Water & Oceans

"Lawmakers reached a deal on a massive waterways bill that provides drought relief for California and emergency aid for the lead-stricken community of Flint, Mich."

"Fast new patrol vessel built with Dutch, British and Swedish lottery funds aims to challenge Japan’s defiance of international court ruling on whaling".

"Princess Cruise Lines has agreed to plead guilty to seven felony charges and pay a $40 million penalty for polluting the ocean with waste and then trying to cover it up. Federal prosecutors said the payment represents the largest-ever criminal penalty involving deliberate pollution by a ship at sea."

"U.S. EPA released a plan yesterday for setting objectives to protect the nation's drinking water. The blueprint lays out how federal, state, tribal and local agencies, as well as the private and nonprofit sectors, can address six initiatives."

"The Cheat River flows pale green and slate gray, glistening in the sunshine as it gathers speed, turns to whitewater and drops between rocks on the way toward the Monongahela River. From there it makes its way to the Ohio River and the drinking water of millions of people. As West Virginia pushes toward an uncertain economic future, a river that once flowed bright orange charts a course out of mining's toxic legacies."

"Top officials of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency last year made critical changes at the eleventh hour to a highly anticipated, five-year scientific study of hydraulic fracturing’s effect on the nation’s drinking water. The changes, later criticized by scientists for lacking evidence, played down the risk of pollution that can result from the well-drilling technique known as fracking."

"SHAKTOOLIK, Alaska — In the dream, a storm came and Betsy Bekoalok watched the river rise on one side of the village and the ocean on the other, the water swallowing up the brightly colored houses, the fishing boats and the four-wheelers, the school and the clinic."

"A symbol of America’s ailing infrastructure, Lock No. 52 on the Ohio River is responsible for a shipping bottleneck that hobbles commerce far and wide."

"Negotiators from both nations are hustling to finish a new agreement for sharing water from the Colorado River — before President Barack Obama leaves office."

"Canada this month took steps toward joining the United States in banning the sale of personal-hygiene products that contain tiny plastics known as microbeads in an effort to keep them away from fish and wildlife and address plastic pollution in general."