Water & Oceans

"Clout can be defined in many ways. In California's parched Central Valley farmlands, it's the ability to secure water."

"The federal government has settled a decades-old lawsuit with the nation's largest irrigation district, which has agreed in a tentative deal to clean up contaminated water in California's fertile Central Valley."

"Researchers knew California’s drought was already a record breaker when they set out to find its exact place in history, but they were surprised by what they discovered: It has been 500 years since what is now the Golden State has been this dry."

"The Navy agreed to limit its use of sonar and other training that inadvertently harms whales, dolphins and other marine mammals off Hawaii and California in a settlement with environmental groups approved Monday."

"Over the weekend, boats, helicopters and airplanes searched up and down the southern California coast, hoping to rescue an 80ft blue whale spotted entangled in a 200ft fishing line. Exact numbers are unknown, but the National Marine Fisheries Service reported an average of 11 entangled large whales per year from 2000 to 2012 along the US west coast."

"Warmer-than-normal ocean temperatures around Hawaii this year will likely lead to the worst coral bleaching the islands have ever seen, scientists said Friday."

"Burning all the world’s deposits of coal, oil and natural gas would raise the temperature enough to melt the entire ice sheet covering Antarctica, driving the level of the sea up by more than 160 feet, scientists reported Friday."

"The USCGC Healy reached the North Pole earlier this week, carrying a crew of scientists investigating environmental changes in the Arctic."

"One of the country’s fastest-growing cities suddenly has a long-term water problem."