Week of March 29
Poll: Drinking water pollution is top concern
Pollution of drinking water is Americans' No. 1 environmental concern, with 59% saying they worry "a great deal" about the issue, according to a new Gallup Poll .
All eight environmental issues tested in the 2009 Gallup Environment survey, conducted March 5-8, appear to be important to Americans, evidenced by the finding that a majority of Americans say they worry at least a fair amount about each one. However, on the basis of substantial concern -- that is, the percentage worrying "a great deal" about each -- there are important distinctions among them.
Four water-related issues on the poll fill the top spots in this year's ranking. In addition to worrying about pollution of drinking water, roughly half of Americans also express a high degree of worry about pollution of rivers, lakes, and reservoirs (52% worry a great deal about this), and water and soil contamination from toxic waste (52%). About half worry about the maintenance of the nation's supply of fresh water for household needs (49%).
Air pollution places fifth among the environmental problems rated this year; 45% are worried a great deal about it. That issue is closely followed by the loss of tropical rain forests, with 42% -- although significantly more Americans say they worry little or not at all about rain forests than say this about air pollution (32% vs. 24%).
Extinction of plant and animal species and global warming are of great concern to just over a third of Americans. However, since more Americans express little to no worry about global warming than say this about extinction, global warming is clearly the environmental issue of least concern to them. In fact, global warming is the only issue for which more Americans say they have little to no concern than say they have a great deal of concern.
--The Gallup Poll
USGS study finds contamination in private wells
More than one in every five private domestic wells sampled nationwide between 1991 and 2004 contained at least one contaminant at levels of potential health concern, according to a new study by the U.S. Geological Survey.
The study was released last week.
USGS scientists sampled about 2,100 private wells in 48 states and found that the contaminants most frequently measured at concentrations of potential health concern were inorganic contaminants, including radon and arsenic. These contaminants are mostly derived from the natural geologic materials that make up the aquifers from which well water is drawn.
Nitrate was the most common inorganic contaminant derived from man-made sources-such as from fertilizer applications and septic-tanks-that was found at concentrations greater than the Federal drinking-water standard for public-water supplies (10 parts per million). Nitrate was greater than the standard in about 4 percent of sampled wells.
“The results of this study are important because they show that a large number of people may be unknowingly affected,” Matt Larsen, the USGS Associate Director for Water, said in a news release.
--United States Geological Survey
Ethanol plant considers using wastewater
The city of Winnebago discharges a minimum of about 350,000 gallons of treated wastewater into the Blue Earth River each day.
The ethanol plant just east of town uses up to 350,000 gallons of fresh groundwater daily to produce its fuel.
The ethanol industry is facing criticism for the growing amounts of water it is sucking out aquifers across the Upper Midwest.
For officials at Winnebago’s Corn Plus ethanol plant, which has made a habit of seeking innovative solutions to boost efficiency, the thread that tied those three facts together was difficult to ignore.
So Corn Plus General Manager Keith Kor talked to Winnebago officials about exploring the possibility of diverting the city’s wastewater from the river to the ethanol plant.
--Mankato Free Press
EPA finding pushes Obama on climate change
The Environmental Protection Agency's new leadership, in a step toward confronting global warming , submitted a finding that will force the White House to decide whether to limit greenhouse gas emissions under the nearly 40-year-old Clean Air Act.
Under that law, EPA's conclusion -- that such emissions are pollutants that endanger the public's health and welfare -- could trigger a broad regulatory process affecting much of the U.S. economy as well as the nation's future environmental trajectory. The agency's finding, which was sent to the White House Office of Management and Budget without fanfare, also reversed one of the Bush administration's landmark decisions on climate change, and it indicated anew that President Obama's appointees will push to address the issue of warming despite the potential political costs.
--The Washington Post
Human drugs found in fish near treatment plants
Fish caught near wastewater treatment plants serving five major U.S. cities had residues of pharmaceutical s in them, including medicines used to treat high cholesterol, allergies, high blood pressure, bipolar disorder and depression, researchers reported.
Findings from this first nationwide study of human drugs in fish tissue have prompted the Environmental Protection Agency to significantly expand similar ongoing research to more than 150 different locations.
"The average person hopefully will see this type of a study and see the importance of us thinking about water that we use every day, where does it come from, where does it go to? We need to understand this is a limited resource and we need to learn a lot more about our impacts on it," said study co-author Bryan Brooks, a Baylor University researcher and professor who has published more than a dozen studies related to pharmaceuticals in the environment.
--The Associated Press
Listen for some croaks, help with some research
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources’ Nongame Wildlife Program is recruiting volunteers to participate in its ongoing statewide frog and toad calling survey.
Since 1996, volunteers have collected data by listening to and identifying frog and toad species on specified 10-stop routes. The results provide information on where species are located and how their populations change in abundance and distribution.
Volunteers are needed particularly in the southwest portion of the state for this year’s survey, which begins on April 15.
Volunteers “run” their assigned 10-stop route and listen for calls to identify frogs and toads on three nights a year. These routes are run after dark, in good weather, and in each of the following time periods to capture seasonal variation in calling frog species: April 15 - 30 (early spring), May 20 - June 5 (late spring), and June 25 - July 10 (summer). Dates in the northern portion of the state are delayed by 10 days.
For information, click here . Want to listen to a frog? Click here .
Spokane phosphate ban sparks dishwasher revolt
They are bringing Cascade or Electrasol in from out of state because the eco-friendly varieties required under Washington state law don't work as well.
Spokane County became the launch pad last July for the nation's strictest ban on dishwasher detergent made with phosphates, a measure aimed at reducing water pollution. The ban will be expanded statewide in July 2010, the same time similar laws take effect in several other states.
But it's not easy to get sparkling dishes when you go green.
--The Associated Press
Water issues now part of power-generating calculus
Last month, Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, a utility that provides power to mostly rural areas, agreed to conduct a major study to see if it might meet growing energy needs through energy efficiency and not a big, new coal-fired power plant, as it had proposed for southeast Colorado.
One reason for the move was a challenge by Environment Colorado, an advocacy organization, about the amount of water a new plant would require.
Changes like these are happening with increasing frequency, particularly in the arid West, as mounting concerns about water begin to shape local energy decisions.
In some cases, power companies are pulling back from plans to build traditional power plants that require steady streams of water to operate. In others, renewable-energy projects such as wind farms or solar arrays are gaining momentum because their water needs are minimal.
