Drinking Water Supplies
Threatened by Dry Weather
The Associated Press put together a nice, short summary the problem of
shrinking water
supplies. You can read
it at the NBC News site and see video of a related
story.
Earthquake Preparedness: The
Great Shakeout
February 7 will be the Great Central U.S. Shakeout. If you’re a fellow Missourian,
find more information at the Missouri
Division of Geology. If you live
elsewhere in the central United States, check out the Shakeout Web site
(participating states are Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Mississippi,
and Tennessee).
Highway Trust Fund Out of Money
by 2015
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO)
has released projections of funds available in the Highway
Trust Fund. They expect it to have
insufficient funds to meet obligations by fiscal year 2015.
The Highway Trust Fund is the primary source of money for the federal-aid
highway system. Revenues to the fund
come primarily from the federal gas tax.
You can see the CBO projections here→.
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Hydropower Bill Reported Out of
Committee
The Hydropower Regulatory Efficiency Act of 2013 (H.R. 267) was
reported out of the House
Committee on Energy and Commerce. The bill would expand hydropower development.
Mississippi River Affected by
Drought
We’ve been following stories about the effects of the prolonged drought on
the Mississippi
River. Our posts have mostly related
to barge traffic and the effort to keep the river open downstream of St. Louis.
NPR
has posted an article
about the effects at the mouth of the river.
One of the issues is salt water intrusion, which as the potential to
change the water quality in that part of the river and has already reached the
intake of one drinking
water system in Louisiana. Of course, barge traffic is an issue for New Orleans,
too, because the port there is where goods move from river barges to
ocean-going vessels.
Recently, barge traffic has been back up by an oil spill on the river,
too. Cleanup of the spill near Vicksburg,
Mississippi,
continues.
Related posts and articles
New Staff Leader Announced for
Senate Environment & Public Works Committee
Sen. Barbara Boxer (CA),
chair of the Senate Committee
on Environment and Public Works, announced that Jeremy Symons will join the
committee staff as Deputy Staff Director. He will focus on environmental
issues, including clean
water, air
quality, wildlife,
and climate
change. Symons currently serves as
the Senior Vice President for Conservation and Education at the National
Wildlife Federation (NWF). Previously, he was
Executive Director of NWF's Climate Change Campaign, held positions in the Environmental
Protection Agency's Office of Air and
Radiation, and served in Sen. Ron
Wyden's (OR)
office.
You can read the original news release here→.
Secretary Chu Leaving Energy
Energy
Secretary
Steven Chu announced he will be resigning his post. Other officials who announced their
resignation include Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood and EPA
Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.
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