Wednesday Roundup: Budgets, Big Pipes, Bio-luminescence, & Fracking

This week’s Roundup actually covers several weeks’ worth of news. Due to the cold/flu-of-the-century, I’ve been in a largely news-free bubble for something approaching ten days. So, the fact that these five stories broke through the NyQuil induced haze of the last few weeks means they are that much more must-read.

Five Don't Miss News Stories from the Last Week (or so)

1) $300 million dollars for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative; $1.468 billion for State Revolving Funds nationwide.

In a rare bit of good news from Washington DC, the 2012 budget bill passed late last week included significant funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and for sewer issues around the country. Our friends at Healing Our Waters report that the funding bill: “… provides $300 million for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative to clean up toxic pollution, restore wildlife habitat, stop invasive species and reduce polluted run-off from farms and cities. The budget also includes $1.468 billion to help communities across the nation address the chronic problem of sewage overflows.”

2) Fracking video is number 2 most creative video of 2011.

In a sign of just how mainstream concern about fracking has become, a rap video about the natural gas extraction process was named the second most creative video of 2011.

3) Portland completes the construction phase of its Combined Sewer Overflow “fix.”

December saw the completion of Portland's Big Pipe containment system. This enormous project is a successful example of a city tackling a tough, tough problem – Combined Sewer Overflows (a type of sewer system that collects sanitary sewage and stormwater runoff in the same pipe). This project started with green infrastructure to get a lot of the stormwater out of the system early. The city’s commitment to green solutions has been institutionalized and is a necessary on-going component to the success of their plan. Other cities facing the expensive and engineering-intense problem of Combined Sewer Overflows can learn much from Portland’s approach.

4) A beautiful, dirty story of tracking pollution in Florida's coastal waters.

The New York Times tells an interesting and visually arresting story about tracking pollution in Florida’s coastal waters. The research described by the Times involves using bio-luminescence to document pollution in water samples. “Using a photometer to measure the light given off by the bacteria, she can quickly determine the concentration of toxic chemicals in the sediment by seeing how much and how quickly the light dims as the chemicals kill the bacteria.” An added bonus? “The method is far cheaper and quicker than the more common practice of sending samples to a lab for analysis.” Not in the mood for another pollution story? The video is worth watching for the beautiful underwater scenes featuring glowing, magical-seeming creatures from the deep!

5) Colorado establishes toughest disclosure rules yet for fracking.

It may seem like overkill to have two of our top five stories address fracking this week, but things are busy in the fracking world. Last week, Colorado passed rules (set to go into effect in April) which USA TODAY says “… are similar to those required by a first-in-the-nation law passed in Texas this year but go further by requiring the concentrations of all chemicals to be disclosed.”