Fracking's Thirst for Water: Investors Warned of Financial Risks
"In dozens of water-scarce counties where fracking is booming, water use is at or approaching more than a billion gallons a year."
Source: InsideClimate News, 02/07/2014
Water & Oceans
"Water Safety Threatened By North Carolina Coal Ash Spill, Group Says"
"EDEN, N.C. – An environmental group Thursday challenged Duke Energy’s assurances that drinking water from the Dan River in North Carolina and Virginia remained safe despite a massive spill of toxic coal ash that released a deluge of murky gray sludge into the river Sunday."
Source: LA Times, 02/07/2014
"House Passes California Drought Bill And Political Floodgates Open"
"WASHINGTON — A bitterly divided House approved a sweeping California water bill Wednesday that puts the Senate on the spot and splits the drought-ridden state into several competing camps."
Source: McClatchy, 02/06/2014
Farm Groups, 21 States Join Fight To Halt Chesapeake Bay Cleanup
"Attorneys general in 21 states are backing an attempt to derail the Obama administration’s Chesapeake Bay cleanup plan, fearing that the government will use that authority to regulate wastewater in other watersheds, including the Mississippi River Basin."
Source: Wash Post, 02/06/2014
"West Virginia Doctors Advising Some Patients Not To Drink Tap Water"
"Warnings come despite federal health officials declaring water was free from chemical contamination after January 9 spill."
Source: AP, 02/06/2014
"NC River Turns To Gray Sludge After Coal Ash Spill"
"ON THE DAN RIVER, N.C. — Canoe guide Brian Williams dipped his paddle downstream from where thousands of tons of coal ash has been spewing for days into the Dan River, turning the wooden blade flat to bring up a lump of gray sludge."
Source: AP, 02/06/2014
EWG Database Helps Public, Journos Find Drinking Water Threats
While EPA and local utilities make much data available online, the Environmental Working Group has compiled a tap water database that is much easier to use. It gathers data from the states as well as from EPA, and compiles city-by-city rankings of the best and worst drinking water quality. It also explains the health significance of contaminants and lists contaminants not regulated by EPA.
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Feds Raise Fee Barrier to FOIA about Shipbreaking of US Ship Abroad
Maritime historian Jon Ottman has been denied a fee waiver on records he's requested about an aged U.S. Coast Guard cutter that was auctioned to a shipbreaker in Mexico without, he says, being thoroughly checked for toxic and hazardous materials. Photo: America's Queen — Coast Guard Cutter Storis, courtesy US Coast Guard.
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CDC, EPA Respond to SEJ Complaints about Press Office Obstacles
After the SEJ and the Society of Professional Journalists complained January 20, 2014, about federal agency press office stonewalling in the face of the Charleston, WV, drinking water disaster, the agencies responded. Read the text of their replies here.
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"Dan R Coal Ash Spill Pollutes Waterway Near Retired Duke Energy Plant"
"EDEN, N.C. -- A pipe under a coal ash pond broke in northern North Carolina, releasing an unknown amount of coal ash into the Dan River, Duke Energy Corp. said Monday."
Source: AP, 02/05/2014
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