--The Wall Street Journal
Firm plans trash-to-diesel plant in Rosemount
Plans for a plant outside Rosemount that would turn trash into diesel fuel are moving along, despite early concerns from nearby cities.
The Empire Township Board approved a zoning change and comprehensive plan amendment Tuesday that will allow Rational Energies LLC to build a 200,000 square-foot biomass gasification facility on about 50 acres at the intersection of Hwy. 52 and County Road 46.
Eden Prairie start-up Rational Energies will have to comply with an environmental review and permitting processes, which could take months or even years, before construction can begin. If all goes according to plan, the facility could be producing diesel in 2012.
Although there was little discussion at this week's meeting, both Rosemount and Coates have raised concerns about the facility in letters to the Empire Township board.
--Star Tribune
Great Lakes ice cover diminishing over time
Ice cover on the Great Lakes has declined more than 30 percent since the 1970s, leaving the world's largest system of freshwater lakes open to evaporation and lower water levels, according to scientists associated with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
They're concerned about how the milder winter freeze may affect the environment. But they're also trying to come to terms with a contradiction: The same climate factors that might keep lake ice from freezing might make freezing more likely if lake levels drop due to evaporation.
Scientists at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory in Ann Arbor, Mich., say global climate change can be at odds with regional climate patterns. Accurately measuring ice cover across a lake system that spans 94,000 square miles in two countries is no small task, they said.
Their studies show that although the amount of ice cover can vary substantially from year to year, the overall coverage on the world's largest system of freshwater lakes is diminishing, especially in the deepest, middle portions of Erie, Huron, Michigan, Ontario and Superior.
--The Associated Press
Big wilderness bill passes Congress
Congress set aside more than 2 million acres in nine states as protected wilderness — from California's Sierra Nevada mountains to the Jefferson National Forest in Virginia.
The legislation is on its way to President Barack Obama for his likely signature.
The House approved the bill, 285-140, the final step in a long legislative road that began last year.
--The Associated Press
EPA reverses stand on mountaintop mining
In a sharp reversal of Bush administration policies, the head of the Environmental Protection Agency said the agency planned an aggressive review of permit requests for mountaintop coal mining , citing serious concerns about potential harm to water quality.
The administrator, Lisa P. Jackson, said her agency had sent two letters to the Army Corps of Engineers in which it expressed concern about two proposed mining operations in West Virginia and Kentucky involving mountaintop removal, a form of strip mining that blasts the tops off mountains and dumps leftover rock in valleys, burying streams.
The letters recommended that the corps deny the West Virginia permit application and that the Kentucky application be revised to ensure the protection of streams.
--The New York Times
Water a new cash crop for California farmers
As Don Bransford prepares for his spring planting season, he is debating which is worth more: the rice he grows on his 700-acre farm north of Sacramento, or the water he uses to cultivate it.
After three years of drought in California, water is now a potential cash crop. Last fall, the state activated its Drought Water Bank program for the first time since 1994. Under the program, farmers can choose to sell some of the water they would usually use to grow their crops to parched cities, counties and agriculture districts.
Water -- or the lack of it -- has been costing the state dearly. According to Richard Howitt, a professor at the University of California, Davis, the drought and resulting water restrictions could cost as much as $1.4 billion in lost income and about 53,000 lost jobs, mostly in the agriculture sector.
--The Wall Street Journal
Las Vegas water pipeline opposed
A coalition of ranchers, farmers and conservationists is turning up the volume on efforts to block a plan to pipe billions of gallons of groundwater a year from the northeast part of Nevada to Las Vegas.
A coalition lawyer says State Engineer Tracy Taylor relied on bad data and flawed reasoning in deciding last July to let the Southern Nevada Water Authority pump some 6.1 billion gallons of water a year from the rural Cave, Dry Lake and Delamar valleys.
--The Associated Press
Snail evolves larger shells to fight invasive crab
With all the recent changes in the oceans, like dying coral reefs and collapsing commercial fisheries, it’s easy to forget that most changes occur over the longer term. Sometimes the incremental changes are so slight that they aren’t noticeable for decades.
A case in point is described in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Jonathan A. D. Fisher of Queen’s University in Ontario, Peter S. Petraitis of the University of Pennsylvania and colleagues. They report on a large size increase in the shells of a well-studied intertidal snail, the Atlantic dogwinkle (Nucella lapillus), around Mount Desert Island in Maine over the last century.
The researchers studied shells gathered from 1915 to 1922 at 19 sites around the island. Then the researchers went back to the same sites and collected more shells. On average, modern shells were about 23 percent longer than the old ones.
The older shells were collected before the introduction of an invasive crab, Carcinus maenas, which preys on N. lapillus.
--The New York Times
USDA gardening zones to reflect climate change
As winter retreats northward across the nation, gardeners are cleaning tools and turning attention to spring planting. But climate change is adding a new wrinkle, and now a standard reference – the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Plant Hardiness Zone Map – is about to make very clear how much rising temperatures have shifted planting zones northward.
The guide, last updated in 1990, shows where various species can be expected to thrive. A revision is expected sometime this year, and while the agency hasn’t released details, horticulturalists and experts who have helped with the revision expect the new map to extend plants’ northern ranges and paint a sharp picture of the continent’s gradual warming over the past few decades.
--The Daily Climate
Nestle spring water plan sparks Colorado fight
A plan to suck, truck and bottle Arkansas Valley spring water has residents here crusading against the world's largest food and beverage company.
"Nestle is seeking to drain the blood of Chaffee County," said Salida local Daniel Zettler during a fiery public hearing last week.
Nestle — with 12 U.S. brands of bottled water and almost $4.3 billion in North American sales in 2007 — came calling for Arkansas Valley spring water about two years ago. The company wants to draw 65 million gallons a year from an aquifer feeding two freshwater springs near Nathrop, pipe it 5 miles to a truck stop and ship it 100 miles to a Denver bottling facility. It would be sold under the company's Arrowhead brand.
--The Denver Post
USGS studies endocrine-disruptors in Chesapeake Bay
Fish health and reproductive issues in the Chesapeake Bay drainage may be associated with fish exposure to hormone-mimicking compounds and other chemicals.
