Arizona Announces Phoenix Area Can’t Grow Further on Groundwater

PHOENIX—The nation’s fifth-largest city and surrounding metropolitan area is officially tapped out of groundwater, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs announced Thursday, adding another item to the state’s long list of water woes. By 2121, the Phoenix metro area will be short of nearly 5 million acre feet of water—enough water for around 17 million homes—under a […]

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SunZia Southwest Transmission Project Receives Final Federal Approval

The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued its record of decision last week for the SunZia Southwest Transmission Project, a precursor to its final right-of-way grant required for construction on federal lands, which is expected in the next month or so.  The SunZia transmission line will traverse approximately 520 miles of federal, state and private […]

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Colorado Frackers Doubled Freshwater Use During Megadrought, Even as Drilling and Oil Production Fell

In the middle of the longest-running drought in more than a thousand years, Colorado energy companies diverted rising volumes of the state’s freshwater resources for fracking, a new analysis shows. Colorado operators doubled their use of high-quality water to prepare wells for fracking over the last 10 years, with diminishing returns on oil production, the […]

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Montana’s New Anti-Climate Law May Be the Most Aggressive in the Nation

Montana Republican lawmakers have passed legislation that bars state agencies from considering climate change when permitting large projects that require environmental reviews, including coal mines and power plants. Gov. Greg Gianforte signed the bill last week, marking what could be considered the nation’s most aggressive anti-climate law. Under House Bill 971, Amanda Eggert reports for […]

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