Regulatory
Vermont Lawmaker Floats Fee to Fund Water Quality Projects
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont lawmaker is proposing a land parcel fee to supplement funding for water quality projects. Vermont Public Radio reports Democratic Natural Resources Chair Sen. Christopher Bray is backing the proposal. Under the plan, property owners would pay $1 each month. Bray say..
HDD Activities Get Green Light at More Rover Pipeline Locations
FERC has conditionally approved Energy Transfer Partners’ request to resume horizontal directions drilling (HDD) activities at the following locations along the Rover Pipeline: Honey Creek – Energy Transfer Partners says J.D. Hair & Associates’ recommendation of using an 8-degree overbend is not..
Parties Pledge New Thinking to Solve Interstate Water Fight
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — Farmers in southern New Mexico, water policy experts, lawyers and others are all working behind the scenes to craft possible solutions that could help to end a lengthy battle with Texas over management of the Rio Grande. The case is pending before the U.S. Supreme Court and..
Officials: Water Safe at 3 Michigan Schools Amid Chemical Concerns
ROCKFORD, Mich. (AP) — Officials say says trace levels of hazardous chemicals in water at three western Michigan elementary schools don’t pose a public health risk. Rockford Public Schools Superintendent Michael Shibler released an update Wednesday on testing. The state had agreed to test water qua..
Water Pollution Lawsuit Settled in Florida
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A major chicken processing plant that has been cited for polluting the Suwannee River settled a lawsuit on Wednesday that was brought by environmental groups in Florida. Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. settled the suit with Environment Florida and the Sierra Club, agreeing to pay $1..
DOJ: Protestors Interfering With Pipeline Construction Will Be Prosecuted
The U.S. Justice Department will begin prosecuting climate activists and protestors that perpetrate violence and destruction towards pipelines or other oil infrastructure to make their political points, Reuters said in a new report. “While we are strong advocates for the First Amendment, violence t..
Pipeline Opponents Ask Regulators to Reconsider Approvals
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Opponents of two proposed natural gas pipelines are asking federal regulators to reconsider their approval of the projects. Dozens of environmental groups and individuals filed rehearing requests this week with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission regarding the Atlantic Coa..
Virginia Town Postpones Vote on Atlantic Coast Pipeline Easements
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The Norfolk City Council postponed a vote on whether to grant easements for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to cross two drinking water reservoirs, the only ones in the project’s path. The Virginian-Pilot reports the council was scheduled to consider the issue Tuesday night bu..
$25 Million Sewer Upgrade Completed in New York
New York City Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Commissioner Vincent Sapienza and Department of Design and Construction (DDC) Acting Commissioner Ana Barrio today announced the completion of construction on a $25 million sewer project in the southeast Queens neighborhood of Rosedale that ..
Kansas Lawmakers Disagree on Funding for Water Resources
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — An interim legislative committee in Kansas is struggling to agree on where funding should come from to extend the life of the state’s water resources. The joint Special Committee on Natural Resources decided Monday not to recommend raising any fees to pay for projects that would..
Documents: Puerto Rico Utility Ignored Advice on Repair Deal
WASHINGTON (AP) — Puerto Rico’s bankrupt electric utility ignored advice from its own lawyers before signing an expanded contract worth $300 million with a tiny Montana company to repair its damaged power grid, newly released documents show. The law firm, Greenberg Traurig, recommended that the sta..
U.S. Grid Narrowly Escapes Apocalyptic Attack
The American grid security story grows increasingly grim. Last week, security consulting firm Symantec warned that recent cyberattacks gave hackers direct access to the nation’s power grid on multiple occasions, according to a new report by Wired. This time, not only the United States was exposed, ..
Lawsuit Seeks to Halt Construction on NEXUS Pipeline
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Environmental groups are taking another shot at trying to stop construction of a natural gas pipeline that will run across northern Ohio and into Michigan and Canada. The Sierra Club and others are behind a lawsuit filed Monday challenging a federal commission’s decision to allo..
EPA Awards $12M to Iowa Drinking Water Loan Program
DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has awarded more than $12 million to Iowa’s drinking water revolving loan program to help finance improvements to water projects around the state. The funding will be used for projects that will improve municipal drinking water and wa..
Virginia Town Voting on Atlantic Coast Pipeline Easements
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) — The Norfolk City Council is set to decide whether to grant easements for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to cross two drinking water reservoirs, the only ones in its path. The Virginian-Pilot reports the council will consider the issue Tuesday. Senior city staffers and Dominion Ener..
Maine Lawmakers to Weigh in on Reducing Power Outages
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The Maine Legislature is expected to consider options including burying power lines and adopting more aggressive tree cutting after a wind storm knocked out power for up to 10 days. Democratic Rep. Seth Barry, co-chair of Joint Committee on Energy, Utilities and Technol..
