A Texas environmental group is sounding the alarm about seawater desalination plants proposed for Corpus Christi Bay, warning they could have disastrous impacts on fishing and tourism. Supporters believe that desalinated seawater is key to a sustainable, drought-proof water supply for the region, but Robin Schneider, executive director of the Texas Campaign for the Environment argued that the briny waste that would be dumped into the shallow bay system would harm sensitive coastal ecosystems. "There is a much more sustainable option," she said, "which is to use groundwater and water conservation, and potentially to prevent evaporation on the reservoirs by using floating solar panels." The first desalination plant, scheduled to be built on Harbor Island, is one of four proposed for the Bay - two being pushed by the Port of Corpus Christi and two by the city. " .
Farmers in Pennsylvania need to do more to improve soil and water quality, and the state needs to do more to support those efforts. That s the finding of a new Chesapeake Bay Foundation report. It cites big economic reasons for improving the Chesapeake Bay watershed, and estimates the benefits for the state could total more than $352 million a year. .
A proposed mining operation in central Idaho is raising concerns about possible damage to nearby fish and wildlife habitat. The U.S. Forest Service has released a Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Stibnite Gold Project, an open-pit mine in the headwaters of the East Fork of the South Fork Salmon River near McCall. .
A new study out this week reports Maryland could realize economic benefits from agricultural conservation efforts in the Chesapeake Bay region. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is helping to implement the Clean Water Blueprint established in 2010, which seeks to restore the bay s water quality along with rivers and streams feeding into the bay by 2025. One of the approaches used is creating forest buffers along waterways to help capture runoff. .
Plastic waste is a growing problem across the globe, and it is not just an issue for landfills. Policymakers in Washington state are aiming to find solutions to this pollution. Recent research has found by 2050, plastic waste will be four times larger than it is now. .