Climate Point: Colorado River dough rolling in
Welcome to Climate Point, your weekly guide to climate, energy and the environment. From Palm Springs, Calif., I'm senior environment reporter Janet Wilson. Lots happening with water this week, including more than $1 billion to prop up the Colorado River, sky high bills for low income residents, and typhoon and hurricane risks.
But first up, a divided Supreme Court on Thursday handed a victory to an Idaho couple that has fought for years to be allowed to develop some soggy property. The decision to narrowly interpret the nation's Clean Water Act could have sweeping ramifications for water quality, agriculture and development, writes USA Today's John Fritze. Bottom line, it's a win for developers and a loss for environmentalists.
In a majority opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito, the court limited EPA's ability to control wetland pollution, saying lack of clarity about types of waters covered by the Clean Water Act made it difficult for property owners to understand. As a result, Alito wrote a "staggering array of landowners ... "are at risk of criminal prosecution."
But Justice Brett Kavanaugh said while he agreed with the Idaho couple, he disagreed with the court's definition of what types of waters should be regulated. The court's ruling, Kavanaugh warned in the minority opinion, would have "significant repercussions for water quality and flood control throughout the United States."
Water quality in the Great Lakes, the Mississippi River and elsewhere could be impacted by weaker protection of wetland water that flows into those systems, report Caitlin Looby and Madeline Heim with the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal.
'Shakedown' or sensible solution? It has a hefty price tag, but seven states that depend on the dwindling, overallocated Colorado River this week offered feds a deal to save three million acre feet - nearly a trillion gallons - of water by 2026. Taxpayers would fork over $1.2 billion or more for voluntary cuts, with the lion's share of that flowing to California desert districts, as I explain for The Desert Sun.
Too much. Super Typhoon Mawar dumped more than two feet of water on Guam this week, cut power to most of the island and thrashed around debris overnight with 140 mph winds. But NOAA says this year's Atlantic Basin hurricane season will likely be an average one, thanks partly due to El Nino patterns, as opposed to the past few years with abnormally high numbers. Five to nine hurricanes are expected to form, with the season starting June 1. Great graphic here shows historic hurricane patterns too.
Going up. With scorching heat already hitting some areas, it was sad to hear retired postal worker Diana Juarez say she can't buy her granddaughters a kiddie pool to cool down, because her water bills are so high and headed higher. Like a million other Californians, she's forced to rely on a private water company whose CEO and Wall Street investors earn handsome profits, and which wants to hike rates again. Some say private utilities have deeper pockets to replace aging infrastructure though, a costly issue across the U.S.
A mess. ProPublica's Mark Olalde writes about new research that shows it will take $21.5 billion to clean up California's old oil wells, but the industry is only expected to earn $6.3 million in the state in coming years.
Read on for more, including busy national parks this Memorial Day weekend, and how early season Canada wildfires are impacting US skies and sunsets For stories requiring a subscription, sign up and get access to all eNewspapers throughout the Paste BN network. If someone forwarded you this email and you'd like to receive Climate Point in your inbox for free once a week, sign up here.