U.S. Geological Survey scientists have studied yellow perch, a species that has declined in recent years, and found that differences in the egg quality of these fish is occurring in some sites they sampled. In addition, scientists sampled smallmouth bass and other species from major fish kills in the South Branch of the Potomac and the Shenandoah River. They found the fish were infected with a variety of types of skin lesions and a number of disease-causing bacteria, viruses and parasites.
These findings suggest that the immune systems of these fish are weakened, reducing their resistance to disease. Researchers also found high numbers of intersex bass collected in the same areas as the fish kills. Intersex fish, as well as the measurement of the female yolk protein, vitellogenin, in male fishes, have been most commonly associated with exposure to estrogen-mimicking compounds.
The co-occurrence of fish kills with these other reproductive effects suggests that endocrine-disrupting chemicals may affect not just individual fish, but also entire populations due to decreased disease resistance and reproductive effects.
--U.S. Geological Survey
EPA nominee withdraws, citing investigation
President Obama's nominee for U.S. EPA's second highest post abruptly pulled out of the Senate confirmation process because of an investigation into the nonprofit group where he once served on the board of directors.
In 2007, the EPA inspector general issued a report questioning more than $25 million in federal grants awarded between 1998 and 2003 to America's Clean Water Foundation for environmental studies of agricultural production facilities, as well as other Clean Water Act monitoring efforts.
--The New York Times
Week of March 22
Specter of ‘water wars’ may be overblown
The United Nations warned recently that climate change harbours the potential for serious conflicts over water. In its World Water Development Report of March 2009, it quotes UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon noting the risk of water scarcity "transforming peaceful competition into violence". It is statements such as this that gave birth to popular notions of 'water wars' . It is time we dispelled this myth. Countries do not go to war over water, they solve their water shortages through trade and international agreements.
Cooperation, in fact, is the dominant response to shared water resources. There are 263 cross-boundary waterways in the world. Between 1948 and 1999, cooperation over water, including the signing of treaties, far outweighed conflict over water and violent conflict in particular. Of 1,831 instances of interactions over international freshwater resources tallied over that time period (including everything from unofficial verbal exchanges to economic agreements or military action), 67% were cooperative, only 28% were conflictive, and the remaining 5% were neutral or insignificant. In those five decades, there were no formal declarations of war over water.
--Nature
Florida considers charging water bottlers
Each day more than five million gallons of spring water is bottled in Florida, and companies pay almost nothing for local water permits. Florida is considering joining other states that have imposed "severance fees" on commercially bottled spring water. It would charge six cents for every gallon taken from springs or aquifers.
--National Public Radio
U.S. toxic chemical releases down slightly
Releases to the air decreased 7 percent, and releases to water declined 5 percent, according to a report issued by the agency.
The report shows increases in the releases of persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemicals like lead, dioxin, mercury and PCBs. Overall PBTs releases increased 1 percent. The increases were primarily due to a handful of facilities, and most of the releases reported were not to the air or water.
Total disposal or other releases of mercury increased 38 percent, but air emissions of mercury were down 3 percent. The majority of mercury releases were reported by the mining industry.
State-by-state data on facilities and releases to air, land and water can be found by accessing the EPA’s state fact sheet by clicking here .
Additional information on releases on zip code, county and facility can be found using the TRI explorer, accessible here .
--U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Major bird populations decline
Several major bird populations have plummeted over the past four decades across the United States as development transformed the nation's landscape, according to a comprehensive survey released by the Interior Department and outside experts, but conservation efforts have staved off potential extinctions of others.
“The State of the Birds" report, a broad analysis of data compiled from scientific and citizen surveys over 40 years, shows that some species have made significant gains even as others have suffered. Hunted waterfowl and iconic species such as the bald eagle have expanded in number, the report said, while populations of birds along the nation's coasts and in its arid areas and grasslands have declined sharply.
--The Washington Post
Invasives rules sought for Lake Minnetonka
The Lake Minnetonka Association is calling for emergency boat launch rules for the coming season to prevent the spread of zebra mussels into the lake.
An exploding population of zebra mussels in Lake Mille Lacs warrants emergency action to protect Lake Minnetonka, the association says. It wants to require that all boats be clean and dry, inside and out, before they enter the lake.
The lakeshore owners group is pushing the Lake Minnetonka Conservation District, which manages lake issues for the 14 cities ringing the lake, to adopt these ramp rules and step up efforts to protect the lake from invasive species. It is also asking the cities to work on the problem as well.
--Star Tribune
Caribbean fish populations down
Populations of both large and small fish have been declining sharply across the Caribbean in the past 10 years, say researchers, who combined data from 48 studies of 318 coral reefs conducted over more than 50 years.
The data show that fish "densities" that had held steady for decades began to drop significantly around 1995, a trend not reported previously. Although overfishing has long taken a toll on larger species, the drop in smaller species that are not fished indicates that other forces are at work, said author Michelle Paddack of Simon Fraser University in Canada.
Drastic losses in coral cover and changes in coral reef habitats, driven by warming water temperatures and coral diseases, as well as sediment and pollution from coastal development could be among the factors.
--The Washington Post
Robotic carp developed to fight pollution
Robotic fish , developed by UK scientists, are to be released into the sea for the first time to detect pollution.
The carp-shaped robots will be let loose in the port of Gijon in northern Spain as part of a three-year research project.
If successful, the team hopes that the fish will used in rivers, lakes and seas across the world, including Britain, to detect pollution.
The life-like creatures, which will mimic the undulating movement of real fish, will be equipped with tiny chemical sensors to find the source of potentially hazardous pollutants in the water, such as leaks from vessels in the port or underwater pipelines.
The fish will then transmit their data through Wi-Fi technology when they dock to charge their batteries with last around eight hours.
--The Telegraph
EPA sponsors video contest
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is sponsoring a contest for the production of educational videos that will inspire people to help protect streams, lakes, wetlands, and coasts.
Two winners will each receive $2,500 and their videos will be featured on EPA's Web site. The deadline for entry is Earth Day, April 29.
The contest has two categories: 30- or 60-second videos usable as a television public service announcement, and 1- to 3-minute instructional videos.
For information, go to contest rules on the EPA web site by clicking here .
--U.S. EPA web site
Chesapeake Bay still ailing, report says
The health of the ailing Chesapeake Bay has shown no improvement over the past year as pollution caused by population growth and development overwhelms cleanup efforts, according to a report.
