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Oil company fined record $18 million for defying state orders to stop work on pipeline

The pipeline caused a major oil spill a decade ago, fouling the ocean off Santa Barbara County. The new owners say they don’t need new permits for repairs. The fine is the Coastal Commission's largest.

In summary The pipeline caused a major oil spill a decade ago, fouling the ocean off Santa Barbara County. The new owners say they don’t need new permits for repairs. The fine is the Coastal Commission’s largest. The California Coastal Commission today fined an oil company a record $18 million for repeatedly defying orders to stop work on a corroded pipeline in Santa Barbara County that caused a major oil spill nearly a decade ago. The vote sets the stage for a potentially high-stakes test of the state’s power to police oil development along the coast. The onshore pipeline in Gaviota gushed more than 100,000 gallons of crude oil onto coastal land and ocean waters, shutting down fisheries, closing beaches and harming marine life and coastal habitats in 2015. Sable Offshore Corp., a Houston-based company, purchased the pipeline from the previous owners, Exxon Mobil, last year, and is seeking to restart the Santa Ynez offshore oil operation. The Coastal Commission said Sable has done something no alleged violator has ever done before: ignoring the agency’s multiple cease-and-desist orders and continuing its work. “Our orders were valid and legally issued, and Sable’s refusal to comply is a refusal to follow the law,” said Commissioner Meagan Harmon, who also is a member of the Santa Barbara City Council. “Their refusal, in a very real sense, is a subversion of the will of the people of the state of California.” “I’ve never taken how special this area is for granted. As a kid, I was traumatized by the ’69 oil spill, and in 2015, I had to watch my own kids go through the same trauma.”Carol Millar, Santa Barbara County resident The company argued it can proceed using the pipeline’s original county permit issued in the 1980s. In February, Sable sued the Coastal Commission saying the state is unlawfully halting the company’s repair and maintenance work. At a 5-hour public hearing in Santa Barbara today, more than 100 speakers lined up, many of them urging the commission to penalize Sable and stop its work. Some invoked memories of the 2015 Refugio OIl Spill as well as the massive 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill caused by a blowout on a Union Oil drilling rig. Public outrage over that spill helped shape the environmental movement, led to the first Earth Day and contributed to the enactment of many national environmental laws. “I’ve never taken how special this area is for granted,” said Santa Barbara County resident Carol Millar. “As a kid, I was traumatized by the ‘69 oil spill, and in 2015, I had to watch my own kids go through the same trauma.” Steve Rusch, Sable’s vice president of environmental and governmental affairs, said the commission was overreaching because of the spill caused by the previous owners. “We are proud of our good-paying, skilled jobs that our project has brought to the region,” he told commissioners. “It’s not about the 2015 Refugio oil spill. It’s not about the restart of the pipeline …it’s not about the future of oil production or fossil fuel in California.” “We are proud of our good-paying, skilled jobs that our project has brought to the region. It’s not about the 2015 Refugio oil spill.”Steve Rusch, Sable Offshore corp. In repairing the former, corroded pipelines, the company is seeking to restart production of the Santa Ynez oil operation, which includes three offshore rigs, according to an investor presentation by the company. Operations stopped after the 2015 spill.   