Tag: water

  • Energy’s Water Footprint

    - by Mike Ewall, Ener­gy Jus­tice Network In 2005, ther­mo­elec­tric pow­er plants (nuclear, coal, oil, gas and trash/biomass incin­er­a­tors) were respon­si­ble for 41% of all fresh­wa­ter with­drawals and 49% of total water with­drawals (includ­ing oceans and brack­ish waters) in the U.S. Much of this water (main­ly used for cool­ing) is returned to local water bod­ies, but at a high­er…

  • AUDIO: Energy’s Water Footprint in the Western Drought

    Drought in the west­ern U.S. is in the news every day, yet most media cov­er­age ignores the impact from water with­drawals for indus­tri­al pow­er facil­i­ties. While munic­i­pal and agri­cul­tur­al use are major drains on lim­it­ed water resources, so too are bio­mass, coal, nat­ur­al gas, and nuclear pow­er facilities.  On August 20, EJN spoke with Sta­cy Tellinghuisen,…

  • Ethanol Plant at Buffalo Lake, MN Cited

    - April 14, 2014. Source: KDUZ/KARP St. Paul, Minn.– The ethanol plant in Buf­fa­lo Lake for­mer­ly owned by Min­neso­ta Ener­gy is in the process of cor­rect­ing water and air qual­i­ty per­mit vio­la­tions, and must pay a $10,000 civ­il penal­ty, accord­ing to an agree­ment with the Min­neso­ta Pol­lu­tion Con­trol Agency (MPCA). In Octo­ber 2012, Renville Coun­ty offi­cials…

  • Biomass Industry Needs to Prepare for Water Constraints

    - April 14, 2014. Source: KDUZ/KARP St. Paul, Minn.– The ethanol plant in Buf­fa­lo Lake for­mer­ly owned by Min­neso­ta Ener­gy is in the process of cor­rect­ing water and air qual­i­ty per­mit vio­la­tions, and must pay a $10,000 civ­il penal­ty, accord­ing to an agree­ment with the Min­neso­ta Pol­lu­tion Con­trol Agency (MPCA). In Octo­ber 2012, Renville Coun­ty offi­cials…

  • E.U. Agroenergy Policy: A Foreseeable Disaster

    E.U. Agroen­er­gy Pol­i­cy: A Fore­see­able Disaster In a mis­guid­ed attempt to alleged­ly tack­le run­away cli­mate change, the Euro­pean Union (E.U.) is imple­ment­ing pol­i­cy that would increase car­bon diox­ide emis­sions, dis­place native peo­ples, threat­en pub­lic health, and degrade forests and watersheds. A new report, A Fore­see­able Dis­as­ter: The Euro­pean Union’s agroen­er­gy poli­cies and the glob­al land and water grab,…