The annual study by the Chesapeake Bay Program said the nation's largest estuary remains "severely degraded" because of contaminants such as nitrogen, phosphorous and sediments.
The bay's health is at 38 percent, with 100 percent representing a fully restored ecosystem, according to the federal-state partnership working on bay restoration.
"The impact of human activity is overwhelming nature," the report said.
--The Associated Press
Dubuque museum works to save amphibians
Out of sight and tucked away under lock and key in the basement of the Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium , the tiny toads hopping about in climate controlled captivity might not seem sexy.
But when Lee Jackson, Abby Urban and Jerry Enzler begin to talk about their little guests, passion is just around the corner.
It's a passion for preservation of the Wyoming toad, one of the four most endangered amphibian species in the United States, Urban points out. And one-tenth of the Wyoming toads in captivity are in her care.
--The Dubuque Telegraph Herald
European water use not sustainable, report says
European environmental officials warned that the continent does not have enough water to sustain current consumption levels.
The European Environment Agency issued a report that concluded the problem now applies to northern Europe as well as the south and cannot be addressed by expanding supplies alone.
"The short-term solution to water scarcity has been to extract ever greater amounts of water from our surface and groundwater assets," said agency director Jacqueline McGlade. "Overexploitation is not sustainable."
--United Press International
Week of March 15
UN report: World’s water in peril
Surging population growth, climate change, reckless irrigation and chronic waste are placing the world's water supplies at threat, according to a landmark UN report.
Compiled by 24 UN agencies, the 348-page document gave a grim assessment of the state of the planet's freshwater, especially in developing countries, and described the outlook for coming generations as deeply worrying.
Water is part of the complex web of factors that determine prosperity and stability, it said.
Lack of access to water helps drive poverty and deprivation and breeds the potential for unrest and conflict, it warned.
"Water is linked to the crises of climate change, energy and food supplies and prices, and troubled financial markets," the third World Water Development Report said.
--AFP news service
Judge narrows PFC lawsuit against 3M
An enormous lawsuit over water is getting smaller.
In a ruling, a judge limited a lawsuit charging that chemicals manufactured by the 3M Co. polluted water and hurt Washington County homeowners.
Washington County District Judge Mary Hannon ruled the chemicals — PFCs, or perfluorochemicals — found in drinking water cannot legally be considered a "nuisance." She said the term defines something that impairs the use or enjoyment of someone's property and that homeowners' inconveniences, such as having to buy a $30 filtration system, were relatively minor.
--The St. Paul Pioneer Press
Wisconsin considers state rules on ballast water
Wisconsin is poised to become the next Great Lakes state with its own rules for ballast water
in ships, and critics say it could kill the overseas shipping business.
Ballast water is blamed for carrying harmful plants or animals from overseas into the Great Lakes. Minnesota and Michigan recently adopted ballast permit regulations. But some worry that Wisconsin's new proposal is too tough.
--Minnesota Public Radio
Wisconsin DNR fights manure pollution
Now 46, Haak was only 8 when he caught his first fish from the river where it ran near the family’s farm south of Paoli. He was with his grandfather and caught the 18-inch brown trout on a cane pole.
"From then on, I was pretty much hooked," said Haak, who now farms just down the road from the farm on which he grew up.
Since that first fish, just about anyone who runs into Haak ends up in a conversation about the Sugar River. In fact, you can hear him right now talking about the river on radio advertisements running throughout Wisconsin. Sponsored by the state Department of Natural Resources, the ads encourage farmers to refrain from spreading manure on their fields during these days of early spring when freezing and thawing are likely to cause the manure to wash into nearby lakes and streams.
--Wisconsin State Journal
Lake or wetlands: Which will get the mine waste?
Berners Bay also has become one of the epicenters of a new Alaska gold rush. High in the snowy peaks at the top of the bay, miners struck an estimated 1.4 million ounces of gold -- a prize that is looking better every day as investors flee the stock market.
An Idaho-based mining company has pledged to rescue southeast Alaska's crippled timber and fishing economy by opening an industrial-scale mine above the bay. The problem is how to do it.
The company had planned to pile its leftover debris on a wetlands on the other side of the mountain from Berners Bay -- a solution embraced by environmentalists -- but has shifted to a cheaper alternative. Taking advantage of a little-publicized regulatory change adopted under the Bush administration in 2004, Coeur d'Alene Mines has obtained a federal permit to dump 4.5 million tons of tailings directly into a small sub-alpine lake near the mine, just above Berners Bay.
--Los Angeles Times
Invasive weed seeds found in Baltimore harbor
An inspection aboard a Turkish freighter at one of the city's ports by agents of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency revealed the presence of cogon grass weed seed, an invasive seed from Asia that quickly spreads and disrupts ecosystems, reduces wildlife habitat and decreases tree seeding growth, said a spokesman for the agency.
Steve Sapp, the spokesman, said the pest-like seed, known as Red Baron grass after the World War I German fighter ace, was found during a routine inspection littered among wood packing in a container of tile from Turkey. Sapp said the seed is considered one of the 10 worst invasive plant species in the
world and is listed as a federal noxious weed.
He said it's believed the weed has invaded more than 1 million acres in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia and Texas. James Swanson, the agency's director for the port of Baltimore, said, "Invasive species pose dire consequences to our nation's economy, potentially more so than even a single terrorist act."
--The Baltimore Sun
Cost, politics complicate water’s future
Anyone who has visited Disneyland recently and taken a sip from a drinking fountain there may have unknowingly sampled a taste of the future -- a small quantity of water that once flowed through a sewer.
Orange County Water District officials say that's a good thing -- the result of a successful, year-old project to purify wastewater and pump it into the ground to help restore depleted aquifers that provide most of the local water supply.
The $481 million recycling plant, the world's largest of its kind, uses microfiltration, reverse osmosis, ultraviolet light and hydrogen peroxide disinfection to treat 70 million gallons (265 million litres) of sewer water a day, enough to meet the drinking needs of 500,000 people.
Just don't call it "toilet-to-tap."
County officials prefer the term "Groundwater Replenishment System," a name chosen after similar projects in Los Angeles and San Diego fell prey to public misconceptions, also known as the "yuck" factor," and local election-year politics.
--Reuters
Natural resource spending up in Obama budget
After years of flat or declining funding, natural resource agencies expect to see a significant boost in the 2010 budget along with a leftward shift in policies and priorities.
