Pine Ridge Indian Reservation faces water restrictions after winter storm leaves thousands trapped

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Monday January 02, 2023 · 7:00 AM PST

2023/01/02 · 07:00

PINE RIDGE, SD - JUNE 8: Dancers compete at an annual powwow to honor veterans from the Sioux Lakota tribe on June 8, 2018 on the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota.(Photo by Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images) — Pine Ridge Indian Reservation boasts a population of nearly 20,000—thousands of whom were devastated by the winter storm bearing down on the U.S. during the holidays.

Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is now facing a water shortage in the wake of a winter storm that left thousands trapped. Bismarck, North Dakota NBC affiliate KFYR reports that the Oglala Sioux Tribe issued water restrictions on Monday and that officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) would be arriving this week, prompted by the dangerous conditions that isolated Pine Ridge, which is still being dug out by residents and the National Guard.

Some residents went without electricity during the storm, instead using up propane and whatever firewood (or burnable material) was available to survive the two weeks of sub-zero temperatures bringing ice and snow. Basic necessities were a major concern, as there was a firewood shortage but frequently no safe way for outside communities, groups, and nonprofits to safely get to Pine Ridge. Conditions simply made it impossible to even break down the firewood, much less transport it.

April Siese for Daily Kos

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Sunday January 01, 2023 · 1:00 PM PST

2023/01/01 · 13:00

GIZA, EGYPT: Employees compress plastic bottles to be sent for recycling. Every month VeryNile collects up to 10 tons of plastic waste from the Nile River. on September 26, 2022 in Cairo, Egypt. The VeryNile initiative was started in December 2018 as an effort to develop sustainable means of ridding the Nile of inorganic and solid waste, creating recycling programs through cooperation with several companies and local stakeholders. It also campaigns to reduce the use of single-use plastics and raises awareness of the importance of protecting the environment. (Photo by Fadel Dawod/Getty Images) — Finding ways to rid the planet of plastic, either through clean-up and recycling or entirely new materials, is a global issue.

Recently, the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works convened for a hearing titled “Examining the Impact of Plastic Use and Identifying Solutions for Reducing Plastic Waste.” The final hearing for the committee of the 117th Congress began with Sen. Jeff Merkley discussing the plastic problem, ranging from how plastic does not break down to the ways it has infiltrated seemingly everything through that process.

Merkley last year introduced the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act that includes provisions like establishing a national system that would allow for better methods of recycling plastic bottles in an effort to reduce waste and prevent more plastic from going to landfills. For now, there is no nationwide bottle bill, though there are 10 states with their own bottle laws. The legislation also includes financial incentives for recycling as well as for material recovery facility operators that run recycling and reclamation facilities.

April Siese for Daily Kos

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Sunday January 01, 2023 · 8:00 AM PST

2023/01/01 · 08:00

FILE - In this March 11, 2020, file photo, Sharon Lavigne, founder of environmental justice group Rise St. James, is second from the left as she and members Myrtle Felton, Gail LeBoeuf and Rita Cooper, speak against plans for a $9.4 billion chemical complex near Donaldsonville, La. Lavigne will receive what the University of Notre Dame describes as the oldest and most prestigious honor for American Catholics at the school’s commencement ceremonies May 15, 2022, in South Bend, Indiana.. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File) — Rise St. James scored an incredible victory in seeing the shuttering of the TK plant.

It’s no secret 2022 was another rough year for the climate movement. Any year we move closer to—yet stay distant from—reaching global net-zero goals is going to be a more difficult year than if polluters, lawmakers, and those in power did the right thing. Occasionally, those exact folks (typically minus the fossil fuel industry; greenwashing doesn’t count!) put the planet and its inhabitants first in spectacular fashion.

One such cause for celebration is the many climate provisions within the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that incentivize the further development of renewables, as well as “the $369 billion the bill will allow to be invested in climate solutions, funding projects that tackle drought mitigation and resilience, offering consumers tax credits for new and used electric vehicles, providing funding to rural and marginalized communities to drive additional renewable power development, and providing tax credits for more energy efficient buildings,” that I’ve previously written about.

April Siese for Daily Kos

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Friday December 30, 2022 · 4:30 PM PST

2022/12/30 · 16:30

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS - MAY 06: Fast-food chicken sandwiches from McDonald's, Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen and KFC are shown on May 06, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. Chicken prices have risen sharply this year as suppliers struggle to keep up with demand, fueled in part, by the popularity of new chicken offerings from fast-food restaurants. (Photo Illustration by Scott Olson/Getty Images) — Researchers found nearly a quarter of consumers were more likely to reach for a more environmentally friendly meal like a chicken sandwich instead of a burger when presented with environmental labeling.

