While earthquakes still loom as the greatest threat to California's massive collection of dams, experts warn that these aging structures will be challenged further by a new and emerging hazard: "whiplashing shifts" in extreme weather due to climate change.
Long before a deadly flood hit two hydroelectric dams, scientists warned repeatedly that such projects were dangerous in a fragile region made more so by global warming.
Idaho GOP Rep. Mike Simpson has proposed a sweeping $33.5 billion plan to save the Pacific Northwest's iconic salmon that includes breaching four of the most controversial dams in the country.
Serbia and other Balkan nations are overwhelmed by communal waste after decades of neglect and lack of efficient waste-management policies in the countries aspiring to join the European Union.
More pollution has been sweeping past the Conowingo Dam since its reservoir filled with sediment a decade ago, allowing millions of pounds of nutrient pollution to wash downstream to the Chesapeake Bay and creating a costly cleanup problem.
There’s more than one barrier per mile on average in Europe’s rivers, which chokes off life in these critical arteries. But public awareness is sparking calls to take out small dams, weirs, and ramps.
In its final days, the administration is rushing to cement its destructive legacy with attacks on clean air, wildlife and public lands that could be difficult to undo.
Beijing has dismissed U.S. research saying Chinese dams have retained water to the detriment of downstream nations, where 60 million people depend on the river for fishing and farming.
Spring-run Chinook salmon, critical to Indigenous fishers along the Klamath River, are in steep decline. But two recent developments may offer a path to their recovery.
Jane Worthington moved her grandkids to protect them from oil and gas wells—but it didn't work. In US fracking communities, the industry's pervasiveness causes social strain and mental health problems.
"I was a total cheerleader for this industry at the beginning. Now I just want to make sure no one else makes the same mistake I did. It has ruined my life."
EHN.org scientific investigation finds western Pennsylvania families near fracking are exposed to harmful chemicals, and regulations fail to protect communities' mental, physical, and social health.
"Once they had the results of our study [families] felt like they had proof that these chemicals are in their air, their water, and making their way into their bodies."