--The New York Times
Texas groundwater districts controversial
For Parker County resident Kathy Chruscielski, moving to the country a decade ago seemed like the best of both worlds. She fell in love with the scenic rolling hills of Remuda Ranch Estates, a few miles west of the Tarrant County line.
"We have these beautiful hills, yet we can be in Fort Worth within a matter of minutes," Chruscielski said. "It’s like having one foot in the country and one in the city."
She learned that it has its downside.
In January 2002, Chruscielski was forced to drill a new well after her old one went dry.
"They told us when we bought this place that groundwater levels had remained the same for the last 40 years," Chruscielski said with a rueful laugh. "Then I learned differently."
--Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Climate change pushes search for water in the West
It's hard to visualize a water crisis while driving the lush boulevards of Los Angeles, golfing Arizona's green fairways or watching dancing Las Vegas fountains leap more than 20 stories high.
So look Down Under. A decade into its worst drought in a hundred years Australia is a lesson of what the American West could become.
Bush fires are killing people and obliterating towns. Rice exports collapsed last year and the wheat crop was halved two years running. Water rationing is part of daily life.
"Think of that as California's future," said Heather Cooley of California water think tank the Pacific Institute.
--Reuters
EPA plans greenhouse gas registry
The Environmental Protection Agency plans to establish a nationwide system for reporting greenhouse gas emissions , a program that could serve as the basis for a federal cap on the buildup of carbon dioxide and other gases linked to global warming.
The registry plan would cover about 13,000 facilities that account for 85 to 90 percent of the nation's greenhouse gas output. It was drafted under the Bush administration but stalled after the Office of Management and Budget objected to it because the EPA based the rule on its powers under the Clean Air Act.
--The Washington Post
Many think media exaggerate climate change
More Americans are skeptical about the seriousness of global warming than ever before, according to a survey released by the Gallup organization.
A record 41 percent now say news coverage of global warming is exaggerated, while 57 percent say coverage is generally on the mark or underestimated. As recently as 2006, Gallup found that 30 percent viewed news coverage of global warming as exaggerated vs. 66 who did not.
Gallup conducted the survey in telephone interviews with 1,012 national adults March 5-8, 2009.
--Star Tribune
IBM wants to help manage water
IBM Corp. wants to get really deep into water.
The technology company is launching a new line of water services, hoping to tap a new sales vein by taking the manual labor out of fighting pollution and managing water supplies. IBM says the overall water-management services market could be worth $20 billion in five years.
The effort is part of a wider role IBM wants to play in infrastructure services, including automobile traffic and power grids. In each instance, IBM is trying to persuade utilities and government agencies to overhaul their computer networks and link digital sensors together for better insights.
--The Associated Press
Transmission line gets mixed reviews
The Great Plains have been called "the Saudi Arabia of wind energy." But because the windiest areas tend to be sparsely populated, much of that wind power might go unused without a way to move the energy to where the people are.
Now a Michigan company is proposing to build a 765-kilovolt transmission line called "The Green Power Express" from the gusty Dakotas through Minnesota to Chicago. The 3,000-mile project, which is estimated to cost $10 billion to $12 billion, could be among the first of a new generation of energy superhighways that help the Midwest feed the nation's appetite for renewable energy.
But not everyone agrees that wind energy should be an exportable commodity like corn or soybeans.
And while wind power is riding a wave of positive sentiment as a green, jobs-producing, renewable source of energy, transmission lines are a much harder sell, drawing opposition from local landowners, environmentalists and even some renewable-energy advocates.
--St. Paul Pioneer Press
Chicago pushes homeowners to accept water meters
Some Chicagoans with homes built before the mid-1970s could get city water meters installed free with a guarantee their bills won't rise beyond regular rate increases for seven years.
The offer was approved by a City Council committee as part of a $15 million test program called MeterSave.
It's aimed at owners of single-family and two-flat homes in the Bunaglow Belt---21 wards along the city's western edge---where up to 20,000 meters would be installed, Water Management Commissioner John Spatz Jr. said.
Most major U.S. cities have water meters on all homes, but Chicago has long been an exception because of its proximity to Lake Michigan. Six years ago, Mayor Richard Daley signaled a move to universal metering to boost conservation.
Homes and apartment buildings built or significantly renovated in the last 35 years or so have had water meters installed.
--The Chicago Tribune
Suffolk County, NY, fights nitrate pollution
More than 300 landscapers crammed into a stuffy lower-level room at the Holiday Inn here recently, listening to the whys and wherefores of the new laws for keeping lawns green in Suffolk County while minimizing nitrogen pollution .
Suffolk, which has a long history of environmental regulation, is laying down the law as never before about nitrogen, a principal ingredient in the lawn fertilizers used by landscapers and homeowners but also a worsening threat to groundwater.
In a county with no other source for drinking water for its 1.4 million residents, rising levels of nitrates are no small matter, county health officials said.
--The New York Times
Invasives drill may cause Superior harbor to blush
A shipping company and the National Park Service are getting together to find an effective way to kill invasive species in a ship’s ballast tanks under emergency conditions. As ships can run aground or have accidents, the question is how to best handle a high-risk ship from a high-risk port that might be carrying invasive species.
The experiment may leave the Superior Harbor a bit on the pink side. The plan is to inject a red dye into six ballast tanks in an American Steamship Company vessel in a lower Great Lakes port. Isle Royale National Park Superintendent Phyllis Green says they’ll use harmless rhodamine dye instead of chemicals designed to sterilize ballast tanks.
“We think we’ll be able to advance how you might deliver a biocide into the tank under the toughest conditions. We know that it may not be 100 precent effective but we need to define how well we can do it,” she said.
--Wisconsin Public Radio/Superior Telegram
Acidification of oceans affects tiny organisms
There’s now a good piece of direct evidence that the increasing acidification of the oceans, brought on by rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, is affecting the ability of small marine organisms to create shells.
Andrew D. Moy and William R. Howard of the Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems Cooperative Research Center in Hobart, Tasmania, and colleagues found that the shells of one modern species in the Southern Ocean were lighter than shells of the same species in core samples from the ocean floor. Those core shells predate the industrial age, when CO2 levels started rising and the acidity of the ocean, caused by the absorption of the gas, began to increase.
--The New York Times
EPA reviewing ethanol and climate change
For years, ethanol has been touted as a solution to the greenhouse gases that cause global warming. But the EPA is looking at whether ethanol lives up to that reputation.
