U.S. House of Representatives

As water levels dropped three meters (10 feet) in India’s Brahmaputra River, fears surfaced that China was diverting water near the river’s origin in Tibet, Agence France-Presse reported. The cause of the water shortage remains unknown. Africa’s Lake Chad is shrinking—it is now one tenth the size it was in the 1960s—but local residents have [...]

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The proposed pipeline could be approved on a much shorter timeline than was laid out by President Barack Obama, after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill Thursday giving approval power for the project to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The Senate has not yet considered the bill.

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Energy A bill meant to speed up approval of the proposed Keystone XL pipeline passed the United States House of Representatives, Bloomberg News reported. Those opposed to the pipeline, which would carry crude oil from Canada’s tar sands to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico, say it could harm the environment. In this Guardian video, [...]

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Bulgaria should pursue shale gas in order to achieve energy independence, United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said during a visit to the country, according to EurActiv. In January, Bulgaria placed a moratorium on the use of hydraulic fracturing, which forces large quantities of chemicals and water into shale gas formations underground to release [...]

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If the Republican-sponsored bill passes the Democrat-controlled Senate, the final decision could come by the beginning of November.

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House Takes On the EPA The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill that would bar the Environmental Protection Agency from overturning state decisions on water quality, the Huffington Post reports. Sixteen Democrats voted with the Republican majority. GAO Rebukes the EPA The Government Accountability Office says that the Environmental Protection Agency ‘has not effectively [...]

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With just a few weeks until the details of a draft plan for the Murray-Darling River Basin are revealed, a new report says that big water cuts could finish small country towns and communities in Australia’s food bowl, ABC News reported. A bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives could restrict the U.S. Environmental [...]

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What About the Kitchen Sink? In February, the Republican-majority U.S. House of Representatives voted to cut $61 billion from the federal budget for the remaining seven months of fiscal year 2011. Among the cuts were a 56 percent reduction in funding for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, which provides low-interest loans [...]

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