What we eat can make a difference in fighting climate change, as can the information presented about our food options, according to a paper published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers looked at whether fast-food ordering changes when consumers are presented with the type of labeling for environmental concerns usually reserved for health considerations. It turns out that climate menu impact labels make a difference—even more so when they’re presented in a more negative light.

More than 5,000 adults participated in a randomized clinical trial with such labels for fast food. Nearly a quarter more of participants who saw labels showing which option was the more environmentally damaging went for a more sustainable option, typically an alternative to red meat of some sort. For those who were presented with labels that provided the more sustainable option on a menu, just 10% more participants opted for that option.

April Siese

Community

Friday December 30, 2022 · 12:09 PM PST

2022/12/30 · 12:09

A alligator lays on grass near a canal in Everglades National Park, Florida on September 30, 2021. - The largest wetland in the United States is the battleground for one of the largest ecological conservation efforts in the world..But time is running short, and global warming is threatening a subtropical wilderness that is home to more than 2,000 species of animals and plants. (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA / AFP) (Photo by CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP via Getty Images) — The definition of "waters of the United States" has been strengthened ahead of a Supreme Court decision tied to the Clean Water Act.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Friday finalized a more robust definition of “waters of the United States,” effectively overturning Trump-era rules meant to benefit polluters and property developers. The protections now in place are similar to Obama-era protections and, according to the EPA, “establishes a durable definition … that is grounded in the authority provided by Congress in the Clean Water Act, the best available science, and extensive implementation experience stewarding the nation’s waters.”

“The rule’s clear and supportable definition of waters of the United States will allow for more efficient and effective implementation and provide the clarity long desired by farmers, industry, environmental organizations, and other stakeholders,” Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Michael L. Connor said in a press release. The EPA partnered with the Department of the Army to provide that finalized ruling, a pre-publication version of which is available here.

April Siese

Community

Thursday December 29, 2022 · 11:30 AM PST

2022/12/29 · 11:30

Climate activist protest as they march on Park Avenue in New York on October 29, 2022. - The ongoing climate demonstrations in New York are timed to coincide with the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Sandy's impact on the US east coast. (Photo by Kena Betancur / AFP) (Photo by KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images) — The recent winter storm has climate denialists and the far-right once again trying to push disinformation and outright myths about the climate crisis.

Climate misinformation and outright myths continue to proliferate online, especially given the recent winter storm—itself somewhat complicated to tie to climate change simply because the research is still being conducted. That hasn’t stopped denialists and the far-right (and, of course, many Republicans) from continuing to push false claims about the climate crisis itself. As USA Today reports, claims like “believing in climate change is only for the far-left” simply would not quit this year.

It doesn’t help that shady organizations like the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) are weighing in on something they clearly have no business in analyzing. A recent “study” from the group, which has been pushing bogus claims about climate change for more than a decade and half, decries alleged alarmism claims and focuses on greenhouse gas emissions directly causing natural disasters. It’s worth noting that scientists believe climate change has worsened natural disasters.

April Siese

Community

Wednesday December 28, 2022 · 12:05 PM PST

2022/12/28 · 12:05

ConocoPhillipis conducted exploratory work at a site the company has dubbed Willow, which it hopes to eventually develop into the U.S.'s single largest oil extraction operation. — ConocoPhillips believes that limiting the project's scope any further could cause the fossil fuel giant to abandon Willow altogether.

Alaskans are eagerly awaiting 2023, when the Biden administration will finally make a decision on the dangerous, environmentally damaging Willow oil and gas project in the state’s National Petroleum Reserve. There’s a slim chance that it may not move forward if its scope shrinks, or if the Biden administration chooses to recommend a different option from what oil and gas-hungry lawmakers, fossil fuel supporters, and ConocoPhillips have pushed for known as Alternative E.