If the agency decides against ethanol, the ruling could have a major impact on tens of thousands of people in rural Minnesota.
In most cases, ethanol does fine on the greenhouse gas test. It beats gasoline when it comes to tailpipe emissions. Even if you add in the pollution from growing corn -- truck, tractor fumes and the rest, it still scores better.
But if you look one step closer, ethanol gets into trouble -- over land use issues. When corn becomes ethanol instead of food, new cropland must be planted to maintain the food supply.
--Minnesota Public Radio
EPA sued over phosphorus in Lake Okeechobee
Environmental groups filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court to compel the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to set more protective pollution standards for Florida's Lake Okeechobee and its tributaries.
The suit, filed by the Florida Wildlife Federation, the Environmental Confederation of Southwest Florida and Save Our Creeks, Inc., argues that nutrient pollution in the lake has caused toxic algae blooms, which can contaminate drinking water supplies and sicken people and animals.
The EPA sets a standard known as a Total Maximum Daily Load, a calculation of the maximum amount of a pollutant that a waterbody can receive in one day and still meet federal water quality standards.
In 2006, EPA set a numeric limit - 77 parts per billion - for pollution by the agricultural nutrient phosphorous in Lake Okeechobee.
The environmental groups say this standard protected the lake.
But after agriculture corporations mounted what the environmental groups view as an aggressive lobbying campaign, the Bush-era EPA in 2008 upped the limit to 113 parts per billion. The groups claim that this level of phosphorus does not adequately protect the lake or its tributaries.
--Environment News Service
Kinder, gentler wildlife biologists
You may remember Senator John McCain ’s criticism of a study of grizzly bear DNA as wasteful spending. And you may have wondered how the scientists got the DNA from the grizzlies.
The researchers did not trap the bears or shoot them with tranquilizers. Instead, they prepared 100 55-gallon drums with a mixture of whole fish and cattle blood that was allowed to ferment until it had the aroma of grizzly bear candy.
--The New York Times
Court sides with Colorado on fees in water suit
The Supreme Court has rejected claims by Kansas that it is owed $9 million in legal fees from Colorado over their century-long dispute over water rights to the Arkansas River.
In an opinion, the court is upholding a ruling by a special master appointed to oversee the case that the fees for expert witnesses should be about $163,000, not the $9 million sought by Kansas.
Colorado already had agreed to pay Kansas more than $34 million after the high court decided in 1995 that groundwater pumping in Colorado diverted millions of gallons of upstream water that rightfully belonged to Kansas.
--The Associated Press
Week of March 8
Volunteers sought for phenology survey
Volunteers across the nation are being recruited to get outdoors and help track the effects of climate on seasonal changes in plant and animal behavior.
The USA-National Phenology Network (USA-NPN), a consortium of government, academic and citizen-scientists, is launching a new national program built on volunteer observations of flowering, fruiting and other seasonal events. Scientists and resource managers will use these observations to track effects of climate change on the Earth's life-support systems.
"This program is designed for people interested in participating in climate change science, not just reading about it," said USA-NPN Executive Director and U.S. Geological Survey scientist Jake Weltzin. "We encourage everyone to visit the USA National Phenology Network Web site and then go outside and observe the marvelous cycles of plant and animal life."
Phenology is the study of the seasonal cycles of plant and animals, such as plants sprouting, flowering and fruiting, and animals reproducing, migrating and hibernating. Changes in these patterns, caused by climate change or other factors, can significantly affect human economies and health. In some areas, such changes have already imperiled species, such as in the disappearance of some wildflowers from near Walden Pond, home of the famed 19th-century naturalist Henry David Thoreau.
--U.S. Geological Survey
Tap water advertising campaign expands
A project that originated at a boutique ad agency to help UNICEF deliver clean drinking water to children in developing countries is expanding in its third year as more firms join to support the cause.
The Tap Project, as the initiative is called, is adding cities and sponsors and is going bilingual with ads in Spanish as well as English. It takes place this year during World Water Week, which begins on March 22.
The Tap Project was introduced in Esquire magazine in 2007 by David Droga, the creative chairman at Droga5 in New York. The program ( www.tapproject.org ) allows patrons at participating restaurants to donate $1 to UNICEF each time they order free tap water with their meals rather than costly bottled alternatives.
--The New York Times
Forest owners hope to cash in on carbon sequestration
The north woods of Minnesota hold one key to fending off the effects of global climate change
. The trees, the soil, and the humus on the forest floor all store carbon. Some land owners think there may eventually be a profit to be made from that carbon storage.
U.S. to revise policy on lynx habitat
Soon some immigrants will find life easier in Minnesota and the rest of the United States: A proposed change in the management of land roamed by the Canada lynx would broaden protections for the big cat.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service revised its critical habitat designation for the lynx, which has been the subject of controversy and court actions in the last few years. The proposal preceded an announcement Tuesday by President Obama to resume full scientific reviews of projects that might harm endangered wildlife and plants.
The new lynx plan is in response to a 2007 flap in which then-fish-and-wildlife Deputy Assistant Secretary Julie MacDonald was accused of pressuring wildlife officials to reduce the lynx's critical habitat designation at the behest of industry; she later resigned.
DNR merger protested
When the Department of Natural Resources announced that it was merging its divisions of Ecological Resources and Waters into a single division, it might not have anticipated much reaction.
After all, those divisions generally aren't nearly as visible as the Fish and Wildlife Division. But Jeff Broberg noticed.
Broberg, a geologist, president of the Minnesota Trout Association and a member of the Legislative Citizens Commission on Minnesota Resources, immediately fired off a protest letter to DNR officials.
"I would expect that the hard-nosed water managers are already planning to flush ecology down the tubes," he wrote. "In my opinion, putting Waters in charge of the proposed transition to oversee aquatic ecosystems will result in more ethanol plants, fewer trout streams and the loss of our remaining fens."
Grassroots Japanese protest opposes river dam
First, the farmers objected to an ambitious dam project proposed by the government, saying they did not need irrigation water from the reservoir. Then the commercial fishermen complained that fish would disappear if the Kawabe River’s twisting torrents were blocked. Environmentalists worried about losing the river’s scenic gorges. Soon, half of this city’s 34,000 residents had signed a petition opposing the $3.6 billion project.
--The New York Times
The Apostle Islands: Coming to a coin near you?
