Free Republic

When farmers plow their land, it produces grooves called "furrows," bordered by small ridges of dirt. But in pursuit of new regulatory powers, federal agencies refer to the little dirt mounds by another term: “mini mountain ranges.” That seemingly absurd distinction is being used to impose more federal control over private land use decisions made by U.S. farmers. That was the claim described in a U.S. Senate committee report released Sept. 20. The committee reviewed the powers held by the nation’s two largest environmental regulation agencies, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Environmental Protection Agency, and a proposed...

No voter approval for debt which taxpayers are on the hook for means no accountability for elected politicians The town of Apple Valley, California, deep in the heart of the Victor Valley of San Bernardino County, has a ballot initiative battle grappling with accountability for bond debt. But it’s gotten political with citizens claiming elected members of the Apple Valley Town Council have ceased making decisions in the best interests of their community. Nearly 4,000 Apple Valley residents signed petitions to bring Measure V to the Nov. 8 ballot to require voter approval of any Town project of $10 million...

Let's move to Mars You may have noticed in recent news headlines, one company “here” is getting sued by the government “there” for multi-billions and another company “there” is getting sued for similar billions by the government “here.” Is it just a coincidence or something of a “tit-for-tat” game? Frankly, I’m not sure. Perhaps each side has some legitimate reasons to complain.

“In California, they say: ‘water runs uphill toward money.’ To that, now should be added the adage: ‘Water runs up-Hillary to money’.” News flash: Hillary’s Western Water Plan would trickle up to elites. “The Clinton plan states that: ‘the United States has 17 national labs that work on energy, but not one that is focused exclusively on water’.” However, the Federal EPA already runs four water and environmental technology laboratories in Research Park, North Carolina (health effects); Cincinnati, Ohio (engineering); Corvallis, Oregon (ecology); and Las Vegas, Nevada (monitoring). This is not to mention that in California Fresno State University runs...

Bioluminescent waves in San Diego, Red Tide Blue Waves, Alien footsteps on beach, Red Tide Surfing

On a recent Thursday morning, sprinklers ran for six minutes, soaking fake grass outside the South LA substation. Even an area completely devoid of grass -- real or fake -- was inundated by water from sprinklers. Harasick said leaving the turf unwashed leaves a foul smell in the air. “We’re really just trying to wash out dog pee,” he said.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (CN) — Nestled under the dominating silhouette of Mt. Shasta in northernmost California is a bustling community of Vietnam War refugees and Hmong-Americans seeking solitude in normally tranquil Siskiyou County. Hundreds of newly settled Hmong residents sought calm in the mountainous terrain, but many say they have collided with a sheriff hell-bent on restricting their voting and property rights. Alleging systematic voter suppression in the June primary and subsequent racial profiling by Siskiyou County Sheriff Jon Lopey, 10 Hmong property owners sued the sheriff and Siskiyou County on Monday in Federal Court. "I remember the panic and the...

A sinkhole has opened up at a fertilizer plant in the US, causing about 260 million US gal of radioactive water to contaminate a part of Florida's main sources of drinking water. The sinkhole, which is about 15. yd in diameter, collapsed beneath a pile of waste material called a “gypsum stack”. Sitting on top of that stack was a storage pond containing phosphogypsum, which is a radioactive byproduct resulting from the production of phosphate.

During Donald Trump’s visit to Flint, Michigan on Wednesday, the Republican nominee commented on how the automobile manufacturing industry has moved to Mexico — impacting trade — and how people in Flint can’t drink the water, much like the water in Mexico. “It used to be cars were made in Flint, and you couldn’t drink the water in Mexico,” Trump stated. “Now, the cars are made in Mexico and you can’t drink the water in Flint.” “That’s not good,” he added, as people chuckled in response.

NEW YORK CITY, New York—Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, is upstaging Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton yet again on Wednesday, this time with a visit to Flint, Michigan, to tour the city’s infamous water facilities in crisis.

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2016 September 11 All the Water on Planet Earth Illustration Credit & Copyright: Jack Cook, Adam Nieman, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Howard Perlman, USGS Explanation: How much of planet Earth is made of water? Very little, actually. Although oceans of water cover about 70 percent of Earth's surface, these oceans are shallow compared to the Earth's radius. The featured illustration shows what would happen if all of the...