According to a draft supplemental environmental impact statement (SEIS), this option would approve four drill sites—down from a proposed five—though that fourth pad would be deferred. Officials are expected to release a final SEIS next month and make a decision in February. The grand hope from ConocoPhillips is that if all goes according to plan, an additional 180,000 barrels of oil will be produced per day from Willow. That would add 284 million metric tons of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere over 30 years, going against President Joe Biden’s net-zero pledges

April Siese

Community

Tuesday December 27, 2022 · 11:52 AM PST

2022/12/27 · 11:52

FELICITY, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 28: In an aerial view, the All-American Canal conveys water through the Imperial Sand Dunes of California's Colorado Desert, a few miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border, on September 28, 2022 near Felicity, California. The 80-mile long canal carries water from the Colorado River to supply nine Southern California cities and 500,000 acres of farmland in the Imperial Valley where a few hundred farms draw more water from the Colorado River than the states of Arizona and Nevada combined. As drought shrinks the Colorado River to historic low levels and with states that rely on it facing major water shortages, pressure is building on the growers to give up some of the water rights they had inherited long ago. The Imperial Sand Dunes are the remnants of the beach sands of ancient Lake Cahuilla, the basin of which is where the dying Salton Sea is located. The federal government has proposed an unprecedented plan to cut back on water supplies for Arizona, Nevada and California, where millions of people rely on its water and power, as climate change-driven drought continues to lower water levels at the biggest reservoirs in the nation, lakes Mead and Powell, to historic low capacities. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) — The plan, dubbed Project Nexus, is expected to break ground in 2023 and become operational in 2024, bringing 8,500 feet of solar panels to Turlock's canals.

Next year starts an ambitious solar panel project that if successful could see thousands of miles of panels installed above California’s irrigation canals. The plan, dubbed Project Nexus, is expected to break ground in 2023 and become operational in 2024, bringing 8,500 feet of solar panels to Turlock's canals in the Central Valley. One study from researchers at the University of California at Merced, a partner on the project, suggests that the panels could not only generate substantial power if scaled up but also alleviate some drought concerns by preventing some water loss.

Experts I’ve spoken with about the drought in the West believe that so-called solar canals are not the end-all be-all for conservation and certainly won’t prevent aridification from continuing. The project does address important environmental goals, such as California’s net-zero promise to reach zero emissions by 2045. Researchers believe that were solar canals to encompass the entire 4,000 miles of canals and aqueducts spanning the state, those panels would be able to generate 13 gigawatts of power.

April Siese

Community

Monday December 19, 2022 · 2:48 PM PST

2022/12/19 · 14:48

Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, David Ainsworth (C-L), Chinese Minister of Ecology and Environment Huang Runqiu (C-R), Executive Secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Elizabeth Maruma Mrema (2nd R) and Inger Andersen Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Program (R) during a plenary meeting during the United Nations Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal, Quebec, on December 19, 2022. (Photo by Lars Hagberg / AFP) (Photo by LARS HAGBERG/AFP via Getty Images) — The 30x30 provision in the agreement would ensure 30% of the planet's land and oceans are protected by 2030.

The United Nations’ biodiversity conference known as COP15 concluded early Monday with an agreement meant to address extinction risks. Under the deal, known as the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework, nearly 200 countries vowed to “halt and reverse biodiversity loss” by 2030. The most prominent goal with a 2030 deadline, known as 30x30, is the pledge to protect 30% of all land and sea. Just 17% of the planet’s land and 8% of its oceans currently fall under protections.

Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Executive Director of the U.N. Environment Programme Inger Anderson praised the landmark agreement. “For far too long humanity has paved over, fragmented, over-extracted and destroyed the natural world on which we all depend,” Anderson said in a statement. “Now is our chance to shore up and strengthen the web of life, so it can carry the full weight of generations to come. Actions that we take for nature are actions to reduce poverty; they are actions to achieve the sustainable development goals; they are actions to improve human health.”

April Siese

Community

Friday December 16, 2022 · 11:26 AM PST

2022/12/16 · 11:26

Donnie Young looks over a wastewater lagoon on the dairy farm he is part-owner of near Ulysses, Kan. Jan. 6, 2006. Faced with a decling water table in the underlining Ogallala Aquifer, water is reused in six different process at the dairy before finally being used to irrigate crops. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel) — For decades, Kansas accepted the fact that the Ogallala Aquifer would one day dry up. The Kansas Water Authority now wants to save it.

The Kansas Water Authority (KWA) voted 12-1 on Wednesday to chart a new course for the Ogallala Aquifer. For decades, the state accepted the fact that the Aquifer would one day dry up. Now, the KWA explicitly believes that “the policy of planned depletion of the Ogallala Aquifer is no longer in the best interest of [Kansas]” and will put that language in its annual report. The agency will begin a collaborative process with state and regional groups as well as stakeholders “to establish data-driven goals, metrics, and actions,” according to meeting notes.