The U.S. Mint plans to begin issuing quarters in the series starting next year. The quarters will roll out over 11 years.
Congress passed a law last year requiring the mint to produce quarters featuring national parks or sites such as the lakeshore in each of the 50 states.
The mint will issue five quarters per year in the order that the parks or national sites were established.
Florida water woes worsen
The latest report from the Southwest Florida Water Management District shows aquifer levels are continuing to fall.
According to the district’s March 6 Aquifer Resource Weekly Update, the central aquifer, which is a water source for the Tampa Bay region, is down to a negative 1.69 feet. Last week, the aquifer was at negative 1.65 feet. The normal range is between 0 and 6 feet.
Aquifers are underground layers of rock and sand that hold water. In southwest Florida, more than 80 percent of the water supply comes from aquifers.
--Tampa Bay Newspapers
California farming town prepares for drought Armageddon
Shawn Coburn is barreling down a country road in his white Ford F-150 pickup, talking about how California's water crisis darkly reminds him of a scene from a movie aptly named " Armageddon ."
"Billy Bob Thornton tells Bruce Willis that a huge asteroid is approaching Earth,'' says Coburn, 40. "Willis asks Thornton who will get hurt, and Thornton tells him that he just doesn't get it — that everyone will be dead, that the game is over.''
The disaster coming this spring and summer is no movie, and nothing menacing is falling from the sky.
It's about what's not falling from the sky — rain. After three years of below-average rain and snowfall, coupled with new pumping restrictions to protect endangered fish, California's farmers are running out of water. The devastating impact has trickled down to dozens of small Central Valley farming communities.
--San Jose Mercury News
Sacramento considers selling wastewater
Californians have grown accustomed to digesting odd ideas that routinely flow out of Sacramento, many of them not so palatable.
But are they ready for this one?
Last week, amid a third year of a statewide drought, the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District adopted a strategy to sell treated sewage as drinking water. The buyer would hypothetically partner with the district to recycle wastewater from the capital-area's 1.4 million people into a new municipal water source.
The idea is not so far-fetched. Orange County last year opened the world's largest wastewater recycling plant and is now serving treated effluent as high-quality drinking water to 2.3 million residents.
Wisconsin to track golden eagles
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is planning to strap small GPS units on golden eagles over the next three years to see where the birds go when they migrate from western Wisconsin and eastern Minnesota.
The golden eagle is mostly a western bird and is plentiful from the Dakotas west to the Pacific Ocean. The national bird of Mexico, it also lives in northern Ontario, where it's listed as a species of concern.
--The Associated Press
Chicago ponders water supply constraints
As Chicago's population grows its water supply must too, but with overworked aquifers and legal constraints, local officials are looking for solutions.
“Even in this region, water resources are not infinite, they are finite,” said Daniel Injerd, chief of Lake Michigan management for the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.
“Aquifers in and around Chicago are being pumped faster than they can recharge,” said Josh Ellis, program associate for the Metropolitan Planning Council. “As the population continues to grow, that will only be exacerbated.”
--Medill Reports
Oregon experiments with conservation credits
Three years ago, Oregon looked ready to re-invent conservation banking . Instead of establishing separate banks to offset wetland damage and other habitat loss caused by transportation construction, the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT) was going to roll it all into one package.
On this web site Bill Warncke, ODOT's Mitigation and Conservation Program Coordinator, laid out an innovative approach that would address multiple resources simultaneously – including wetlands, water quality, fish and wildlife habitat, and endangered species.
Just months later, however, the plan was shelved.
State and federal agencies were hesitant about the accounting – and perhaps uncomfortable about the fact that the idea came from within the regulated community. A revision of ODOT's work plan also significantly reduced the amount of habitat ODOT would harm. Backtracking to a more traditional conservation banking approach, ODOT chartered the first species bank in the state, a vernal pool bank, and is continuing work on a bank to protect the Oregon chub.
--EcosystemMarketplace
Idaho fish farm squeezed out irrigators
The head of the Idaho Department of Water Resources has ordered hundreds of groundwater users in south-central Idaho to stop pumping, saying that a fish farm has first dibs on the limited resource.
The curtailment order came from David Tuthill. It is intended to ensure that Clear Springs Foods, a fish farm near Hagerman, has access to the water it needs to maintain the farm. Idaho law distributes water rights on a first-come, first-served basis, and the fish farm has an older, or senior, water right compared to the 865 junior water rights held by the roughly 430 people affected by the curtailment.
The order affects roughly 41,000 acres of irrigated land. Tuthill said he ordered the curtailment after the groundwater users backed out of a mitigation plan that would have provided water to the fish farm.
--The Associated Press
Week of March 1
California drought now officially an emergency
Citing a third consecutive year of drought conditions, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency and called on urban residents to cut their water usage by 20 percent.
The announcement could intensify talks in the Capitol about upgrading the state's water infrastructure — a contentious debate that has pitted environmentalists who favor conservation against proponents of building new dams to boost supplies. Negotiations in the Legislature have stalled repeatedly in recent years over the issue of dams.
The governor's proclamation directs state agencies to expedite water transfers to needy areas, take measures to ensure water supplies to farmers and streamline environmental regulations for projects, such as desalination and water recycling plants, that could help alleviate the drought.
The governor said drought conditions are causing enormous financial harm to the state's agriculture industry and businesses. Losses to California farmers could approach $3 billion this year, he said.
--San Jose Mercury News
Tap water in a bottle? Don’t laugh. It sells
Two teachers on their lunch break scanned a refrigerated shelf inside a Manhattan coffee shop lined with drink bottles: Naked Juice, Perrier, Smartwater, New York City tap water .
"Tap water?" said Alison Szeli, 26, picking up the clear plastic bottle with orange letters: "Tap'd NY. Purified New York City tap water."
She studied the description: "No glaciers were harmed in making this water." She compared prices: Smartwater cost $1.85. Tap'd NY was 35 cents less.
Szeli and her co-worker went for tap, carrying the bottles to the cash register.
"It's cheaper," Szeli said. "Water is all the same anyway. I just prefer to buy my own water in bottles."
--The Los Angeles Times
Supreme Court clears way for coal emission rules
The Supreme Court cleared the way for the Environmental Protection Agency to issue new regulations on emissions of mercury, lead, arsenic and other pollutants from the nation’s coal-fired power plants.
