Every summer, beaches are closed across the United States because of pollution that can bring disease to beachgoers. That suggests local stories, such as problems with sewage systems and algal blooms known as 'red tides.' The latest TipSheet shares resources and info to help you cover the local beach closure beat.
"The Trump administration is taking steps to allow five energy companies to use seismic air guns for oil and gas exploration off the U.S. Atlantic coast even though they would incidentally harass marine mammals. Environmental groups and some coastal communities object."
"TOMS RIVER, N.J. — In one of the largest beach repair projects in U.S. history, the federal government has begun dumping so much sand on a stretch of the New Jersey shore that it could fill a football stadium more than five times over."
"In the coming years, a new gold rush will begin. Deep beneath the ocean’s waves, from scalding hydrothermal vents to the frigid stretches of the abyssal plain, ocean processes have deposited vast quantities of valuable minerals on the seafloor. Now, the convergence of technological development and political will has placed this ore within reach. But like the gold rushes of old, the deep-sea-mining industry is emerging on the frontiers of society, far from legislatures and law enforcement."
"Federal appeals judges denied the Trump administration's motion yesterday to halt a lower-court order requiring U.S. EPA to address water pollution linked to coal mining in West Virginia."
"A federal lawsuit alleges the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency failed to protect the Shenandoah River from pollution that's caused the scenic waterway to become clogged with algae blooms."
"The US Marine Mammal Commission, an organisation charged with restoring mammal populations in the world’s oceans, is set for the chop in president Donald Trump’s latest budget proposal."
As some warned, federal environmental agencies have begun to purge web info on topics like climate change. WatchDog TipSheet has that story, plus items about an unusual libel lawsuit, a news outfit using satellite for groundtruthing, a new source of online water data, how journalists can protect against surveillance and more.
"Rising nitrate levels in the Minnesota and Blue Earth Rivers are forcing Mankato to adjust how it provides drinking water to residents and potentially threatens the city's attempts to limit the amount of water it takes from the region's most critical aquifer."
"As local lawmakers continue to pressure the military to do more to clean massive groundwater pollution near its bases in Bucks and Montgomery counties, contaminant levels appear to have increased in the past year."
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