Sable had been excavating around the former pipelines and placing cement bags on the seafloor below its oil and water pipelines. The Coastal Commission’s fine levied against Sable is the highest ever levied against a company, according to a commission spokesperson. The commission voted to lower the $18 million fine to potentially just under $15 million if Sable complies with the state’s orders and applies for a coastal development permit. Beginning last year, commission staff charged the company with multiple violations of coastal laws, including unpermitted construction and excavation along a 14-mile oil pipeline on the Gaviota Coast, including areas offshore. The enforcement division of the commission said Sable undertook major work at multiple locations without securing the required coastal development permits. The company dug large pits, cleared vegetation, graded roads, placed concrete offshore among other work, according to a presentation by the staff today. In its presentation, commission staff said these actions went beyond routine maintenance and amounted to a full rebuild of the pipeline. Coastal Commission officials emphasized that the work posed serious risks to the environment, including wetlands and other sensitive habitats, potentially harming protected species, including western pond turtles and steelhead.  “The timing of the implemented development is particularly problematic, as much of this development has been during bird nesting season, as well as red-legged frog breeding season and Southern Steelhead migratory spawning season,” said Stephanie Cook, an attorney with the commission. “This work has a high potential to adversely impact these habitat areas.” The staff said it spent months trying to get Sable to cooperate but the company provided incomplete or misleading information. “The timing…is particularly problematic, as much of this development has been during bird nesting season, as well as red-legged frog breeding season and Southern Steelhead migratory spawning season.”Stephanie Cook, Coastal Commission Attorney Rusch, in a statement issued after the hearing, said the company is conducting routine pipeline repair and maintenance, and said the actions were allowed under old permits issued by Santa Barbara County. The work is taking place in areas already affected by previous construction and use, and the company says the state cannot override the county’s interpretation of its permits.  “Sable is dedicated to restarting project operations in a safe and efficient manner,” Rusch said in the statement. “No California business should be forced to go through a protracted and arbitrary permitting process when it already has valid permits for the work it performed.” However, the validity of the county permit for the pipeline is in dispute. The Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors in a February vote did not approve transferring the county permit to Sable, the new owner. The vote was 2-2, with one member abstaining because the pipeline runs through her property. County officials are still trying to decide their next step. One concern of county officials is whether Sable has the financial ability and adequate insurance to handle a major oil spill.  The pipeline dispute comes as the Trump administration moves to boost domestic oil and gas production while sidelining efforts to develop wind and solar.  Several workers who said they were affiliated with the company spoke out in support along with others who said the company would boost the local economy.  Evelyn Lynn, director of operations at Aspen Helicopters in Oxnard, said she supported Sable’s efforts because it would give her company a boost.“If they’re not allowed to start their efforts again, this will have huge collateral damage to all of our local businesses, and also to our company in particular, and all of our local people who live here,” Lynn said. “All of our employees are required to live in California. They are all local, and they are all affected.” The Coastal Commission’s permits are not the only step the company has to take to operate the pipeline. Multiple state agencies regulate pipelines, including the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Oil Spill and Prevention Response and the Office of the State Fire Marshal. Environmental groups have called for a full environmental review of the pipeline under the California Environmental Quality Act.  National environmental organizations such as the Center for Biological Diversity have weighed in, along with local advocates, to support the Coastal Commission. A group born out of the original Santa Barbara oil spill — the Environmental Defense Center — opposes the project and efforts to restart drilling. The Surfrider Foundation also launched a “Don’t Enable Sable” campaign, and several beachgoers spoke out against the project. Who should pay billions for climate disasters? California and others target Big Oil — will that work? March 3, 2025March 3, 2025 Legislature delays oil well monitoring by more than 3 years, restores funding August 31, 2024August 31, 2024

