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Lake Erie just broke February high water record — and the lake level keeps rising – cleveland.com

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Lake Erie just broke February high water record — and the lake level keeps rising – cleveland.com

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Lake Erie rose 5 inches in January. By the end of the month, lake levels were 7 inches above last January’s. And by Monday, the lake broke the February high water record, set in 1987.

The latest water forecast from the U.S. Corps of Army Engineers predicts Lake Erie will break monthly records for the next four months before leveling off in June and July. Levels should be 2-11 inches higher than they were last year.

Trump Administration Rescinds Protections for Some Streams and Wetlands – The Allegheny Front

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Trump Administration Rescinds Protections for Some Streams and Wetlands – The Allegheny Front

The Trump administration announced it’s finalizing a rollback of a major Obama Era rule that clarified which waterways can be regulated by the Clean Water Act.

The new rules were cheered by farming, oil and gas, and construction industries, but panned by environmentalists and even the EPA’s own science advisory board.

At a press conference in Pittsburgh Thursday, administration officials said the new rule will bring clarity to a longstanding question: which streams and wetlands the federal government can regulate under the Clean Water Act.

Nestle backs amendment to bill mandating PCR for plastic bottles in Maine | Waste Dive

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Nestle backs amendment to bill mandating PCR for plastic bottles in Maine | Waste Dive

  • Nestlé Waters North America (NWNA) is supporting an amendment to a bill in Maine (LD 102) that would set minimum post-consumer recycled (PCR) content requirements for plastic beverage containers sold in the state. The amendment NWNA is backing calls for altering targets to begin at 25% by April 2025 and increase to 30% by April 2030. ​
  • The original bill called for these containers to have 15% PCR by 2022, increasing to 25% by 2024. Other notable changes include an exemption for small manufacturers and the removal of language setting requirements for plastic caps.
  • Recycling equipment company Tomra has endorsed the new language, along with the National Resources Council of Maine (NRCM), Conservation Law Foundation and other environmental groups. "Recycled content legislation supports plastic recycling markets because it creates more demand than would otherwise be created because of the relative low-cost of virgin plastic," said NCRM's Sustainable Maine Director Sarah Nichols in a statement to Waste Dive.

Proposed 2.2 GW storage project plans to use Navajo coal station power-lines | Utility Dive

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Proposed 2.2 GW storage project plans to use Navajo coal station power-lines | Utility Dive

  • A proposal to build a 2.2 GW pumped hydro storage facility in Arizona moved one step closer to reality last week, after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) accepted its application for a preliminary permit.

  • The $3.6 billion project would be built at a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation reservoir on the Colorado River, and rely on transmission infrastructure that was part of the retired Navajo Generating Station coal facility. It would deliver power to Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Phoenix.

  • The acceptance is an "important early milestone," developer Daybreak Power said in a press release. If the project receives the required regulatory approvals, it could come online around 2030, aligning with ambitious renewables targets in Western states — "That is right, we believe, as the need for this sort of bulk storage is coming into full focus," Daybreak CEO Jim Day told Utility Dive.

NYC eyeing Francis E. Walter Dam for drinking water, a move that could impact tourism – News – Citizens’ Voice

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NYC eyeing Francis E. Walter Dam for drinking water, a move that could impact tourism – News – Citizens’ Voice

One hundred miles away, the New York City Department of Environmental Protection is also facing a threat that is shaping up to be quite significant.

The agency is tasked with supplying drinking water — more than 1 billion gallons a day — to nine million customers in the city and surrounding areas. The city gets its drinking water from several reservoirs in the Catskills, but climate change has increased the risk of drought while, at the same time, raised the sea level, leading to a surge of saltwater pushing further up the Delaware River.

The very reservoirs that quench the thirst of New York City residents also feed the Delaware River, which must be maintained at specific levels to keep the “salt front” at bay.