From pipelines and dams to power plants and critical mineral mining, there are few industries or environments that NEPA doesn’t touch. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue

Q&A: Do We Have to Choose Between Speedy Development and Environment?

In exchange for his vote on the largest climate change investment in United States history, Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia secured a legislative concession: the promise of a side deal to speed the permitting process for big energy projects. 

Little is known about what the deal will include. But, among its most enduring provisions could be sweeping changes to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the bedrock environmental law which governs virtually every major infrastructure project in the country.

From pipelines and dams to power plants and critical mineral mining, there are few industries or environments that NEPA doesn’t touch. Likewise, the law’s critics cover the American political spectrum. Development-friendly coalitions say its requirements are expensive and time-consuming; some decarbonization advocates say it could interfere with a clean energy buildout. Equity-focused groups say it’s abused by wealthy areas to stop much-needed public works.

Jamie Pleune, a professor of law at the University of Utah, is part of a team that analyzed over 41,000 NEPA decisions in a paper published earlier this year. In a recent Q&A with Circle of Blue, Pleune discusses whether NEPA is responsible for hindering infrastructure projects in the United States, what’s in the side deal, and what she hopes policymakers will keep in mind as they enter negotiations.

Data Source: U.S. Drought Monitor, Photo © J. Carl Ganter, Graphic © Delaney Nelson / Circle of Blue 

Dry: A Weekly Western Drought Digest — August 30, 2022

Drought in the American West is impacting more than 130 million people. Here’s the latest: 

• As of August 23, 39 percent of the U.S. and Puerto Rico are in drought, down four  percentage points in the last month. Portions of Texas and the Southwest witnessed extraordinary downpours in recent weeks that relieved some drought stress but also caused severe flooding.
• Utah’s proposed Lake Powell pipeline struggles to make progress amid declining water levels and drought conditions.
• Data centers around the country face scrutiny for their substantial water use.
• California becomes first state to install solar panels over canals in an effort to combat drought.

Each week, Circle of Blue breaks down the biggest stories, the latest data, and the most promising solutions to the United States’ most urgent water crisis. Read Dry, your go-to news brief on the drying American West.

Photo © J. Carl Ganter / Circle of Blue
 

What’s Up With Water — August 30, 2022

Tune into What's Up With Water for your need to know news of the world's water on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeartRadio, and SoundCloud.

Featured coverage from this week's episode of What's Up With Water looks at:

• China issued its first national drought alert of the year, according to Reuters News. Dry conditions have intensified across the country’s southern region, affecting energy supplies, river transport, and food production.
• In the United States, negotiations over reductions in Colorado River water use have stalled, with at least one defection from a water conservation pact. Last week, the Gila River Indian Community said that the central Arizona tribe would no longer contribute part of its Colorado River allocation to a conservation program for the troubled Lake Mead.
• Elsewhere in the U.S., communities continue their recovery efforts after devastating floods. In Eastern Kentucky at least 39 people died in downpours that raged at the end of July.

The sun illuminates a canal in Buckeye, Arizona. Photo © J. Carl Ganter/Circle of Blue
 

The Bureau of Reclamation’s $4 Billion Drought Question

On the morning of August 4 during a briefing to his board, Patrick Dent, the Central Arizona Project’s assistant general manager for water policy, mentioned an idea circulating among farm districts in southern Arizona and California to help protect depleted reservoirs upstream. 

A few hours later – and a few thousand miles eastward – that funding suddenly materialized. 

To secure her vote for the Inflation Reduction Act Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema requested $4 billion for the Bureau of Reclamation to respond to dry conditions in the American West, with special emphasis on the Colorado River and other basins in long-term drought. 

The text of the Inflation Reduction Act provides some direction, but it is both mercifully brief and maddeningly vague. It outlines three spending categories for the $4 billion: Pay water users to conserve water, reduce water demand, and restore ecosystems and habitats impaired by drought. 

The historic bill also adds $550 million to provide reliable household water service to disadvantaged communities in the region. It builds on a five-year, $8.3 billion allocation in the federal infrastructure bill for drought response.