Business
Climate
Government

Trump’s EPA plans to stop collecting greenhouse gas emissions data from most polluters

Climate experts expressed shock and dismay at the move, likening it to turning off a patient's life support monitor

The Environmental Protection Agency is planning to eliminate long-standing requirements for polluters to collect and report their emissions of the heat-trapping gases that cause climate change. The move, ordered by a Trump appointee, would affect thousands of industrial facilities across the country, including oil refineries, power plants and coal mines as well as those that make petrochemicals, cement, glass, iron and steel, according to documents reviewed by ProPublica. The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Programdocuments the amount of carbon dioxide, methane and other climate-warming gases emitted by individual facilities. The data, which is publicly available, guides policy decisions and constitutes a significant portion of the information the government submits to the international body that tallies global greenhouse gas pollution. Losing the data will make it harder to know how much climate-warming gas an economic sector or factory is emitting and to track those emissions over time. This granularity allows for accountability, experts say; the government can’t curb the country’s emissions without knowing where they are coming from. “This would reduce the detail and accuracy of U.S. reporting of greenhouse gas emissions, when most countries are trying to improve their reporting,” said Michael Gillenwater, executive director of the Greenhouse Gas Management Institute. “This would also make it harder for climate policy to happen down the road.” The program has been collecting emissions data since at least 2010. Roughly 8,000 facilities a year now report their emissions to the program. EPA officials have asked program staff to draft a rule that will drastically reduce data collection. Under the new rule, its reporting requirements would only apply to about 2,300 facilities in certain sectors of the oil and gas industry. Climate experts expressed shock and dismay about the apparent decision to stop collecting most information on our country’s greenhouse gas emissions. “It would be a bit like unplugging the equipment that monitors the vital signs of a patient that is critically ill,” said Edward Maibach, a professor at George Mason University. “How in the world can we possibly manage this incredible threat to America’s well-being and humanity’s well-being if we’re not actually monitoring what we’re doing to exacerbate the problem?” The EPA did not address questions from ProPublica about the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program. Instead, the agency provided an emailed statement affirming the Trump administration’s commitment to “clean air, land, and water for EVERY American.” The agency announced last month that it was “reconsidering” the greenhouse gas reporting program. In a little-noticed press release issued on March 12, when the EPA sent out 24 bulletins as it celebrated the “most consequential day of deregulation in U.S. history,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin described the reporting program as “burdensome.” Zeldin also claimed that the program “costs American businesses and manufacturing millions of dollars, hurting small businesses and the ability to achieve the American Dream.” The loss of that data could have a devastating effect on the world’s ability to rein in the disastrous effects of the warming climate. Project 2025, the far-right blueprint for Trump’s presidency, suggested severely scaling back the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program and also described it as imposing burdens on small businesses. In contrast, climate experts say the EPA reporting program, which tallies between 85% and 90% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S., is in many ways a boon to businesses. “A lot of companies rely on the data and use it in their annual sustainability reports,” said Edwin LaMair, an attorney at the Environmental Defense Fund. Companies also use the data to demonstrate environmental progress to shareholders and to meet international reporting requirements. “If the program stops, all that valuable data will stop being generated,” LaMair said. The loss of that data could have a devastating effect on the world’s ability to rein in the disastrous effects of the warming climate, according to Andrew Light, who served as assistant secretary of energy for international affairs in the Biden administration. Light noted that addressing the dangerous and costly extreme weather events requires international collaboration — and that our failure to collect data could give other countries an excuse to abandon their own reporting. “We will not get to the kinds of temperature stabilization needed to protect Americans against the worst climate impacts unless we get the cooperation of developing countries,” Light said. “If the United States won’t even measure and report our own emissions, how in the world can we expect China, India, Indonesia and other major growing developing countries to do the same?” In its first months, the Trump administration has shown waning support for the reporting program. The EPA left the portal through which companies share data closed for several weeks and, in March, pushed back the emissions reporting deadline. Then last Friday, a meeting held with several program staff members raised further questions about the fate of future data collection, according to sources who were briefed on the meeting and asked not to be named for fear of retribution. At the meeting, political appointee Abigale Tardif, who is principal deputy assistant administrator of the EPA’s office of air and radiation, instructed staff to draft a rule that would eliminate reporting requirements for 40 of the 41 sectors that are now required to submit data to the program. Tardif did not respond to inquiries from ProPublica about this story. Political appointee Aaron Szabo, who was present at the meeting and is awaiting confirmation as assistant administrator to the office, declined to answer questions, directing a reporter to EPA communications staff. Before joining the EPA, Tardif and Szabo worked as lobbyists. Szabo represented the American Chemistry Council and Duke Energy among other companies and trade groups and Tardif worked for Marathon Petroleum and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers Association. Some climate advocates noted that industry stands to benefit from the elimination of greenhouse gas reporting requirements. “T​he bottom line is this is a giveaway to emitters, just letting them off the hook entirely,” said Rachel Cleetus, senior policy director with the Climate and Energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists. Cleetus derided the choice to stop documenting emissions as ostrich-like. “Not tracking the data doesn’t make the climate crisis any less real,” she said. “This is just putting our heads in the sand.” ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox. Read more about the environment

Climate
Business
CO2

What happens to the land after people are forced to retreat?

Managed retreat can be traumatic and hard. But with good planning, the land left behind can serve new purposes, and make public what was once private.