Speaking with the Kansas Reflector, Kansas Water Office Director Connie Owen called the decision “historic.” The one person to vote against the change, Randy Hayzlett, told Kansas City NPR affiliate KCUR that he worried about the board going too far by explicitly stating the agency would help halt the aquifer’s depletion. “[Halt is] a pretty strong word and it’s going to affect a lot of people,” Hayzlett said. “Is it going to help declines in the aquifer? Or is it going to help the economies in western Kansas? Just what’s it gonna put a cap on?”

April Siese

Community

Thursday December 15, 2022 · 12:32 PM PST

2022/12/15 · 12:32

Bottles are seen on a production line on July 19, 2010 in Vittel, at the mineral water bottling plant of Nestle Waters Supply est company. AFP PHOTO JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN (Photo by Jean-Christophe VERHAEGEN / AFP) (Photo credit should read JEAN-CHRISTOPHE VERHAEGEN/AFP via Getty Images) — Harvard University Sustainability found that bottled water is about 3,000% more expensive than tap water.

The last thing any area experiencing drought needs is a company removing much-needed water from a precious aquifer. Yet that may be the fate of the Prairie du Chien-Jordan aquifer, which provides drinking water for the town of Elko New Market, Minnesota. Less than 5,000 people live there, but the massive Niagara Bottling company wants to build a facility there. The company makes hundreds of millions of dollars annually and is willing to invest $125 million for this project, which would put a massive 425,000 building in Elko New Market’s industrial park.

Communities aren’t happy with the plan, regardless of how many jobs (just 60) the proposed Niagara Bottling facility would bring to the town. One resident told Minnesota Public Radio it was a matter of “setting precedent” that the project not be approved. “We should all be concerned about our water resources,” Janelle Kuznia told the station. Many are concerned about stretching resources to their brink at a time when irrigators are being told to use less water, not more.

April Siese

Community

Wednesday December 14, 2022 · 11:40 AM PST

2022/12/14 · 11:40

Weikko Wirta, AES Southland Director of Operations and Vice President of Southland Energy, speaks about the AES Alamitos Battery Energy Storage System, which provides stored renewable energy to supply electricity during peak demand periods, in Long Beach, California on September 16, 2022. - Dire predictions of blackouts in California during this month's fearsome heat wave never came to pass, with technology -- and a dose of community spirit -- helping the creaking electricity grid through its most testing period ever. "Batteries stepped in and... played a critical role" in rebalancing electricity demand, said Weikko Wirta, director of operations at AES Southland, a 400 megawatt installation at Long Beach near Los Angeles. (Photo by Patrick T. FALLON / AFP) (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images) — States like California and Texas are looking to boost their battery storage to address excess power being generated from solar and wind.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) released a recent report on battery storage capacity showing rosy but realistic numbers for the years to come. From next year to 2025, the agency expects that another 20.8 gigawatts (GW) of battery storage capacity will become available. The U.S. currently has 7.8 GW of storage capacity, though an additional 1.4 GW could come online by the end of the year. This marks a major escalation in scaling up battery storage facilities for utilities, especially—and much of this is because of what experts believe is an “inflection point” reached by renewables.

“What you’re seeing here is a technology starting to reach its inflection point,” Advanced Energy Economy Managing Director Ryan Katofsy told the Houston Chronicle. “Costs are down, performance is improved. There’s more awareness of the qualities (batteries) provide.” The paper also smartly notes that excess power generated by wind especially is what has states like Texas eying additional battery storage in order to reap the most benefits out of renewables, both financially and in terms of grid reliability.

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Pine Ridge Indian Reservation faces water restrictions after winter storm leaves thousands trapped

We need to rethink our relationship with plastic

Big environmental wins for 2022 prime the climate movement for even more success

Environmental labels on fast food could change the way we eat for the better

EPA finalizes water protections, repealing damaging Trump-era rules

A so-called study from a climate denial group misses the point on climate-worsened disasters

As window to begin construction soon opens, Biden administration may deny ConocoPhillips project

New solar panel project over California canal could expand thousands of miles if successful

The United Nations' biodiversity conference just reached a major conservation deal

Kansas Water Authority chooses to save Ogallala Aquifer instead of accepting 'planned depletion'

Residents push back against planned bottled water facility in Elko New Market, Minnesota

Renewables reach an 'inflection point': States eye battery storage as wind, solar grow more robust