’s Corn Belt states, where annual loses could range from US$1.1 billion to US$4.1 billion by 2030. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service used four climate projections, a crop-growth simulation, and a model for predicting how farmers would change their crop [...]
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Biochemistry Scientists at Idaho State University experimenting with a species of minnow found that low levels of antidepressants altered the genes associated with autism in humans, the New Scientist reports. Next, the researchers will test the effect on mice. Estrogen in wastewater lagoons on large dairy farms was shown to persist in water supplies for [...]
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United States The Great Lakes Watershed is at risk from potential oil spills due to inadequate federal regulations for pipelines, according to a new report from the National Wildlife Federation and The University of Michigan, UPI reported. In 2010, crude tar sand oil spilled from a ruptured pipe into Michigan’s Kalamazoo River. Ohio faces a [...]
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Rise and Fall The bilateral commission charged with coordinating U.S. and Canadian policies on the Great Lakes released a draft plan for regulating water levels in Lake Ontario. The proposal will keep the lake closer to natural flow patterns: water levels during high and average conditions will be kept higher, and kept lower under low [...]
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A new report by a U.S.-Canadian advisory panel recommends against large-scale engineering projects to control the Great Lakes water levels, saying people across the region should instead adapt to nature’s swings, Detroit Free Press reported. Chicago has announced a $7 billion, three-year plan to transform the city’s infrastructure. The program, which will touch nearly every [...]
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Diminishing supplies of water, metals and biomass could slow the deployment of clean energy technologies by 2035, Reuters reported, citing a new study by the Stockholm Environment Institute and by business initiative 3C. Some low-carbon technologies use more water than conventional fuels. Read the policy brief to find out why cutting carbon emissions and saving [...]
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U.S. scientists are investigating whether DNA from Asian carp found in waterways near Chicago suggests that the invasive species have evaded the electronic barrier and are moving closer to the Great Lakes, Associated Press reported. China plans to produce 6.5 billion cubic meters (230 billion cubic feet) of shale gas annually by 2015 and increase [...]
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Ice coverage on the Great Lakes decreased 71 percent between 1973 and 2010, EarthSky reported, citing a study from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published in the Journal of Climate. The lakes currently have only a 12 percent ice cover, less than a third of the ice cover present at this time last [...]
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Water Law The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by five U.S. states seeking an order requiring that additional steps be taken to keep invasive Asian carp out of the Great Lakes, Reuters reported. Poland has not yet complied with EU legislation on water protection, including the monitoring of water quality, the European Commission [...]
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Energy South Africa may invest $78 billion in new nuclear power plants, a hydropower project and a coal-fired power plant in order to keep up with energy demand, Business Week reported. A European Union expert committee failed to reach a decision on a proposal that would label fuel from tar sands as highly polluting, pushing [...]
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Water Quality Environmental degradation, including waste water discharge that is harming fisheries, is the greatest threat to food security in Africa, Xinhua reported. Proposed regulations for ballast water discharge in the Great Lakes will not do enough to stop invasive species, according to environmental groups, Reuters reported. The groups want the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [...]
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The United States is the world’s largest exporter, and one of the biggest importers, of virtual water, a measure of the water used to create products that are shipped abroad, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The study, which outlines the flow of water around the [...]
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United States Separating the Great Lakes from the Mississippi River basin in order to stop aquatic invasive species like Asian carp will require reversing the flow of the Chicago River, according to a new study sponsored by the Great Lakes Commission and the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, Reuters reported. Whether or not [...]
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Water levels are expected to rise on Lake Erie and Lake Ontario in the next six months, but unusually warm winter temperatures may lead to less ice cover and more evaporation, ultimately reducing Great Lakes water levels, The Detroit News reported, citing the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ latest forecast. Wasting natural resources, such as [...]
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Water access and use are a concern in Argentina, where 11 percent of the population does not have a piped water source and the average consumption per person is more than three times that of Brazil, the Guardian reported, citing a study by Green Cross Argentina. Shell spilled an estimated 20,000 barrels of oil off [...]
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Prices for farmland in the United States are rising as water-strapped countries like China turn to foreign sources for their grain, Forbes reported. China plans to boost its domestic grain production by expanding its man-made rain programs, according to the 12th Five-Year Plan, China Daily reported. Livestock production needs to become more efficient to provide [...]
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2011 ‘Tis the season for reflection. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration looks back at a year of extreme weather and finds a record number of events that caused more than $1 billion in damage. Starting with a January blizzard in the Midwest and continuing through floods and fires, drought and heat, a spate of [...]
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Frack the Halls The shale gas boom rolled through Congress last week. At a House Transportation and Infrastructure subcommittee hearing, chairman Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) said states are doing a good job regulating gas drilling and that states would lose the economic benefits if “needlessly restrictive” federal regulations for wastewater were put in place. The Senate [...]
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Environmental security is becoming a top priority in international relations, as showcased by disputes over natural resources and pollution in Latin America, The Guardian reported. Access to water is the most likely to create conflicts, policy experts say. North America Five Great Lakes states are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to speed up federal efforts [...]
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Wastewater Standards The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced a schedule for regulating wastewater from shale gas drilling and from coalbed methane extraction. The agency will publish draft rules for public comment in 2013 for coalbed methane and in 2014 for shale gas. The longer timetable for shale gas owes to the greater amount of data [...]
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