Christina Hanna, CC BY-SAOnce floodwaters subside, talk of planned retreat inevitably rises. Within Aotearoa New Zealand, several communities from north to south – including Kumeū, Kawatiri Westport and parts of Ōtepoti Dunedin – are considering future relocations while others are completing property buyouts and categorisations. Planned retreats may reduce exposure to harm, but the social and cultural burdens of dislocation from land and home are complex. Planning, funding and physically relocating or removing homes, taonga or assets – and even entire towns – is challenging. Internationally, research has focused on why, when and how planned retreats occur, as well as who pays. But we explore what happens to the places we retreat from. Our latest research examines 161 international case studies of planned retreat. We analysed what happens beyond retreat, revealing how land use has changed following withdrawal of human activities. We found a wide range of land use following retreat. In some cases, comprehensive planning for future uses of land was part of the retreat process. But in others we found a failure to consider these changing places. Planned retreats have happened in response to various climate and hazard risks, including sea-level rise and coastal erosion, tsunami, cyclones, earthquakes, floods and landslides. The case studies we investigated range from gradual transitions to sudden changes, such as from residential or business activities to conservation or vacant lands. In some cases, “sea change” is evident, where once dry land becomes foreshore and seabed. Through our research, we identified global “retreat legacies”. These themes demonstrate how communities across the world have sought similar outcomes, highlighting primary land-use patterns following retreat. Case studies reveal several themes in what happens to land after people withdraw. Hanna,C, White I,Cretney, R, Wallace, P, CC BY-SA Nature legacies The case studies show significant conversions of private to public land, with new nature and open-space reserves. Sites have been rehabilitated and floodplains and coastal ecosystems restored and reconnected. Open spaces are used for various purposes, including as nature, community, stormwater or passive recreational reserves. Some of these new zones may restrict structures or certain activities, depending on the risk. For example, due to debris flow hazard in Matatā in the Bay of Plenty, only transitory recreation or specific low-risk activities are allowed in the post-retreat environment because of the high risk to human life. Planning and investment in new open-space zones range from basic rehabilitation (grassed sites) to established parks and reserves, such as the Grand Forks riverfront greenway which borders rivers in the twin US cities of Grand Forks, North Dakota, and East Grand Forks, Minnesota. This area now hosts various recreational courses and connected trails as well as major flood protection measures. Project Twin Streams has transformed former residential sites to allow rivers to roam in the floodplain. Wikimedia Commons/Ingolfson, CC BY-SA Nature-based adaptations are a key function in this retreat legacy. For example, Project Twin Streams, a large-scale environmental restoration project in Waitakere, West Auckland, has transformed former residential sites into drainage reserves to make room for rivers in the floodplain. Importantly, not all retreats require significant land-use change. Continued farming, heritage preservation and cultural activities show that planned retreats are not always full and final withdrawals from a place. Instead, they represent an adapted relationship. While sensitive activities are relocated, other practices may remain, such as residents’ continued access to the old village of Vunidogoloa in Fiji for fishing and farming. Social and economic legacies Urban development in a small number of retreated sites has involved comprehensive spatial reorganisation, with planning for new urban esplanades, improved infrastructure and cultural amenities. One example is the comprehensive infrastructure masterplan for the Caño Martín Peña district in San Juan, Puerto Rico, which involves communities living along a tidal channel. The plan applied a community-first approach to retreat. It integrated infrastructure, housing, open space, flood mitigation and ecological planning. Alternatively, the decision to remove stopbanks and return the landscape to a “waterscape” can become a tourism feature, such as in the marshlands of the Biesbosch National Park in the Netherlands. A museum is dedicated to the transformed environment. The Biesbosch marshland nature reserve was created following historic flooding. Shutterstock/Rudmer Zwerver Where there was no post-retreat planning or site rehabilitation, ghost towns such as Missouri’s Pattonsburg leave eerie reminders of the costs of living in danger zones. Vacant and abandoned sites also raise environmental justice and ecological concerns about which retreat spaces are invested in and rehabilitated to avoid urban blight and environmental risks. Retreat sites may include landfills or contaminated land, requiring major site rehabilitation. The 12 case studies from Aotearoa New Zealand demonstrate a range of new land uses. These include new open-space reserves, the restoration of floodplains and coastal environments, risk mitigation and re-development, and protection measures such as stopbanks. Moving beyond retreat Our research highlights how planned retreats can create a transition in landscapes, with potential for a new sense of place, meaning and strategic adaptation. We found planned retreats have impacts beyond the retreat site, which reinforces the value of spatial planning. The definition and practices of “planned or managed retreat” must include early planning to account of the values and uses the land once had. Any reconfigurations of land and seascapes must imagine a future well beyond people’s retreat. Christina Hanna received funding from the national science challenge Resilience to Nature’s Challenges Kia manawaroa – Ngā Ākina o Te Ao Tūroa and from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's Endeavour Fund. Iain White received funding from the national science challenge Resilience to Nature’s Challenges Kia manawaroa – Ngā Ākina o Te Ao Tūroa, from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment's Endeavour Fund and from the Natural Hazards Commission Toka Tū Ake. He is New Zealand's national contact point for climate, energy and mobility for the European Union's Horizon Europe research program. Raven Cretney received funding from the national science challenge Resilience to Nature’s Challenges Kia manawaroa – Ngā Ākina o Te Ao Tūroa.Pip Wallace does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

