Circle of Blue

3 days ago | circleofblue.org | Brett Walton

Army Corps expedites permit process for Line 5 oil tunnel that crosses beneath the Great Lakes. White House fast-tracks 10 mining projects in its quest for domestically produced minerals. FEMA cancels grant program meant to prepare communities for weather hazards, while USDA overhauls climate-smart agriculture grant program. Federal agencies intend to shrink wildlife habitat protections under the Endangered Species Act. Judge sets a trial date for Rio Grande lawsuit between New Mexico and Texas.

1 week ago | circleofblue.org | Brett Walton

To save a dying aquifer – or at least their piece of it – a group of roughly 60 farmers in northwest Kansas decided on a self-imposed diet. The move a dozen years ago to voluntarily restrict the water they pumped from the Ogallala Aquifer, the lifeblood of the High Plains, was seen by some as a risky proposition. In the semi-arid region, farmers might have gone bankrupt without water drawn from deep underground.

2 weeks ago | circleofblue.org | Keith Schneider

The Trump administration’s campaign to pare down the federal government, end federal funding for science, and waive environmental regulations is having severe consequences for ensuring water quality. A ‘pandemic-level shock to the system’: RFK Jr’s old environmental group weighs EPA cutsEPA may weaken drinking water protections as PFAS contamination spreadsNIH Ends Future Funding to Study the Health Effects of Climate Change The US and Canada have long managed the Great Lakes together.

3 weeks ago | circleofblue.org | Brett Walton

BUCKEYE, Ariz. – It was supposed to be called Cipriani, a master planned community with more than 9,700 homes at the western fringe of this sprawling desert city in central Arizona. Plans have changed. One regional growth industry – housing – is being supplanted by another – computing. Even as both carry questions about efficient use of water in one of the driest, fastest-growing areas of the country.

3 weeks ago | circleofblue.org | Keith Schneider

Say this much, President Trump’s vow to “go as far as we have to” to control Greenland is pernicious, consistent, and ironic.  Though he’s obscured his reasons for bringing the world’s largest island under American management, Trump’s aides and geopolitical experts offer three justifications. The first: gaining access to critical minerals, even those for batteries to power the electric vehicles that Trump purportedly dislikes.