Klamath Basin Agreement proponents have lost not only their grip on reality, but also their traditional American common sense neighborly values Klamath Basin groups claiming to represent the majority of Klamath Basin residents, such as the Klamath Water Users Association (“KWUA”) and the Family Farm Alliance (“FFA”), have long perpetuated the lie that the Klamath Basin Agreements will benefit ALL Basin residents. The first two of these agreements had been initially proposed during the Bush administration in an effort assist Klamath irrigators resolve longstanding science and water delivery disputes with environmentalists and tribal communities. Now, these and several additional new...

Jordan River Water Was Shipped to the U.S. in 1906 and May Have Flushed an Anti-Semitic U.S. Diplomat Out of His Job PhotoThe International River Jordan Water Company was launched by Col. Clifford E. Naudaud of Covington, Kentucky, in 1906. He secured "the sole right of shipping the water of the Jordan River from the banks of the stream in Palestine to all parts of the world for baptismal and other purposes," according to a Kentucky newspaper, The Bee, published in Earlington, KY. The water was "shipped in casks bearing the seals of the Turkish Government and the American Consul,"...

My opinion of you is righteousness for I have loved you through all eternity . So catch up with my love for you just drink it in and fall into the pool of my complete acceptance for you have already been washed in my forgiveness so don't challenge my love just receive it for you are mine and I am yours woven through all eternity together as one. Come to me and the sound of my voice both through others gestures of my love through them and by my Spirit speaking to your heart for I have already given you...

Three years ago, Wood Mackenzie reported on how water scarcity could impact global energy industries, from North American shale gas to Middle Eastern desalination. An updated report from Wood Mackenzie and Verisk Maplecroft finds the risks are greater in 2016, yet the market opportunity to address them remains largely untapped. In the U.S., for example, water costs for gas wells that use hydraulic fracturing doubled from 2012 to 2016, according to the latest report....

The extended drought in California has farmers looking for ways to use less water. Among them: growing feed indoors using hydroponics. The new diet is making some Central Valley sheep very happy. On Golden Valley Farm an hour north of Fresno, Mario Daccarett's employees milk 500 sheep every day, in rounds of 12. This creamy milk eventually is turned into cheese and sold at places like Whole Foods. "They tell me that our Golden Ewe cheese is the best for grilled cheese sandwich ever," Daccarett says. (I bought some and it was really tasty.) He says he gets about 800...

Dean “Dino” Cortopassi, the Stockton-area farmer and food processor who could undermine Gov. Jerry Brown’s Delta water project and high-speed rail in California, leaned over a pile of paperwork in his conference room this spring, tossing bread to his black Labrador and pounding on the table. The state Capitol, Cortopassi said, has been overrun by “porkers feeding at the public trough,” and if long-term debt is not constrained, he said his grandchildren’s generation will bear the cost. He called his November ballot initiative – a proposal to require voter approval before the state issues revenue bonds for public works projects...

Among Manchester’s proudest scientific developments has to be graphene - it’s very own homegrown wonder material first isolated by scientists at the University of Manchester back in 2004. A material made from a single atom layer of carbon that is super lightweight, super conductive and super strong, it seems to have endless capabilities in the modern world - from smart clothing to intergalactic exploration. Twelve years after its discovery via a sticky tape dispenser - and six years since its developers Andre Geim (pictured below) and Konstantin Novoselov were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics - and interest in graphene...

The western United States is chronically short of water and the situation can only get worse, barring some sort of major reversal of climate. I don't believe this is caused by climate change, but rather is an inevitable function of increasing population demands on a limited resource. With few exceptions, Lake Mead, designed to be a major supplier of water for southern California and Las Vegas, has been steadily dropping to the point where it may fail to produce any water in dry times of the cycle. Other reservoirs have been observed to dry up or lose over three quarters...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday called for a new tax on city water and sewer bills to stabilize the city's largest pension fund, a move he portrayed as his latest tough decision to secure Chicago's financial future. Emanuel's plan, which would increase the average water and sewer bill by 30 percent over the next four years, was quickly met with resistance from some aldermen who argued the city would be better off adding business taxes or even raising property taxes again to come up with the hundreds of millions of dollars a year needed to keep the city's municipal workers'...