Water & Oceans

"Under canopies of dead angular branches and drooping fronds, UC Riverside ecologist Cameron Barrows made his way across a forest of skeletal Joshua trees that have not reproduced in decades."

"For half a decade, General Electric has been paying for a massive dredging operation on the upper Hudson River in New York."

"The drought-stricken Colorado River is fueling golf courses and growth across the Coachella Valley."

Despite early headlines, an EPA study on the impact of fracking on drinking water offered both sides ammunition.

"An 8-year-old boy falls into one of Mexico’s most contaminated rivers. Eighteen days later, he’s dead. Fusion investigates how factories--many of them U.S. owned--get away with illegally dumping toxic chemicals into one of the country’s main waterways, with potentially deadly consequences."

"Cannon Michael, a 6th generation farmer in California’s Central Valley, this week told U.S. senators about the “disturbing time” he and his family are experiencing because of his state’s multi-year drought."

"Two Florida members of the House of Representatives are joining one of the state’s senators to keep oil drilling far off shore, seeking to stave off efforts to bring the rigs closer to land."

"A landmark Environmental Protection Agency report on the impact of hydraulic fracturing has found no evidence that the contentious technique of oil and gas extraction has had a widespread effect on the nation’s water supply, the agency said Thursday."

"A Nevada ranch defied U.S. drought closure orders in grazing cattle on federally managed land, environmentalists said on Wednesday, comparing it to action by another Nevada rancher that led to an armed standoff last year with federal agents."