#groundwater permitting

[fatehbaz]

“Is it green energy if it’s impacting cultural traditional sites?”

Yakama Nation Tribal Councilman Jeremy Takala sounded weary. For five years, tribal leaders and staff have been fighting a renewable energy development that could permanently destroy tribal cultural property. “This area, it’s irreplaceable.”

The privately owned land, outside Goldendale, Washington, is called Pushpum, or “mother of roots,” a first foods seed bank. The Yakama people have treaty-protected gathering rights there. One wind turbine-studded ridge, Juniper Point, is the proposed site of a pumped hydro storage facility. But to build it, Boston-based Rye Development would have to carve up Pushpum — and the Yakama Nation lacks a realistic way to stop it.

Back in October 2008, unbeknownst to Takala, Scott Tillman, CEO of Golden Northwest Aluminum Corporation, met with the Northwest Power and Conservation Council, a collection of governor-appointed representatives from Washington, Oregon, Idaho and Montana [...]. Tillman, who owned a shuttered Lockheed Martin aluminum smelter near Goldendale, told the council about the contaminated site’s redevelopment potential, specifically for pumped hydro storage [...]. Shortly thereafter, Klickitat County’s public utility department tried to implement Tillman’s plan [...].

Meanwhile, Tillman cleaned up and sold another smelting site, just across the Columbia River in The Dalles, Oregon, a Superfund site where Lockheed Martin had poisoned the groundwater with cyanide. He sold it to Google’s parent company, Alphabet, which operates water-guzzling data centers in The Dalles and plans to build more. For nine years, the county and Rye plotted the fate of Pushpum — without ever notifying the Yakama Nation.

The tribal government only learned of the development in December 2017, when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a public notice of acceptance for Rye’s preliminary permit application. Tribal officials had just 60 days to catch up on nine years of development planning and issue their initial concerns and objections as public comments. [...]

When the tribe objected, FERC said it could file more public comments to the docket instead of consulting. [...]

When asked what Rye could offer the Yakama people as compensation for the irreversible destruction of their cultural property, Steimle suggested “employment associated with the project.” [...] Presented with the reality that Yakama people might not want Rye’s jobs, Steimle hesitated. “Yeah, I mean I, I can’t argue that — maybe it won’t be meaningful to them.” [...]

Klickitat County’s eagerness creates another barrier to the Yakama Nation. In Washington, a developer can take one of two permitting paths: through the state’s Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council, or through county channels. Both lead to FERC. In this case, working with the county benefits Rye: Klickitat, a majority Republican county, has a contentious relationship with the Yakama Nation [...]. “Klickitat County refuses to work with us,” said Takala. [...]

Fighting Rye's proposal has required the efforts of tribal attorneys, archaeologists and government staffers from a number of departments. [...]

And Rye’s project is just one of dozens proposed within the Yakama Nation’s 10 million-acre treaty territory. Maps from the tribe and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife show that of the 51 wind and solar projects currently proposed statewide — not including geothermal or pumped hydro storage projects, which are also renewable energy developments — at least 34 are on or partially on the Yakama Nation’s ceded lands.

---

Headline, images, graphics, captions, and text by: B. Toastie Oaster (High Country News). “Green colonialism is flooding the Pacific Northwest.” As published at The Wenatchee World. 25 March 2023.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

Some Ecology Vocabulary

for your next poem/story

Autotroph - Any organism that is able to manufacture its own food; derive energy from inorganic sources (light or inorganic chemical reactions)

Benthic - Organisms that live on the bottom of the ocean

Biome - A community of plants & animals that occupy a distinct region; defined by climate and dominant vegetation: tundra, desert, grassland & forest; can be subdivided, i.e. boreal, temperate, tropical forests

Boreal forest - (also called Taiga) Largest terrestrial biome, characterized by having very cold winters and coniferous forests

Dessication - Mummification

Detritus - Accumulated organic debris from dead organisms

Detrivore - Any organism which obtains most of its nutrients from the detritus in an ecosystem

Disturbance - An event that alters the ecosystem, i.e. the plant community and possibly the physical environment; natural disturbances include fire, landslides, windthrow, insects, disease, etc. Levels of Disturbance:

Tree-level: affects single trees or small groups of trees

Stand-level: affecting large groups (many hectares) of trees (insect epidemic, hurricane, logging, wildfire)

Site-level: affecting the physical environment is a dramatic way that all life is lost and a new soil environment is created (lavaflow, glacier, landslide)

Planet-level: affecting the planet as a whole (big meteor, death star...)

Frugivore - Animal which primarily eats fruit

Groundwater - Water found underground as a result of rainfall, ice and snow melt, submerged rivers, lakes, and springs. This water often carries minerals. These minerals can accumulate in the remains of buried organisms and eventually cause fossilization.