Kansas Governor Confident State's Water Will be Preserved
MANHATTAN, Kan. (AP) — Gov. Sam Brownback said he is optimistic that Kansans will change past practices and adopt new technologies to help preserve the state’s water resources. During the annual Governor’s Conference on the Future of Water this week in Manhattan, the governor predicted increased pu..
Imperial Beach Shoreline Closure Lifted After Water Tests
IMPERIAL BEACH, Calif. (AP) — San Diego County authorities have lifted a closure of the Imperial Beach shoreline that was impacted by sewage-contaminated flows from the Tijuana River entering the United States. The Department of Environmental Health announced the action Sunday afternoon following t..
Rural Areas at Risk as Water Levels Drop in Massive Aquifer
DENVER (AP) — The draining of a massive aquifer that underlies portions of eight states in the central U.S. is drying up streams, causing fish to disappear and threatening the livelihood of farmers who rely on it for their crops. Water levels in the Ogallala aquifer have been dropping for decades a..
West Virginia Town, City Share $27M for Water, Sewer Projects
CHARLESTON (AP) — West Virginia’s U.S. senators say two municipalities are sharing almost $27 million in loans and grants from the Department of Agriculture for improving their water and wastewater systems. According to Sens. Shelley Moore Capito and Joe Manchin, the town of Moorefield will g..
Election Could Lead to Long-Term Water Deal for Flint
FLINT, Mich. (AP) — The election of new City Council members might break an impasse and lead to a long-term deal over drinking water in Flint, Michigan. The state has been asking a federal judge to allow Flint’s mayor to bypass the council and approve a 30-year agreement with the Great Lakes Water ..
Dirty Water at Airport Prompts Testing of Neighborhood Wells
FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) — Contaminated water has been found at the Fairbanks International Airport, prompting officials to plan tests at private wells in nearby neighborhoods. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reports that neighborhood wells will begin to be tested on Monday to see if they are also con..
Wisconsin Assembly to Pass Bill Allowing Lead Pipe Replacement Loans
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — The Wisconsin Assembly is set to send a bill designed to help homeowners pay for replacing lead pipes to Gov. Scott Walker. The bill up for a final vote Thursday allows public water utilities and local governments to provide grants, loans or both to property owners to help them..
Appeals Court Rejects Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Construction Stay
Williams Partners L.P. today announced that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has rejected an emergency motion to stay the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s authorization of the company’s Atlantic Sunrise pipeline project, allowing construction to immediately resume. “We a..
Federal Judge Sides with New Mexico Ranchers in Water Case
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A U.S. court has sided with a New Mexico ranching family in a decades-long battle over access to water on national forest land, providing more certainty that state law allows for the protection of water rights dating back more than a century. The case of the Goss family h..
What A U.S. Electric Grid Attack Looks Like
Modern life has a woven-in thread of vulnerability that is peculiar to our times: electricity. It’s the cardiovascular and nervous system of life across the world, more so in the Internet Age than even 30 years ago. If the nation lost electricity, it would cause an instant and lethal paralysis that..
Michigan Senators Seek Federal Investigation of Pipelines
ST. IGNACE, Mich. (AP) — Michigan’s U.S. senators want federal regulators to determine whether the company operating twin oil pipelines in a crucial Great Lakes waterway has violated safety requirements. Democratic Sens. Debbie Stabenow and Gary Peters asked the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Saf..
Official: Puerto Rico Needs 'Unprecedented' Federal Help
WASHINGTON (AP) — Puerto Rico has suffered such extensive devastation from Hurricane Maria that its recovery will fail unless the island gets more help from the Trump administration and Congress, the head of a federal control board that oversees Puerto Rico’s finances said Tuesday. Natalie Ja..
Williams Partners Takes Legal Action over Pipeline Construction Stoppage
Williams Partners L.P. today filed a Motion for Clarification of an administrative stay issued yesterday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commissions’ authorization of the company’s Atlantic Sunrise natural gas pipeline project. The p..
Foes of Obama Oil and Gas Rule Ask Court to Reconsider Ruling
DENVER (AP) — Opponents of Obama-era oil and gas regulations say a decision by a federal appeals court in Denver could allow those rules to go into effect temporarily, even though the Trump administration plans to revoke them. Four states, two industry groups and a Native American tribe filed docum..
- OSHA cites Florida contractors for trench safety violations at sewer and excavation sites
- Biden-Harris administration invests $849 million in aging water infrastructure, drought resilience
- Cadiz to reuse steel from terminated Keystone XL pipeline for California groundwater project
- Texas contractor penalized by OSHA for repeated trench safety violations
- West Virginia approves $67 million for water, sewer projects