Water & Oceans

"TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. — A freshwater channel that separates Michigan's upper and lower peninsulas is a premier Midwestern tourist attraction and a photographer's delight, offering spectacular vistas of two Great Lakes, several islands and one of the world's longest suspension bridges. But nowadays the Straits of Mackinac is drawing attention for something that is out of sight and usually out of mind, and which some consider a symbol of the dangers lurking in the nation's sprawling web of buried oil and natural gas pipelines."

"WASHINGTON — The Obama administration moved closer to allowing oil and gas exploration off the Atlantic coast by releasing an environmental report Thursday that details how companies should protect marine wildlife if they want to start seismic testing in the area."

"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia inspectors have discovered 600 more above-ground chemical storage tanks located near public drinking-water supplies, pushing their current inventory to more than 1,600 such tanks, according to data made public Thursday."

"Ten million scallops that have died in the waters near Qualicum Beach due to rising ocean acidity are the latest victims in a series of marine die-offs that have plagued the West Coast for a decade."

"Development of natural gas and wind resources in the Marcellus shale region could cover up nearly 1.3 million acres of land, an area bigger than the state of Delaware, with cement, asphalt and other impervious surfaces, according to a paper published this month in the scientific journal PLOS One."

"DURHAM, N.C. — North Carolina regulators who have been accused of lax oversight abruptly announced Tuesday that they may force Duke Energy to move its riverfront ash basin to a lined landfill away from waterways after one of its plants leaked tons of toxic coal ash into a major river."

Authorities re-opened a 65-mile reach of the Mississippi River which had been shut down for cleanup after an oil barge spilled.

"Millions of pigs are crammed into overcrowded barns all across the state, being fattened for slaughter while breeding superbugs—all to feed China's growing appetite for Spam."

"Brewers around the country boast that their 'pure' local water is the key to their beers' unique flavor. Coors credits the trout streams of the Rockies. Olympia  Beer's slogan is, 'It's the water.' Cold Spring Brewing Co., in Minnesota, is named for a nearby natural spring."

"CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- In the year before it filed for bankruptcy, Freedom Industries paid more than $6 million to its former owners and to companies affiliated with its current owners, court filings show."