Halophile - Organism which lives in areas of high salt concentration. These organisms must have special adaptations to permit them to survive under these conditions.

Limnology - The study of river system ecology and life

Orographic Lift - Occurs when an air mass moves over a mountain range, air cools, drops precipitation, then as air moves down the lee side it warms and creates a rain shadow

Pelagic - Organisms that swim through the ocean, and may rise to the surface, or sink to the bottom

Rain shadow - The dry region on the leeward side of a mountain range, where rainfall is noticeably less than on the windward side

Riparian - Having to do with the edges of streams or rivers

Saprophyte - Organism which feeds on dead and decaying organisms, allowing the nutrients to be recycled into the ecosystem. Fungi and bacteria are two groups with many important saprophytes.

Silvics - The study of the life history, characteristics and ecology of forest trees

Tolerance - The capacity/ability of an organism to endure (survive, withstand) adverse effects from unfavourable environmental conditions; the opposite of sensitivity

Upwelling - The raising of benthic nutrients to the surface waters. This occurs in regions where the flow of water brings currents of differing temperatures together, and increases productivity of the ecosystem.

Xeric - Describes an environment or habitat with little moisture; dry to very dry

Sources: 1 2 ⚜ More: Word Lists

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

i vaguely remember seeing a post about the woman on tiktok illegally digging a tunnel under her house to make a storm shelter, but i did not realise that 1) she has 0 qualifications and works in IT, 2) she got into her areas watertable and started pumping groundwater out into her yard, 3) when a fire broke out, she recorded herself putting it out with a fire extinguisher in one hand and her phone in the other, 4) she hit a radon gas bubble, 5) shes located somewhere with big sulphur pockets and as she got into the waterline, she might have produced sulphuric acid which leaks into the aquifer, aka she could be poisoning the local drinking water, 6) she lives on a CUL-DE-SAC, 7) shes just been releasing silica dust whilst not using respiratory gear herself, let alone warning her neighbours, and 8) her neighbours have said the ground would randomly shake sometimes but many of them felt they couldnt report it to local authorities for fear of deportation.

she has now been stopped and seems to think that since shes only tunneling under her property, itll be easy to get permits to continue. she also drives a tesla which... yeah, that sounds about right.

[azspot]

In rural Arizona, groundwater is largely unregulated; whoever has the money can drill a well and lay claim to the water. Thus, as household wells were running dry with the falling water table, a Saudi agricultural giant was permitted to use deep industrial wells to extract unlimited amounts of groundwater, allowing it to grow alfalfa in one desert to feed dairy cows eight thousand miles away in another desert, in a water-stressed nation that has, for all the right reasons, banned the cultivation of the crop within its own borders.

The Climate Crisis Could Mean the Twilight of the American West

[shamandrummer]

The World is Running Out of Water

The world is "running out of water," Makasa Looking Horse says, and if we don't take action soon, it will be too late. Looking Horse, from Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario, Canada, is one of the hosts of the Ohneganos Ohnegahdę:gyo -- Let's Talk about Water podcast, which won a 2021 David Suzuki Foundation Future Ground Prize. The prize recognizes youth-led movements. It's a podcast created, the Suzuki Foundation says, to "engage Indigenous communities and disseminate research findings by facilitating meaningful discussion about water issues and climate change."

Looking Horse points to Aberfoyle, Ontario, where BlueTriton Brands, Inc., an American beverage company based in Connecticut, has permits to take 3.6 million litres of water a day out of an aquifer there. BlueTriton is the new name of the giant corporation better known as Nestlé Waters North America. The name was changed to BlueTriton Brands in 2021.

She says "they're making millions off our water and selling it. And the thing about aquifer waters that it takes 6,000 to 10,000 years for that water to filter through the ground. We'll never see that water within our lifetime again and that's why it's so important that we stop water extraction."

BlueTriton says, in a report from November 2021, that it has conducted "extensive testing and studies over the years to ensure that their operations do not diminish the availability of water for other users or the environment." The company says "permit conditions require BlueTriton to monitor the natural and pumping-related variations in groundwater and surface water levels." The permit was renewed by the Ontario government in 2021 and runs until November 2026.

Looking Horse's commitment to protecting water was passed down from her parents. Her mother is Dawn Martin-Hill, one of the founders of the Indigenous studies program at McMaster University and the winner of the University of Oklahoma's International Water Prize, for her commitment to improving water security for the people of the Six Nations of the Grand River.

Her father is Chief Arvol Looking Horse, 19th Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe. He was given the responsibility at age 12, the youngest keeper in history. Looking Horse  says her path into activism and water sovereignty didn't happen overnight. It was a long and encompassing journey full of passion for earth, prayer for water and everything on earth.

