President Trump is setting an ambitious timetable for the construction of his promised “big, beautiful border wall.” But aside from potential funding and political complications, geologists and law enforcement officials are pointing to what could be a bigger challenge: the terrain. Citing everything from bedrock depth to soil chemistry, experts say building a wall spanning […]
Category: Domestic
180,000 People Told To Evacuate Due To Structural Damage To California Dam
More than 180,000 people in northern California have been told to evacuate after two overflow channels at the US’s tallest dam were found to be damaged. The 770ft (230m) high Oroville Dam is not itself at risk of collapsing, but its emergency spillway was close to caving in, officials said. Officials feared the damaged spillway […]
GOP Wants To Replace Environmental Protections With A Carbon Tax
Representatives from a coalition of veteran Republican officials — including five who have either served as treasury secretary or as chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers — met Wednesday with White House officials to discuss the idea of imposing a national carbon tax, rather than using federal regulations, to address climate change. The newly […]
Water To Be Too Expensive For 33% Of Americans With In 5 Years
Researchers at Michigan State University predict this figure will rise by $49 over the next five years. And if it does, water may become unaffordable for one-third of American households, according to a study, published recently in PLOS ONE, that maps the U.S. areas due to be hit hardest based on local incomes. “The project […]
Trump Issues Gag Order On EPA And USDA
WASHINGTON – A Trump Administration directive ordering employees at the Environmental Protection Agency to halt external communications and posts on social media fueled news reports Tuesday that a number of other agencies were issuing similar gag orders to their workers. But while the EPA confirmed it was freezing such activity as well as new contracts and […]
Trump Administration Erases Climate Change Research
Just moments after President Donald Trump took the oath of office Friday, the official White House website was transformed into a set of policy pledges that offered the broad contours of the Trump administration’s top priorities — a list that included fierce support for law enforcement, an immediate elimination of the White House’s policy page […]
Norway’s Leading Oil Company Investing In Wind Farm Off New York Coast
NEW YORK ― Winds off the coasts of the United States are so dependably strong, turbines built offshore could produce four times the amount of electricity that’s currently generated from all sources in the country. At least, that’s what Norway’s biggest oil company is betting. Statoil, the fossil fuel cash cow that made Norway the […]
Obama Bans Offshore Drilling In Atlantic And Arctic Oceans
President Obama moved to solidify his environmental legacy Tuesday by withdrawing hundreds of millions of acres of federally owned land in the Arctic and Atlantic Ocean from new offshore oil and gas drilling. Obama used a little-known law called the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to protect large portions of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas in […]
House GOP Shuts Door On Flint Water Investigation
WASHINGTON — Congressional Republicans quietly closed a year-long investigation into Flint, Michigan’s crisis over lead in its drinking water, faulting both state officials and the Environmental Protection Agency for contamination that has affected nearly 100,000 residents. In letters to fellow Republicans, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said Friday that Michigan […]
Over Year Later, Flint Water Still Unsafe To Drink
The state says more than 600 pipes have been replaced in Flint, Mich., this year — but 30,000 suspect pipes remain. A year ago, Flint, Mich., Mayor Karen Weaver declared a state of emergency because of lead-contaminated drinking water, attracting national outrage and sympathy, and millions of gallons of donated water. But a year later […]
North Dakota Pipeline Spills Over 170,000 Gallons Of Oil Into Creek
About 150 miles from where thousands have protested for months that the Dakota Access pipeline could threaten a Sioux tribe’s water supply, a pipeline in the western part of North Dakota has spilled more than 130,000 gallons of oil into a creek, state officials said. In all, the Belle Fourche pipeline lost 4,200 barrels of […]
Army Corps Of Engineers Shutdowns Key Stretch Of Dakota Access Pipeline
Protesters celebrate at Oceti Sakowin Camp earlier Sunday. The Army Corps of Engineers notified the Standing Rock Sioux that the current route for the Dakota Access Pipeline will be denied. The Army Corps of Engineers has decided to deny a permit for the construction of a key section of the Dakota Access Pipeline. The decision […]