Climate Change: A New Energy-Water Nexus for Emission Trading

California Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin de Leon added a new twist (climate change) to the increasingly popular topic of the “energy-water nexus.” Speaking at the 30th Annual Meeting and Dinner of the Southern California Water Committee, “as we live through the current severe and extreme drought, which is now approaching a 4th straight year of drought conditions, the realities of limited water supplies are hitting home.”  Introducing climate change into the policy discussion, Senator de Leon will move water agencies into a new era of carbon emission control.  Will participation in California’s cap-and-trade emission market become a new tool for water managers? Continue reading →

Water and Fracking: The Opportunities, Challenges and Risks in West Virginia

We have all heard about the positive economic effects of the shale oil revolution in the United States. According to IHS Research, the unconventional oil and gas industry supported 2.1 million jobs in 2012. IHS expects that number will grow to 3.9 million jobs by 2025. And if you have gone to the gas pumps recently, we have unconventional drilling to thank partly for the lower gas prices. AAA reports that the national average gas price has fallen to $3.186 a gallon this week from $3.342 at the same time a year ago. But does the rising economic tide raise all boats in the country equally? Continue reading →

What a Difference a Word Can Make: The US EPA, “Other” Waters, and the Debate Over the EPA’s Role in Water Quality

This summer, a CNN contributor named John Sutter traveled the entire length of California’s 417-mile San Joaquin River that American Rivers named the country’s “most endangered river”. During his journey from the upper reaches of the Sierra Nevada to the famous Golden Gate Bridge, Sutter saw the river in its many different forms. He saw the rapids, dams, farms, and water diversion points for one of the most important water supplies in California. However, what struck me most about his trip was that although he planned to use a kayak for (most of) the trip, the middle section of the river regularly runs dry. In a year of severe drought like this, the San Joaquin runs dry for about 60 miles (see the map below). The current state of the river is a far cry from the 1850s when riverboats regularly traversed its waters to bring passengers from the coast inland and vice versa. Continue reading →

Is the End of the Texas Drought Near?

Do you believe an Aggie or a Red Raider?

The Los Angeles Times recently ran a story on the September torrential rainfall in Texas: Rain pounds Texas: A sign the drought is ending?

“This could be the start of the end of the drought,” said state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon, a professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University.

“We’ve been behind on rainfall for several years in West Texas. We have thirsty watersheds.” “We need multiple, wetter years,” said Ken Rainwater, former director of the Water Resources Center at Texas Tech University.

Well, this is one Aggie-Red Raider dispute that can’t be settled on the gridiron. Continue reading →