Similar to Looking Horse, the United Nations (UN) also has concerns about how much water humans can access. According to a UN report, by 2025 1.8 billion people will be living in countries or regions with absolute water scarcity, and two thirds of the world's population could be living under "water stressed conditions."

In June of 2019, Looking Horse hand delivered a cease and desist letter from the Haudenosaunee Confederacy Chiefs Council to Nestlé Waters in Aberfoyle. In 2021, the council sent another letter to BlueTriton, after the company changed its name, saying "the majority of our people at Six Nations do not have access to clean drinking water... we declare your activities to remove [aquifer] waters under our territories unpermitted and demand that you cease your activity immediately."

The fight for water sovereignty and for clean drinking water continues for Looking Horse. "The urgency worldwide is huge because the world is running out of water. This is only one example of exploitative extraction by a big corporation. This doesn't include all of the pollution and micro plastics that are living in waterways and systems across the globe," she said.

"I've been praying for water and working with water for a very long time, and that's where it started," she said. "You start to learn how valuable water is on a spiritual level, but also on a statistic level. The world is really in a water crisis. So, it's in our culture to protect the water and have a responsibility."

[clean-water-system]

Water Scarcity in Idaho

As someone who grew up in Idaho I feel like I have a good understanding of how important agriculture is to our economy. My grandparents had a small farm and I would spend the summers with them learning about the animals and helping in the garden. During my time I saw how important having access to water was.

Water is fundamental for the growth of crops and animals and unfortunately it is not a limitless resource. Due to this it is important that we consider how we allocate our water resources. Focusing in on Idaho much of our water infrastructure was created during the early 1900s and pairing that with the drought conditions we are seeing contributes to us seeing less and less available water.

This problem is putting a strain on Idaho's agriculture sector and by extension Idaho's economy. Idaho's farmlands are responsible for roughly $11.7 billion a year, much of this money is cycled back into the community to benefit the people that live there. This just goes to show how important water is within our community.

Something that is currently going on in Idaho is that the Department of Water Resources has issued a water curtailment on 6 different districts where junior water holders have not been following the approved mitigation plans. A curtailment means that these areas have restricted water usage as the priority lies with more senior water rights holders.

You might be asking yourself what is the difference between a senior and a junior water rights holder is, I know I was. The only difference is that the senior permit holders established water rights prior to March 31st, 1954. These permit holders get first access to the ground water in the East Snake Plain Aquifer.

The East Snake River Plain Aquifer covers over 10,800 square miles of southern Idaho. Water from the aquifer is pumped out for irrigation purposes and funnily enough, most of the water that goes into the aquifer comes from irrigation (about 60%!). It's important to note that because irrigation techniques are changing and the availability of excess water is dwindling, the volume of the aquifer is dwindling as well.

My goal for this blog is to highlight the importance of water not only within our community but also around the world and share more information about how we are upgrading the current systems we have in order to protect this limited resource. I also want to share some of the stories of the people who are impacted by the decreasing availability of water. I think it is important to share this information so that people can understand not only what their money is being used for but also so that they can understand what is going on in their communities.

I would love it if anyone wanted to reach out with any stories, questions, or just wanted to engage in the conversation with me!

I'll be back soon with more stories to share!

-T

Sources:

Idaho’s treasure; the Eastern Snake River Plain Aquifer. (n.d.). https://www.nrc.gov/docs/ML1017/ML101790328.pdf

IDWR Director issues curtailment order for six ESPA groundwater districts;  order affects groundwater users whose water rights are junior to March 31, 1954. (2024, May 30). Idwr.Idaho.Gov. Retrieved from https://idwr.idaho.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/news-release/20240530-IDWR-Director-issues-curtailment-order-for-6-groundwater-districts-FINAL.pdf.

Ratliff, S. (2024, June 5). “we can’t take that kind of hit” - local Farmers Fear Water Cut Off. “We can’t take that kind of hit” – Local farmers fear water cut off. https://localnews8.com/news/idaho/2024/06/04/east-idaho-farmers-say-water-curtailment-is-an-absurd-situation/

University of Arkansas . (n.d.). Idaho. The Economic Contributions and Impacts of U.S. Food, Fiber, and Forest Industries. https://economic-impact-of-ag.uada.edu/idaho/

Corbin , C. (2024, June 1). State official issues water curtailment order for many eastern Idaho users. https://www.eastidahonews.com/2024/05/department-of-water-resources-director-issues-water-curtailment-order-for-many-eastern-idaho-users/

[materialsscienceandengineering]

Improved processing model can reduce limestone in cement production

The cement industry has long been a central part of infrastructure and development, but its impact on the environment remains a challenge. "The quarrying of limestone, as in cement production, affects both natural resources and groundwater. It is also very dependent on new mining permits," says Erik Viggh, doctoral student at the Industrial Doctoral School and the Department of Applied Physics and Electronics at Umeå University. In order to find raw materials for cement to reduce the need for natural limestone, metallurgical slag, a by-product from the steel industry, has been investigated. Slag has been shown to be a suitable substitute, providing a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from the cement process. However, it is unclear as to how the quality of the cement is affected. Through his research, Erik Viggh has developed a chemical model that can be used by the cement industry to evaluate how changes in the process and use of raw materials affect cement quality. This makes it easier to steer production towards a lower climate impact.

Read more.

[mariacallous]

All roads lead to Phoenix. On the gravy train of greenfield investment riding on the back of Inflation Reduction Act legislative incentives in the United States, no county ranks higher than Arizona’s Maricopa. The county leads the nation in foreign direct investment, with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. (TSMC), Intel, LG Energy, and others expanding their footprint in the Grand Canyon State. But Phoenix is neither the next Rome nor the next Detroit. The reasons boil down to workers and water.

First, the labor. America’s skilled worker shortage has been well documented since before the Trump-era immigration slump and pandemic border closures. Especially in the tech industry—the United States’ most productive, high-wage, and globally dominant sector—a huge deficit in homegrown engineering talent and endlessly bungled immigration policies have left Big Tech with no choice but to outsource more jobs abroad.

Arizona dangled its low taxes and sunshine, but TSMC has had to fly in Taiwanese technicians to jump-start production at the 4 nanometer chip plant that was meant to be completed by 2024, but has been delayed until 2025 at the earliest.

The salvage operation calls into question whether the more advanced and miniaturized 3 nanometer plant—scheduled to open in 2026 will stay on course. (With two-thirds of its customer base—including Apple, AMD, Qualcomm, Broadcom, Nvidia, Marvell, Analog Devices, and Intel—in the United States, it’s no wonder TSMC wants to speed things up.)

From electric vehicles to gaming consoles, the forecasted demand for the company’s industry-leading chips is projected to rise long into the future—and its market share is already north of 50 percent. Given the geopolitical risks it faces in Asia, a well-trained U.S. workforce could give it the comfort to establish the United States as a quasi-second headquarters. After all, Morris Chang, the company’s founder, had a long first career with Texas Instruments.

But the next slowdown they may face is Arizona’s dwindling water supply. In just the past year, Scottsdale cut off water to Rio Verde Foothills, an upscale unincorporated suburb on its fringes, due to the region’s ongoing megadrought and its curtailed allocation of Colorado River water. This was followed by Phoenix freezing new construction permits for homes that rely on groundwater.

Forced to find other sources, industry players have stepped up buying water rights from farmers, essentially bribing them to stop growing food that would serve the region’s fast-growing population. Then there are the backroom deals involved in an Israeli company receiving the green light for a $5.5 billion project to desalinate water from Mexico’s Sea of Cortez and pipe it 200 miles uphill through deserts and natural preserves to Phoenix.

Water risk brings political risk for companies. Especially in Europe, governments are carefully weighing the short-term benefits of corporate investment versus the climate stress it exacerbates. They have good reason to be suspicious: Firms such as Microsoft have been notoriously inconsistent in reporting their water consumption, and promises to replenish consumed water haven’t been delivered on. And even if data centers are becoming more efficient, growing demand just means more of them. Some European provinces have blocked data center development, pushing them to locations with high heat risk.

Europe’s regulatory stringency has long been off-putting to foreign investors, which is what makes European officials so weary of Washington’s aggressive Inflation Reduction Act, CHIPS and Science Act and Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

But to fulfill its promise of putting the United States on a path toward sustainable industrial self-sufficiency, these policies need to better align investment with resources, matching companies to geographies that best suit their needs. It would be better to direct capital allocation to climate resilient regions than to throw good money after potentially stranded assets.

If any company ought to know better on all these matters, it’s TSMC. In Taiwan itself, the industry’s huge energy and water consumption are a source of controversy and difficulty. Not only have droughts on the island occasionally slowed production, but the company’s own water consumption rose 70 percent from 2015-19.

Furthermore, Taiwan knows that its real special sauce is precisely the technically skilled workforce that the United States lacks. Yet TSMC has doubled down on Phoenix, a place without a reliable long-term water supply for industry, little in the way of renewable energy, and a construction freeze that will make it challenging to house all the workers it needs to import.

With all the uncertainty over both water and workers, this begs the question of whether the semiconductor company the entire world is courting would have been better off establishing its U.S. beachhead in the upper Midwest or northeast instead? Ohio, upstate New York, and Michigan rank high in greenfield corporate investments, resilience to climate shocks, and are abundant in quality universities and technical institutes.

Amid accelerating climate change and an intensifying war for global talent, how can those devising U.S. industrial policy better select the appropriate locations to steer investment to?

States with higher climate resilience than Arizona are starting to flex for greater investment. According to recent data, Illinois has climbed to second place nationally for corporate expansion and relocation projects. The greater Chicago area and state as a whole are touting their tax benefits, underpriced real estate, growth potential, and grants to prepare businesses to cope with climate change.

Other parts of the Great Lakes region, such as Michigan and Ohio, are also regaining confidence in their industrial revival, pitching heavily for both domestic and foreign commercial investment while emphasizing their affordability and climate adaptation plans.

Just over the border, Canada has been wildly successful in poaching foreign skilled workers unable to secure or maintain green card status in the United States while also investing heavily in economic diversification—all with the benefit of nearly unlimited natural resources and energy supplies. While Canada hasn’t yet rolled out Inflation Reduction Act-style tax breaks to lure investors, it abounds in critical minerals for EV batteries (nickel, cobalt, lithium and rare earths such as neodymium, praseodymium, and niobium) as well as hydropower.

The more that climate change warps the United States, the more grateful it should be that its most natural and staunch ally occupies the most climate resilient real estate on the North American continent, even taking into account the raging wildfires of this summer. But rather than covet Canada the way China does Russia—as a vast and depopulated resource bounty—the United States and Canada should cooperate far more proactively on a continental scale industrial policy that would bring about true self-sufficiency from the Arctic to the Caribbean.

This is where geopolitical interests, economic competition, and climate adaptation converge. As Canada’s population surges by up to 1 million new permanent migrants annually, a more unified North American system would be more self-sufficient in crucial commodities and industries, less vulnerable to supply chain disruptions abroad, and avoid unnecessary carbon emissions from excessive inter-continental trade. Thirty years after the NAFTA agreement, it seems more sensible than ever to graduate toward a more formal, autarkic North American Union.

One can easily imagine Greenland joining one day—the country already enjoys autonomy from its colonizer (Denmark) and is now pushing for complete independence, driven partly by the desire to control more of the riches that climate change has revealed it to possess.

Meanwhile, in Taipei, there are far more complex geopolitical consequences to consider. TSMC has long been considered Taiwan’s “silicon shield,” a leader of industry so important that a conflict that took it offline would be a major own-goal for China. But it is precisely the combination of the China threat, environmental stress, and pandemic-era supply chain disruptions that convinced TSMC’s customers that its home nation represents too large a concentration risk.

Now TSMC and its rivals are expanding production from Japan to the United States, Europe, and India. This globally diversified set of chip manufacturers is easier for China to exploit as countries more susceptible to Chinese pressure become less rigid in compliance with U.S.-led export controls over advanced technologies.

At the same time, if the United States no longer depends on Taiwan itself for the majority of its semiconductor supply in just five to seven years, will it be as willing to defend Taiwan militarily? This, not Ukraine, is what Beijing is watching for as it pursues its own “Made in China” quest for self-sufficiency.

Industrial policy is back in vogue as a national security and economic strategy. But to get it right requires aligning investment into industry and infrastructure with the geographies of resources and resilience. The countries that build climate adaptation into their strategies will be the ones that build back better.

[wenurturethenature]

The environment is not everyone's property to destroy it is our responsibility to protect.

- Mohith Agadi

Everyone complains that the earth's disasters and hurricanes are the worst scenario and an unmerciful effect on our lives. However, looking at this picture that a mining corporation made, making me think that man made disasters are the effects why our planet has disasters, and hurricanes.

I'm currently working for an environmental organization that advocates for the protection and conservation of nature, and I 'am here to speak up that this mining corporation has all the documents and has secured all their permits necessary for its operation, but the things is, the chance has been given for them, was being too much, and uncontrolled. I found out that they are doing the activities that can destroy our environment. While destroying the environment, they are also destroying the agricultural livelihood of nearby communities, people's lives, and animals shelter without noticing

In terms of business, mining has a great impact and opportunity to make the money grow and make everyone satisfied when it comes to a product. Mined materials are needed to construct roads and hospitals, to build automobiles and houses, to make computers and satellites, to generate electricity, and to provide the many other goods and services that consumers enjoy. Mining is often a source of local employment and may contribute to local and regional economies, big opportunities for new economic activities. But looking on the effects, mining was much more worse.

Mine exploration, construction, operation, and maintenance may result in land-use change, and may have associated negative impacts on environments, including deforestation, erosion, contamination and alteration of soil profiles, contamination of local streams and wetlands, and an increase in noise level, dust and emissions.

Mining is also known to affect traditional practices of Indigenous peoples living in nearby communities and conflicts in land use are also often present, as are other social impacts including those related to public health and human wellbeing. The effects can result in erosion, sinkholes, loss of biodiversity, or the contamination of soil, groundwater, and surface water by the chemicals emitted from mining processes.

and mining effects includes: loss of mineral revenue through smuggling, food insecurity, destruction to surface and underground water through toxic contamination and pollution caused by mud and sediments, air and noise pollution and destruction of biodiversity

People should have found mining can negatively affect people by: forcing them from their homes and land. Preventing them from accessing clean land and water.

By stating these facts, I hope that people would take an action for these. We only have one responsibility for our environment, and it is to take care of it and give its value, because we only have one planet wherein we can live, and wherein we can breathe. We have more chances to save our environment and let's it all make it before it's too late. Mining activities may one of the ways to make opportunities and make money grow, but looking on it's effects may ruin everything. So we have to choose a path wherein was right, and a path that chooses our environment over the work that can make the money be easy.

- Mohith Agadi

Everyone complains that the earth's disasters and hurricanes are the worst scenarios and have an unmerciful effect on our lives. However, looking at this picture that a mining corporation made, makes me think that man-made disasters are the effects of why our planet has disasters, and hurricanes.

I'm currently working for an environmental organization that advocates for the protection and conservation of nature, and I 'am here to speak up that this mining corporation has all the documents and has secured all the permits necessary for its operation, but thing is, the chance has been given for them, was being too much, and uncontrolled. I found out that they are doing activities that can destroy our environment. While destroying the environment, they are also destroying the agricultural livelihood of nearby communities, people's lives and animals shelter without noticing

In terms of business, mining has a great impact and opportunity to make the money grow and make everyone satisfied when it comes to a product. Mining is often a source of local employment and may contribute to local and regional economies, big opportunities for new economic activities. But looking at the effects, mining was much worse.

Mine exploration, construction, operation, and maintenance may result in land-use change and may have associated negative impacts on environments, including deforestation, erosion, contamination and alteration of soil profiles, contamination of local streams and wetlands, and an increase in noise level, dust, and emissions.

Mining is also known to affect the traditional practices of Indigenous peoples living in nearby communities and conflicts in land use are also often present, as are other social impacts including those related to public health and human wellbeing. The effects can result in erosion, sinkholes, loss of biodiversity, or the contamination of soil, groundwater, and surface water by the chemicals emitted from mining processes.

And also loss of mineral revenue through smuggling, food insecurity, destruction to surface and underground water through toxic contamination and pollution caused by mud and sediments, air and noise pollution, and destruction of biodiversity

People should have found mining can negatively affect people by forcing them from their homes and land. Preventing them from accessing clean land and water.

By stating these facts, I hope that people would take an action for these. We only have one responsible for our environment, and it is to take care of it and give its value, because we only have one planet wherein we can live, and wherein we can breathe. We have more chances to save our environment and let's all make it before it's too late. Mining activities may one of the ways to make opportunities and make money grow, but looking at its effects may ruin everything. So we have to choose a path wherein was right, and a path that chooses our environment over the work that can make the money get easily.

We should not abuse but we shouldn't overuse. So we don't have to lose, but to make a choose. 

[muddypolitics]

(via Maybe AZ AG Kris Mayes Didn't Cancel Tucker Carlson But She Did Save State's Water From Saudi Arabia - Wonkette)

We are so lucky that AZ voted for the real candidate and not the idiot election-denying MAGA boy.

you can see how this would have ended differently...

Arizona's new Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes is delivering on a campaign promise to rein in a Saudi Arabian alfalfa grower that had free access to the state's groundwater through a land lease. Although Arizona's drought conditions are improving, the state doesn't have a lot of water to spare, especially for shady governments.

Mayes tweeted last week, "Just 8 months ago, Arizona state agencies approved new deep-water wells in La Paz County for a Saudi-owned company to pump thousands of gallons of water per-minute. I can tell you that today — just before Earth Day — that's not happening. Those drill permits have been revoked."

[horce-divorce]

FUCK nestle. Their human rights abuses are enough, their CEO crying that water shouldn't be a human right would be enough, but I'm also from Michigan and it's fucking personal here.

"Nestle was extracting hundreds of millions of gallons of groundwater a year, which it bottled and sold under the Ice Mountain brand. The cost at the time of two annual fees paid to the state: just under $800 per site. The company asked the state for a 60% boost in how much it could take from a well that draws from the source of two cold-water trout streams. At the time, the Flint water crisis was still in the spotlight, contributing to broad pushback. Nearly 81,000 public comments opposed the permit request; 75 supported it.

In April of that year, state officials said they didn’t have any grounds to deny the request and gave Nestle the go-ahead. The same week, the state said it would stop providing bottled water to Flint."

clean water is such a luxury that we tend to take for granted.

i found out that wild animals can drink dirty water only because they've been acclimated to its contaminants since birth. because of this, any changes in the water can cause outbreaks of severe illness. animals raised on clean water would have just as much trouble with wild water as we would.

anyway, unrelated but Fuck Nestle

[amconky]

Boosting Landfill Efficiency: The Benefits of Using Hazardous Waste Containment Liners and Litter Fences in the US

Introduction:

In the U.S., landfills anticipate a major part in waste management; notwithstanding, if they come up short on essential framework, they'll present perpetual helpful and organic referencing conditions. Liners for unsafe waste control and wreck walls for landfills are fundamental added substances that help the smooth activity of landfill tasks. Those gears redesign landfill districts' typical ability, customary security, and waste association.

The significance of Liners for containing unsafe Waste:

Liners for the rule of hazardous waste are critical for saving you destructive materials from submerging the dirt and groundwater encompassing the power. These liners make an obstacle that keeps contaminated waste from an external perspective all over the planet. By ideals of serious philosophies, these liners should be used in American landfills to defeat ruining. Hazardous waste containment liners US can satisfy ecological insurance rules, avoid worst results, and assure that the rotating around areas stay acceptable for neighborhood natural systems and parties through utilizing hazardous waste control liners.

Furthermore, those liners focus on the improvement of landfill limits. They permit landfills to save extra really and utilize the distance this is to be had through safely encasing unsafe materials. This safeguards additional land sources through decreasing the rehash with which new landfills are required.

How Litter Fences Improve Landfill Operations?

Garbage promptly missed involving the breeze is a standard issue for landfills and could mess up the veritable landfill in spite of the area around it. For this present circumstance, the Litter Fence for landfills US may become the primary part. Paper, plastic stuff, and different detached particles that might be traveled through the breeze might be stuck and controlled with blend walls. This makes it less hard for people who pursue landfills to pursue the principles remaining mindful of the landfill and its continuous circumstance.

Litter Fence for landfills US

Conclusion:

Uses of Hazardous waste containment liners US and Litter Fence for landfills US benefited for landfill execution. These dire contraptions ensure consistency with rules, endeavors run more critically effectively, and the climate is saved smoothly. Advanced bosses can work on the affirmation and suitability of their objections during that time with the associate of putting resources into those turn of events.

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Advanced Cleanup Technologies for a Cleaner Future

As our planet faces growing environmental demanding situations, the need for powerful advanced cleanup technology has never been greater critical. 

From oil spills to plastic pollutants, modern answers are emerging to address these pressing problems. 

This article explores a number of the most advanced cleanup technologies that promise a cleaner, more sustainable destiny.

How can present day technology help us fight pollutants and create a cleanser planet?

Advanced cleanup technologies are revolutionising pollutants control. Methods like bioremediation use microorganisms to detoxify environments, whilst nanotechnology captures pollution on the molecular stage. 

Drones decorate monitoring and response efforts, and waste-to-energy answers rework trash into renewable energy. 

Together, those innovations provide effective equipment to repair ecosystems and promote a greater sustainable future for our planet.

1. Bioremediation

Bioremediation utilises microorganisms to interrupt pollutants into much less dangerous materials. 

This approach is mainly effective for oil spills and contaminated soil. For instance, specialised bacteria can be deployed to devour hydrocarbons in oil, changing them into innocent byproducts. 

Advances in genetic engineering have enhanced the efficacy of these microbes, permitting them to target particular pollutants greater effectively.

2. Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is revolutionising environmental cleanup by presenting better techniques for detecting and putting off pollutants. 

Nanoscale materials can take in heavy metals and other toxins more efficiently than conventional methods. 

For example, nanosorbents may be used to capture pollutants from water, supplying a greater efficient and cost effective cleanup answer. 

Additionally, nanomaterials can be engineered to degrade dangerous substances, similarly purifying contaminated web sites.

3. Plasma Technology

Plasma technology is a modern method that utilises ionised gasoline to interrupt pollution. This technique is mainly promising for treating dangerous waste and air pollutants. 

Plasma can generate reactive species that decompose natural compounds and neutralise pollution, making it a powerful device for environmental remediation. Researchers are exploring its utility in incinerating waste and purifying air in business settings.

4. Advanced Filtration Systems

New filtration technologies are improving our potential to do away with microplastics and other pollutants from water resources. 

These structures appoint advanced membranes and materials that can filter out contaminants on the nanoscale level. 

Innovations like electrospun nanofibers and biomimetic membranes are being advanced to decorate filtration performance. 

As these technologies advance, they preserve the capability to provide easy ingesting water in regions laid low with pollutants.

5. Drones and Robotics

Drones and robot systems are becoming beneficial in environmental cleanup efforts. Equipped with sensors and imaging generation, drones can survey massive areas for pollutants, which include oil spills or deforestation, providing real-time information for reaction teams. 

Robotics may be deployed in risky environments, including underwater or infected websites, to carry out cleanup responsibilities without placing human employees at danger.

6. Chemical Agents and Catalysts

Advanced chemical agents and catalysts are being developed to accelerate the breakdown of pollution. 

These substances can facilitate chemical reactions that neutralise risky substances, making them more secure for disposal. 

For instance, superior oxidants can be used to treat infected groundwater, even as modern catalysts can enhance the performance of traditional chemical tactics in waste treatment.

FAQ’s

What is superior cleanup technology?

Innovative techniques designed to cast off pollutants from air, water, and soil, inclusive of bioremediation and nanotechnology.

How do bioremediation paintings work?

It uses microorganisms to interrupt down dangerous pollutants into much less poisonous materials.

What role does nanotechnology play in environmental cleanup?

Nanotechnology captures and gets rid of pollution greater successfully thru nanoscale materials.

Are drones really beneficial in cleaning up pollution?

Yes, drones survey pollution fast and thoroughly, supplying treasured records for cleanup efforts.

What is the waste-to-strength era, and how does it assist the environment?

It converts waste into usable strength, lowering landfill extent and selling renewable power resources.

Conclusion

As we confront the challenges of pollutants and environmental degradation, advanced cleanup technologies offer a wish for a purifying destiny. 

By leveraging improvements in bioremediation, nanotechnology, plasma technology, and extra, we are able to develop effective solutions to repair and protect our planet.

Using those technologies and implementing them globally may require cooperation from scientists, engineers, and legislators.

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The Function of Drain Systems and Their Significance for Houses in Denver

Introduction

When it concerns maintaining the stability and https://www.onecallplumberdenver.com/pipe-repairs-and-replacements/ security of your home, few things are as essential as a well-functioning drain system. In a city like Denver, where heavy rains and snowmelt can cause unexpected flooding, the importance of reliable drainage can not be overemphasized. This post delves into the function of drain systems and their value for homes in Denver, providing a thorough understanding of how these systems work, their advantages, and why you should focus on them.

The Function of Drainage Systems and Their Value for Houses in Denver What Are Drain Systems?

Drainage systems are designed to remove excess water from a location. They can can be found in numerous kinds, consisting of surface area drains, subsurface drains pipes, French drains pipes, and stormwater management systems. The primary objective is to transport water away from structures to prevent flooding and erosion.

Why Are Drain Systems Essential?

In Denver's distinct environment, abrupt rainstorms or rapid snowmelt can overwhelm natural drainage paths. Without correct systems in place, water can accumulate around your home's foundation, causing prospective structural damage.

Key Advantages of Proper Drainage Foundation Protection: Avoids soil disintegration and keeps the stability of your home's foundation. Moisture Control: Lowers humidity levels inside the house that might cause mold growth. Flood Prevention: Considerably diminishes the threats of flooding throughout heavy rains. Landscape Preservation: Keeps gardens and landscaping intact by directing water away from delicate areas. Common Kinds of Drain Systems Used in Denver Surface Drains

Surface drains are usually set up at low points on your residential or commercial property where water tends to gather. They consist of channels that help reroute surface water away from your home.

Subsurface Drains

These drains pipes include piping buried underneath the ground level that gathers groundwater before it reaches critical areas around your home.

French Drains

A popular choice among house owners, French drains consist of a trench filled with gravel surrounding a perforated pipeline that directs water away from foundations.

Stormwater Management Systems

Municipalities frequently implement these systems to handle runoff successfully; they might include retention basins or bioswales designed to filter toxins before they reach regional waterways.

How Do Drain Systems Work? The Mechanics Behind Reliable Drainage

Drainage systems operate by making use of gravity to guide water stream away from structures. When rainfall takes place or snow melts, the gathered water follows pre-determined courses set out by these systems.

Components of a Normal Drainage System Drains: Channels or pipelines that gather excess water. Grates: Covers positioned over drains pipes to prevent particles entry while enabling water through. Catch Basins: Structures that record debris while permitting cleaner water to flow into drainage pipes. Seasonal Considerations for Denver Homeowners