Business
Climate
Conservation

US Regulators Finish Review of Hyundai Plant's Georgia Water Permit, Finding No Changes Needed

U.S. regulators have concluded a monthslong review of their environmental permit for Hyundai's $7.6 billion electric vehicle plant in Georgia, finding that no changes are needed

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — U.S. regulators have concluded a monthslong review of their environmental permit for Hyundai’s $7.6 billion electric vehicle plant in Georgia, finding that no changes are needed. The Army Corps of Engineers agreed to revisit the permit last August after a conservation group threatened to sue. The Ogeechee Riverkeeper group said the agency failed to consider potential impacts to the region's main drinking water supply from the factory using up to 6.6 million gallons (25 million liters) daily.No revisions to the site's federal permit are needed, the Army Corps said in a March 25 memo to the Georgia Department of Economic Development and local economic developers that applied for the Hyundai project’s 2022 permit."The impacts on the environment as a result of this permit have been evaluated and found to be insignificant,” the agency's memo said.The Army Corps said it determined the EV plant would have “a long-term minor effect” on the area’s drinking water supply. That conclusion differs from the wording federal regulators used when assessing the original permit in 2022, when they concluded water supply impacts would be “negligible.”Hyundai began producing EVs just six months ago at the sprawling manufacturing plant in Bryan County west of Savannah, with 1,200 employees working at the site. Hyundai executives celebrated the plant's opening last month by announcing plans to expand its production capacity by two-thirds to a total of 500,000 vehicles per year.The Army Corps permit obtained by state and local economic developers authorized the filling or dredging of 221 acres (89 hectares) of wetlands at the plant site just a few months after Hyundai announced plans to build its EV factory in May 2022.The initial permit application made no mention of how much water the 2,900-acre (1,170-hectare) factory would use. The riverkeeper group has said it is concerned the plant's consumption could divert water from wells used by area farmers, as well as streams and wetlands.Ben Kirsch, legal director for the Ogeechee Riverkeeper, said the group has requested additional records from the Army Corps to better understand its conclusions and the wording changes regarding water impacts. “We do not yet know what, if any, ramifications will come from that,” Kirsch said in a statement. "Until we review that decision document, we cannot offer substantive comments, but we continue to monitor actions around this permit closely.”Bianca Johnson, a spokesperson for Hyundai's Georgia plant, said the automaker had no comment.State and local officials who recruited Hyundai to Georgia praised the Army Corps for the “thoroughness” of its permit review. The Georgia Department of Economic Development and the Savannah area's Joint Development Authority said in a statement that they “remain dedicated to supporting industry and agriculture while protecting and preserving the environment.”Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - Feb. 2025

Water
Agriculture
Conservation

MIT students advance solutions for water and food with the help of J-WAFS

J-WAFS marks 10 years of supporting student engagement through grants, fellowships, events, mentorship, and funding for clubs.

