Mississippi River Basin Water Resource Weekly News-Holiday Week Edition

~Virtual Newspaper for an Aquatic World~

2013 Retrospective

As so often happens as a calendar year comes to a close, we've looked back into the year that was 2013 to see what stories were particularly important from a Mississippi River Basin water resource perspective, and here, in our humble opinion, is a link to some of the 20 or so top stories and headlines from the past year, broken down month-by-month.

That's All Until 2014

This week's somewhat shortened missive is the year's last "Mississippi River Basin Water Resource Weekly News" issue. For those who may have missed, in their pre-holiday rushing about, last week's fuller news listing, here is a link to those best news bits.  Look for our next River Basin news issue to be posted on Friday, January 3. Cheers!




Noteworthy @UpperMiss Twitter Postings for the Week

Water Quality -

• Federal judge rules that bill does not shield mine operators from West Virginia water quality standards lawsuits http://ow.ly/s0TEQ
• EPA fails to deliver coal ash rules five years after catastrophic Tennessee River basin spill http://ow.ly/s0UBs
• Tennessee Valley Authority to receive another $150 million to help pay for ongoing cleanup of the 2008 coal ash spill http://ow.ly/s0Vsi
• Energy company will pay civil penalty to settle West Virginia Clean Water Act violations, restore wetlands, streams http://ow.ly/s0Ve5

Water Resource Management (Floodplains, Dams, Navigation, Wetlands, Flooding, Supplies, etc.) -

• Controversial water demands across northwest Oklahoma feed oil and gas fracking from the Mississippi Lime Shale http://ow.ly/s0STh
• New fracking technique could cut demand for freshwater; pilot approved for testing in North Dakota http://ow.ly/s0Uej
• Winter Lake Shelbyville water level drawdown will be delayed due to expected low levels on middle Mississippi River ow.ly/s0WXY
• Flood advisory is in effect for the Ohio River in Pittsburgh until Wednesday afternoon http://ow.ly/s0Xlg
• Ohio River flood warnings extended through the end of the year, though levels expected to remain below flood stage http://ow.ly/s2Hdp

Farm Bill-

• South Dakota’s senators worry about fate of reforms they fought to include in the Senate version of the farm bill http://ow.ly/s0Oa8
• Farm bill likely to cut food stamp program by $8 billion over a decade; much less than demanded by GOP conservatives http://ow.ly/s0OjM
• Provision which may end up in new farm bill could quash all new rules not based on "sound science" http://ow.ly/s0VOB
• Small-acre crops and the farm bill: Sorghum illustrates complex politics and calculations behind the legislation http://ow.ly/s1yuf

Agriculture -

• USDA removed about 1.6 million grassland acres from Conservation Reserve Program in 2013, clearing way for use by crops http://ow.ly/s1xRi

Drought Monitor Map
(click to enlarge)

Climate and Weather -

• Here is the latest NOAA/NWS/NCEP/CPC national drought update: http://ow.ly/q3w3u
• NOAA's Climate Prediction Center monthly drought outlook (January outlook will be published at the end of December) http://ow.ly/q3yAx

Biodiversity, Wildlife and Invasives -

• Ohio River Asian Carp Task Force releases Draft Management Plan for comment http://ow.ly/s0X9p
• Milkweed and the iconic monarch butterfly have diminished as cropland expansion has drastically cut grasslands http://ow.ly/s0TjS
• Underwater carbon dioxide shows potential to act as barrier to Asian carp http://ow.ly/s0TU5
• Report: Fish swim past electric barrier meant to block Asian carp http://ow.ly/s2JMf

Resource Development -

• New pipeline from fracking fields stirs controversy in Kentucky over environmental, property, safety concerns http://ow.ly/s0URW
• Little time left for Illinoisans hoping to influence new rules governing controversial practice of fracking http://ow.ly/s1jbB

Federal Budget -

• President Obama and Congress will be plunged into another battle over the debt ceiling after the holiday break http://ow.ly/s1oj7

Events -  Information on all past and future events listed here can be viewed in the on-line calendar (here as a stand-alone calendar)

• Annual Mississippi River Bald Eagle watch, educational programs, environmental exhibits; January and February events: http://ow.ly/s0YWs

e-Newsletters, Publications, Journals, Multimedia  -

• New Center for American Progress report: Moving Coastal Communities Out of the Crosshairs of Climate Change http://ow.ly/s0P5l
• Association of State Floodplain Managers News & Views - December 2013 http://ow.ly/s0OCC (PDF file)
• Montana Watershed Coordination Council December 19 Watershed News http://ow.ly/s0OSI

Other news-

• Damaged wing of the National Mississippi River Museum & Aquarium in Dubuque, Iowa is now reopened http://ow.ly/s0XUV
• Six Midwestern governors urge EPA to reconsider rolling back nation's renewable fuel targets http://ow.ly/s1wBJ

Politics and People-

• USEPA Region 4 Administrator office remains chronically vacant, amid political, special interest, diversity concerns http://ow.ly/s1wbm

Last Word -

"A Visit From St. Nicholas"
handwritten manuscript
gifted by author Clement C. Moore
(click to enlarge)

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night!” - Last line from "A Visit from St. Nicholas," a poem first published anonymously in 1823 and later attributed to Clement Clarke Moore.