Friday, 15 Apr 2005

Nuclear power is a hot-button issue for many environmentalists, and Grist readers are certainly no exception, as evidenced by recent letters to the editor. Umbra's latest column on the subject caused several folks to fission all over themselves. And when we announced that our sweepstakes prize is a trip to Iceland -- including, heavens me, airfare -- a number of readers gave us the cold shoulder. Does this mean you're not voting for us in the Webbys?

Smoking Frac

Hydraulic fracturing raises concerns over water in Western U.S.

Despite persistent concerns about its effects on groundwater, the practice of hydraulic fracturing (or "fracing") appears likely to receive an exemption from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act in legislation under consideration by the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Fracing involves pumping highly pressurized fluids deep underground, forcing oil and natural gas to rise to the surface, where it can be slurped up and sold by companies like Halliburton, for which it generates about $1.5 billion a year. A recent EPA review judged the practice safe, but a whistleblower, 32-year agency veteran Weston Wilson, said the review did not use established procedures and relied on a panel composed largely of energy-industry personnel. Democrats tried to attach amendments to the legislation -- one would require a real scientific investigation of the practice -- but they were defeated on party-line votes. After all, as Halliburton argued in a legal brief, regulation "could have significant adverse effects on its business." Can't have that.


In his work protecting Iceland's highlands, Arni Finnsson of the Iceland Nature Conservation Association has witnessed his government's willingness to toss aside environmental regulations in order to push forward on major dam and development projects. In tackling reader questions, Finnsson explains the impact such development has had on the environment, addresses his country's whaling controversy, and describes typical Icelandic cuisine (including puffin!).

Buy Flow, Sell High

Water biz takes off

Only 2 percent of the world's water is fresh, and with the World Commission on Water for the 21st Century projecting a 50 percent increase in demand in the next 30 years, food and drinking-water shortages, droughts, devastated agriculture, disease, and even armed conflict over water may be on the horizon. We smell profits! And indeed, over the last five years, stocks in the water sector have leapt 113 percent (while the S&P 500 lost 17 percent), with a 24 percent jump just last year. Companies involved in the $400 billion-a-year global water biz -- delivery and storage of water, construction and maintenance of infrastructure like wastewater-treatment facilities and desalination plants -- have seen their portfolios boom in recent years. Huge corporations like General Electric are investing billions each year in their water holdings. "Water will emerge as the next growth commodity," says hedge-fund manager John Romero.

The Gold Shoulder

Latin American activists have string of successes against gold mines

Even with mining laws, environmental laws, and international free-trade agreements heavily weighted against them, activists in Latin America have had a string of recent successes stopping open-pit and cyanide heap-leach mines from polluting their groundwater and decimating hillsides. In Peru last November, protestors blocked roads near the city of Cajamarca, forcing U.S.-based gold giant Newmont Mining Corp. to close an exploration site, marking the first time Newmont caved to pressure to close a mine. Last summer, officials in Honduras halted a Canadian company's strip mine, saying it intruded on a nature reserve. And the highest court in Costa Rica nixed a gold mine in December, ruling it would damage the environment. But with gold prices at over $430 an ounce, the number of U.S.- and Canadian-owned mines in the region is only expected to increase, even in the face of fierce resistance.