Water & Oceans

"In the coming years, a new gold rush will begin. Deep beneath the ocean’s waves, from scalding hydrothermal vents to the frigid stretches of the abyssal plain, ocean processes have deposited vast quantities of valuable minerals on the seafloor. Now, the convergence of technological development and political will has placed this ore within reach. But like the gold rushes of old, the deep-sea-mining industry is emerging on the frontiers of society, far from legislatures and law enforcement."

"Federal appeals judges denied the Trump administration's motion yesterday to halt a lower-court order requiring U.S. EPA to address water pollution linked to coal mining in West Virginia."

"A federal lawsuit alleges the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency failed to protect the Shenandoah River from pollution that's caused the scenic waterway to become clogged with algae blooms."

"The US Marine Mammal Commission, an organisation charged with restoring mammal populations in the world’s oceans, is set for the chop in president Donald Trump’s latest budget proposal."

"Rising nitrate levels in the Minnesota and Blue Earth Rivers are forcing Mankato to adjust how it provides drinking water to residents and potentially threatens the city's attempts to limit the amount of water it takes from the region's most critical aquifer."

"As local lawmakers continue to pressure the military to do more to clean massive groundwater pollution near its bases in Bucks and Montgomery counties, contaminant levels appear to have increased in the past year."

"The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said it proposed a rule on Thursday to postpone compliance dates for effluent guidelines for steam electric power plants published in November 2015."

"ALLEGAN COUNTY, MI -- The Vande Bunte Eggs farm has racked up more than 200 state permit violations in the past three years. ... The farm has also benefitted from more than $1 million in federal subsidies."

"Can Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar oversee objective scientific research into rare species? Or is he rigging the process to keep them off the endangered list, as his critics charge?"