Environmental groups hailed the action as a final blow to Bush administration efforts to frustrate tight regulation of the emissions, but any new Obama administration rules may draw their own court challenges.
The justices’ action involved a suit brought by environmental organizations, Indian tribes and 14 states including New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. The suit charged that the Bush administration had acted improperly in trying to create a separate regulatory regime for the coal-fired plants rather than subjecting them to the general requirements of the Clean Air Act.
--The New York Times
Gas drilling boom spurs water worries
On a snowy hillside in rural southwest Pennsylvania, Larry Grimm drives his truck up a steep gravel track to a hilltop reservoir surrounded by orange plastic fencing and "keep out" signs.
The pond supplies water pumped from a local creek to the natural gas wells that are springing up throughout Mount Pleasant Township, where Grimm is the municipal supervisor.
Range Resources Corp ( RRC.N), the Texas company that has drilled 68 wells in the township, needs millions of gallons of water for "hydrofracking," a process that forces a chemical-laden solution deep into the rock, allowing natural gas to be released.
--Reuters
EPA promises new look at rules on invasives
The Obama administration's top environmental official indicated that she will consider tougher rules to protect the Great Lakes from invasive species that hitch rides into the region aboard oceangoing vessels.
Newly appointed Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson said she will take a fresh look at her agency's new policy that requires oceangoing vessels to flush their ship-steadying ballast tanks in mid-ocean to expel any unwanted organisms.
The EPA ordered the flushing late last year after losing a lawsuit over its long-standing policy to exempt ballast discharges from provisions in the Clean Water Act. But the conservationists who sued the EPA say that merely flushing ballast tanks does not go far enough to protect the Great Lakes from the next zebra mussel. They want the agency to force ship owners to install ballast treatment systems that will go much further toward killing unwanted organisms.
--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Rising water in mine pit worries Bovey residents
Water has been rising in a huge abandoned mine pit
near Bovey for about 15 years, and residents' concerns are rising along with it. The high water is already finding its way into basements, and some residents think it could spill out of the pit some day, inundating the small town.
While there's money available to try to fix the problem, there's little agreement how to do that.
--Minnesota Public Radio
Firms urged to disclose ‘water footprint’
Corporations’ “ water footprint ” — assessing their water use and pollution — should be disclosed in SEC financial reports along with companies’ strategies for dealing with expected growth in water-related costs, according a report by Ceres and the Pacific Institute.
“Investors also have a significant interest and role” in encouraging companies “to look more closely at their potential risk exposure to water-related challenges,” according to the 60-page report issued today. Investors should be aware of potential financial, regulatory and reputational risks corporations face related to water usage and availability that could drive up costs, the report said.
“Companies should publicly report management activities and key metrics on their water use and impacts, and track how their performance changes over time” to help shareholders assess how companies address water risks as well as business opportunities in the area, the report said.
--Pension & Investments
Obama budget would benefit Great Lakes
The budget President Obama revealed would send $475 million to the Midwest to clean up and restore the Great Lakes .
The money would go toward combating invasive species, runoff pollution and contaminated sediment.
When he was running for president, Obama committed to making restoration of the Great Lakes a priority.
--The Daily Cardinal
Satellite crash sets back carbon research
NASA and climate researchers are weighing their options after the crash of a new satellite designed to monitor atmospheric carbon dioxide with unprecedented accuracy. A malfunction during the rocket ride toward space sent the Orbiting Carbon Observatory plummeting into the Indian Ocean near Antarctica.
"To say that it's extremely disappointing would be an understatement. This was a really important science mission," said a dismayed Edward J. Weiler, NASA's associate administrator for science.
Weiler said it was too soon to say whether NASA will attempt to launch a duplicate of the OCO, the initials of which are a nod to carbon dioxide's chemical structure: two atoms of oxygen and one atom of carbon. The satellite would have monitored not only the source points of CO2 emissions but also the carbon "sinks," such as forests and oceans, where carbon is taken out of the atmosphere.
--The Washington Post
Texas governor wants to spend to meet water demand
Gov. Rick Perry says it's time for Texas to put some money into water.
The Republican governor told the Texas Water Conservation Association on Wednesday that lawmakers should spend $260 million to help speed the building of water reservoirs.
The 2007 Texas state water plan projects that population and the demand for water will increase dramatically over the next 50 years.
Building new reservoirs to handle that demand is projected to cost billions. Perry said the $260 million would help buy land to get those projects going.
--Associated Press
Levees in 16 states flunk inspections
More than 100 levees in 16 states flunked maintenance inspections in the last two years and are so neglected that they could fail to stem a major flood, records from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers show.
The 114 levees received "unacceptable" maintenance ratings in corps inspections, meaning their deficiencies are so severe that it can be "reasonably foreseen" that they will not perform properly in a major flood, according to the records, which were requested by USA TODAY. As a result, the corps is advising state and local levee authorities that the levees no longer qualify for federal rehabilitation aid if damaged by floodwaters.
--USA Today
DNR to combine divisions
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources plans to create a new division focused on watershed management.
Assistant DNR commissioner Larry Kramka says in the past, conservation efforts have been more focused on problem areas.
Now, the new division, which combines the Waters and Ecological Resources Divisions, will approach conservation by addressing the root causes of problems.
--Minnesota Public Radio
New Berlin, Wis., to get Lake Michigan water
Lake Michigan water may start flowing across the subcontinental divide in New Berlin by July, the first such diversion since the Great Lakes compact was approved.
New Berlin recently sent its one-time $1.5 million payment for the water to the City of Milwaukee, even though the western suburb is still waiting for the state Department of Natural Resources to approve the diversion.
New Berlin officials had hoped to switch all remaining property owners on municipal groundwater wells to lake water by the end of 2008, but they had to wait for the compact to be approved and navigate new procedures.
DNR approval seems likely, barring any unforeseen objection that would be brought to the department's attention during the 30-day public comment period under way on New Berlin's request, city and state officials said.
--Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Mathematicians model snowflakes
The random, symmetrical beauty of snowflakes has been recreated in a computer program, U.S. researchers said.
It took four years for two mathematicians from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, and the University of California, Davis, to develop the computer model's theory and perform the computations.
"Even though we've artfully stripped down the model over several years so that it's as simple and efficient as possible, it still takes us a day to grow one of these things," Wisconsin researcher David Griffeath said in a statement.
--Reuters
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