Water & Oceans

"Environmental groups, locals worry Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin might be destroyed by a proposed industrial facility."

"A drill ship at the heart of Shell's hunt for Arctic oil flunked a Coast Guard inspection last month when a piece of anti-pollution gear that already cost its owner millions in fines failed again."

"California's drought-plagued Central Valley hogs the headlines, but two-thirds of your winter vegetables come from a different part of the state. Occupying a land mass a mere eighth the size of metro Los Angeles, the Imperial Valley churns out about two-thirds of the vegetables eaten by Americans during the winter."

"California water regulators adopted sweeping, unprecedented restrictions on how people, governments and businesses can use water amid the state's ongoing drought, hoping to push reluctant residents to deeper conservation."

"A federal judge ruled Friday that the Army Corps of Engineers' construction and management of the Mississippi River-Gulf Outlet (MR-GO) channel had created a "ticking time bomb" for the New Orleans area and that the federal government must pay for some of the flood damage from Hurricane Katrina and subsequent storms."

"The western North Carolina dairy farm that pleaded guilty to allowing 11,000 gallons of cow feces into a nearby river used for drinking water and recreation promised to make a series of changes to its operations to prevent such spills in the future."

"California's drought led to the deaths of 12.5 million trees in the state's forests last year, leaving behind huge amounts of dry fuel that could burn easily as the summer wildfire season begins, the U.S. Forest Service said Monday."

"An analysis of drinking water sampled from three homes in Bradford County, Pa., revealed traces of a compound commonly found in Marcellus Shale drilling fluids, according to a study published on Monday."

"House Republicans Friday passed the second of 12 spending bills for the upcoming budget year, a $35 billion measure funding the Energy Department and popular water projects constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers."