Three design-and-engineering teams unveiled their concepts for saving the lower Mississippi River Delta over the next 100 years at an Aug. 20 press conference in New Orleans.
The fact that floodwalls around New Orleans were designed to be overtopped but remain standing says much about the post-Katrina hurricane-protection system that rings the city—and about the risks that those who live within that system still face.
State and tribal officials in Colorado and New Mexico have reopened the Animas and San Juan rivers since an accidental 3-million-gal toxic spill from an abandoned mine on Aug. 5.
With the announcement that BP has reached an agreement with the federal government over damages caused to the Gulf of Mexico by the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, observers say the time line for significant coastal restoration projects will be accelerated.
FAA Issues Houston License To Convert Ellington to Spaceport Houston Mayor Annise Parker (D) announced June 30 that the Federal Aviation Administration had approved Ellington Airport as a launch site for reusable launch vehicles. Parker hopes to make the Houston Spaceport a hub for manufacturing spacecraft and training astronauts.DOE Finalizes Last of Loan Guarantees for Vogtle Project The U.S. Dept. of Energy has finalized the last remaining portion of $8.3 billion in federal loan guarantees previously allotted for the Plant Vogtle nuclear expansion project near Waynesboro, Ga. Last month, the agency issued $1.8 billion in guarantees to three subsidiaries of
Related Links: Duke Energy Fights $25.1 million Coal Ash Fine Duke Energy Starts Ash Cleanup as N.C. Considers Tighter Regs Duke Energy Fined $102 million for Clean Water Act Violations Duke Energy has been ordered to take immediate steps to halt the spread of groundwater contamination originating from coal-ash storage basins at its L.V. Sutton Power Plant in Wilmington, N.C.The North Carolina Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) issued a notice of regulatory requirement to the Charlotte, N.C.-based utility after high levels of boron were found during routine tests at monitoring wells located at or beyond the facility's compliance
Related Links: Engineer Sets Foundation to Envision Sustainable Infrastructure Institute for Sustainable Infrastructure (ISI) website Harvard University Zofnass Program for Sustainable Infrastructure InterAmerican Development Bank Infrastructure Project Sustainability Awards-2016 Viewpoint by Robert M. Beinstein: Why CEOs Say Sustainable Solutions are Good Business Two public-sector infrastructure owners with markedly different upgrades getting underway agree on one thing—that the projects have vastly improved thanks to the use of a new tool that allows participants to measure long-term sustainability and justify how and why investments will benefit users and communities.The Florida Dept. of Transportation has embraced use of the new Envision infrastructure sustainability
Related Links: Link to EPA assessment Link to additional peer-reviewed articles and reports A new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency draft assessment confirms what many engineering, construction and oil and gas companies have been saying for years: that hydraulic fracturing, when done properly, does not have a negative impact on drinking-water sources.The long-awaited, congressionally mandated study, released on June 4, examined the potential impacts that hydraulic fracturing and related activities can have on current drinking-water sources and potential sources, such as groundwater.The assessment, which EPA says is more a scientific document than a policy report, concludes that U.S. hydraulic fracturing activities
Photo By Lynn Betts, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service Critics contend that EPA and the Corps went too far in redefining wetlands (pictured) and other bodies as "Waters of the United States.: Related Links: New Rule's Definition of "Waters of the United States" House OKs Bill to Block EPA's Waters Rule (ENR 05/18/2015 issue) [subscription] With a newly issued final regulation, the Environmental Protection Agency and Army Corps of Engineers are seeking to end years of uncertainty over which streams, wetlands and other bodies of water fall under federal jurisdiction and which are governed by the states.But the rule, which