A $614.8 million contract to design and build "three permanent closures and pump stations along flood-prone canals in Lake Pontchartrain" in New Orleans has been awarded to PCCP Constructors, a joint venture that includes Kiewit Louisiana, Traylor Bros. and M.R. Pittman Group. The contract is considered to be the final "post-Katrina major contract in New Orleans for post-Katrina storm surge defen ... read more >>

scathing report issued Thursday by the Western Organization of Resource Councils says water used in the process of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is reaching a crisis point in Western states.
The regional network of organizations’ 37-page report, titled “Gone for Good,” warns of continued diminished water supplies in areas that have been hit hard by drought in recent years. The report also s ... read more >>

Cities around Europe may have to erect flood barriers similar to the Thames Barrier that protects London from sea surges, as climate change takes hold and leads to the danger of much more destructive storms, floods, heavy rainfall and higher sea levels, Europe's environmental watchdog has warned. The effects of climate change will be so far-reaching across the continent that vineyards may have to ... read more >>

The surface of the Earth recovers after earthquakes, but scientists say the crust of northern Chile has been permanently damaged after being rocked by quakes magnitude 7 or greater. That contradicts current models that expect the crust to heal like the surface. "If some of the deformation is permanent, then the models will have to be rethought and more complicated material behaviors used," said R ... read more >>

An ExxonMobil official anticipates that by 2040 there will be a 35% increase in worldwide demand for energy and fossil fuels will still dominate the global market. Demand for natural gas will rise by 65% by 2040, said Paul Stratford, site manager of Exxon's chemical plant in Baton Rouge, La. The discoveries of major natural gas fields and hydraulic fracturing technology have transformed the energ ... read more >>

In December 2011 countries agreed in Durban, South Africa to secure a new international legal agreement by 2015. This is not the first time that countries agreed to finalize such an agreement. Cynics point out that countries continually agree to formulate something new in the next couple of years -- consistently “kicking the can down the road”. After all, the agreement in Copenhagen was supposed ... read more >>

Israeli settlers in the West Bank consume six times as much water as Palestinians living nearby, the human rights organization Al-Haq has found.

In a new report released today, the organization exposes how Israel operates a system of water apartheid. Palestinian communities are strangled by Israel’s water policies through unlawful exploitation and appropriation of water resources, confiscati ... read more >>

Nesting green sea turtles are benefiting from marine protected areas by using habitats found within their boundaries, according to a U.S. Geological Survey study that is the first to track the federally protected turtles in Dry Tortugas National Park. ... read more >>

Climate change will bring greater extremes in weather, the Government's outgoing chief scientific adviser has warned as he called for urgent action to tackle global warming.

Professor Sir John Beddington said the effects of climate change on the weather were already being felt in the UK.

"In a sense we have moved from the idea of global warming to the idea of climate change, and that is rat ... read more >>

hoebox-size devices that have special sensors to monitor noise, dust and vibration levels during the construction of the new $3.9 billion Tappan Zee Bridge in New York will be installed atop poles in eight locations, four in Tarrytown and four in South Nyack. Piers of the existing bridge have already been installed with sensors to track construction vibrations. Once bridge construction starts, th ... read more >>