The Rundown
- NOAA forecasts a moderate sized Lake Erie harmful algal bloom this summer.
- EPA administrator says the agency has no plans to regulate farm nutrient pollution.
- Glaciers in western Canada and the western U.S. show big declines in the last four years due to weather and wildfire.
- Water bills in Congress include labeling non-flushable wipes, overhauling Clean Water Act permitting, and preserving Biden-era PFAS limits in drinking water.
And lastly, the Interior secretary outlines an energy abundance agenda for the western governors.
“The existential threat that we’re facing is not one or two degrees of climate change in 2100, because we’ll solve all that. And we’ll solve all that in the next decade or two by the innovation that will be provided if we can cut the red tape and have enough energy to drive AI.” – Doug Burgum, secretary of the Interior, speaking at the Western Governors’ Association meeting in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on June 22, 2025. Burgum sketched the Trump administration’s vision that lands managed by the Department of the Interior are a vital source of minerals and energy – meaning anything but wind and solar. Outside the meeting, the public protested the Republican-led movement to sell federally managed public lands.
By the Numbers
12 Percent: Total ice volume lost for glaciers in western Canada and the western United States from 2021 to 2024, according to a study with contribution from a U.S. Geological Survey researcher. The acceleration in melting was caused by higher temperatures, low snowfall, and wildfire ash that darkened the glacier surface, causing them to absorb more solar radiation.
News Briefs
EPA Has No Intention to Regulate Farm Pollution
Lee Zeldin, the EPA administrator, said his agency does not plan to regulate farm runoff.
Zeldin spoke at the Western Governors’ Association meeting in Santa Fe. Circle of Blue attended and asked the administrator if he intended to do anything about the largest source of impairment for the nation’s waterways: nutrient pollution from agriculture.
Zeldin said the agency is not looking at any regulatory steps. “As far as core statutory obligations go, it’s not something that the EPA has a lot of work on its plan, currently.”
But Zeldin said the agency is willing to provide “technical assistance” – if communities ask for it and Congress appropriates the money.
Coordinating technical assistance “is not something the EPA is looking to micromanage at the federal level,” Zeldin said.
Burgum Speech
Doug Burgum, the Interior secretary and former North Dakota governor, also spoke at the meeting. We can have it all, he said.
Preaching the gospel of abundance, Burgum envisioned a limitless future for the country – only if federally managed public lands can be tapped for their minerals and hydrocarbons in order to produce energy and power computers.
“Part of the divisiveness in our country is getting people to believe that everything is scarce, and if we do A then we can’t do B, or if we do B we can’t do A,” he said. “We just have to get an abundance mindset and we have to understand that innovation will solve any problem we have and one of the ways that’s going to happen is if we have energy to drive artificial intelligence.”
Burgum referred to Interior’s portfolio of hundreds of millions of acres of public lands, offshore blocks, and subsurface minerals in business terms. “If you put all of that together it would be the largest balance sheet in the world, it would dwarf any private or public company in the world, so it’s a huge responsibility across all the departments.”
Burgum sees one of his main responsibilities as providing “low-cost, affordable, reliable energy” to all Americans.
“We’re at this tipping point where we now have the ability to actually solve all of our problems and stop living in a world where everything is a tradeoff,” Burgum said. “But we can only do that if we have enough energy.”
Water Bills in Congress
Amid the budget negotiations, members of Congress still acted on a number of water-related bills.
- Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) and Debbie Dingell (D-MI) introduced a bill that would set in law the PFAS drinking water standards set by the Biden administration. In May, the EPA announced it would keep Biden-era limits on PFOA and PFOS, but seek to rescind regulation of four other PFAS. This bill would prevent that from happening.
- The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved the PERMIT Act, a package of more than a dozen bills that overhauls Clean Water Act permitting processes. The act shortens timelines, narrows reviews, raises the threshold for requiring certain permits, and requires specific pollution limits in permits.
- Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) and Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) introduced a bill to prohibit abortion providers from disposing fetal remains in public wastewater systems.
- The House passed the WIPPES Act, a product-labeling law that requires non-flushable wipes to be labeled “Do Not Flush.” As any wastewater system operator will tell you, wipes clog pipes.
Studies and Reports
Lake Erie Harmful Algal Bloom
According to NOAA’s main seasonal forecast, the harmful algal bloom in Lake Erie is expected to be moderate size this summer.
The size of the bloom does not correspond to its potential toxicity. Some blooms, even small ones, produce microcystin, a liver toxin.
The annual bloom, which generally peaks in August, appears in the lake’s shallow western basin. The basin receives loads of phosphorus from agriculture in the Maumee River watershed that fuel the bloom.
On the Radar
Houston-Area Flood Risk Reduction
The Army Corps of Engineers will begin an environmental review to identify ways to reduce the risk of flooding in the Houston metro area.
The study, led by the Harris County Flood Control District, is a step towards receiving federal funding. The country calls the SAFER project “one of the most forward-thinking flood mitigation efforts” in its history. Because the project is so large, the county is seeking Army Corps assistance.
Learn more about the project here.
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