For the past decade, the Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS) has been instrumental in promoting student engagement across the Institute to help solve the world’s most pressing water and food system challenges. As part of J-WAFS’ central mission of securing the world’s water and food supply, J-WAFS aims to cultivate the next generation of leaders in the water and food sectors by encouraging MIT student involvement through a variety of programs and mechanisms that provide research funding, mentorship, and other types of support.J-WAFS offers a range of opportunities for both undergraduate and graduate students to engage in the advancement of water and food systems research. These include graduate student fellowships, travel grants for participation in conferences, funding for research projects in India, video competitions highlighting students’ water and food research, and support for student-led organizations and initiatives focused on critical areas in water and food.As J-WAFS enters its second decade, it continues to expose students across the Institute to experiential hands-on water and food research, career and other networking opportunities, and a platform to develop their innovative and collaborative solutions.Graduate student fellowshipsIn 2017, J-WAFS inaugurated two graduate student fellowships: the Rasikbhai L. Meswani Fellowship for Water Solutions and the J-WAFS Graduate Student Fellowship Program. The Rasikbhai L. Meswani Fellowship for Water Solutions is a doctoral fellowship for students pursuing research related to water for human need at MIT. The fellowship is made possible by Elina and Nikhil Meswani and family. Each year, up to two outstanding students are selected to receive fellowship support for one academic semester. Through it, J-WAFS seeks to support distinguished MIT students who are pursuing solutions to the pressing global water supply challenges of our time. The J-WAFS Fellowship for Water and Food Solutions is funded by the J-WAFS Research Affiliate Program, which offers companies the opportunity to collaborate with MIT on water and food research. A portion of each research affiliate’s fees supports this fellowship.Aditya Avinash Ghodgaonkar, a PhD student in the Department of Mechanical Engineering (MechE), reflects on how receiving a J-WAFS graduate student fellowship positively impacted his research on the design of low-cost emitters for affordable, resilient drip irrigation for farmers: “My J-WAFS fellowship gave me the flexibility and financial support needed to explore new directions in the area of clog-resistant drip irrigation that had a higher risk element that might not have been feasible to manage on an industrially sponsored project,” Ghodgaonkar explains. Emitters, which control the volume and flow rate of water used during irrigation, often clog due to small particles like sand. Ghodgaonkar worked with Professor Amos Winter, and with farmers in resource-constrained communities in countries like Jordan and Morocco, to develop an emitter that is mechanically more resistant to clogging. Ghodgaonkar reports that their energy-efficient, compact, clog-resistant drip emitters are being commercialized by Toro and may be available for retail in the next few years. The opportunities and funding support Ghodgaonkar has received from J-WAFS contributed greatly to his entrepreneurial success and the advancement of the water and agricultural sectors.Linzixuan (Rhoda) Zhang, a PhD student advised by Professor Robert Langer and Principal Research Scientist Ana Jaklenec of the Department of Chemical Engineering, was a 2022 J-WAFS Graduate Student Fellow. With the fellowship, Zhang was able to focus on her innovative research on a novel micronutrient delivery platform that fortifies food with essential vitamins and nutrients. “We intake micronutrients from basically all the healthy food that we eat; however, around the world there are about 2 billion people currently suffering from micronutrient deficiency because they do not have access to very healthy, very fresh food,” Zhang says. Her research involves the development of biodegradable polymers that can deliver these micronutrients in harsh environments in underserved regions of the world. “Vitamin A is not very stable, for example; we have vitamin A in different vegetables but when we cook them, the vitamin can easily degrade,” Zhang explains. However, when vitamin A is encapsulated in the microparticle platform, simulation of boiling and of the stomach environment shows that vitamin A was stabilized. “The meaningful factors behind this experiment are real,” says Zhang. The J-WAFS Fellowship helped position Zhang to win the 2024 Collegiate Inventors Competition for this work.J-WAFS grant for water and food projects in IndiaJ-WAFS India Grants are intended to further the work being pursued by MIT individuals as a part of their research, innovation, entrepreneurship, coursework, or related activities. Faculty, research staff, and undergraduate and graduate students are eligible to apply. The program aims to support projects that will benefit low-income communities in India, and facilitates travel and other expenses related to directly engaging with those communities.Gokul Sampath, a PhD student in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, and Jonathan Bessette, a PhD student in MechE, initially met through J-WAFS-sponsored conference travel, and discovered their mutual interest in the problem of arsenic in water in India. Together, they developed a cross-disciplinary proposal that received a J-WAFS India Grant. Their project is studying how women in rural India make decisions about where they fetch water for their families, and how these decisions impact exposure to groundwater contaminants like naturally-occurring arsenic. Specifically, they are developing low-cost remote sensors to better understand water-fetching practices. The grant is enabling Sampath and Bessette to equip Indian households with sensor-enabled water collection devices (“smart buckets”) that will provide them data about fetching practices in arsenic-affected villages. By demonstrating the efficacy of a sensor-based approach, the team hopes to address a major data gap in international development. “It is due to programs like the Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab that I was able to obtain the support for interdisciplinary work on connecting water security, public health, and regional planning in India,” says Sampath.J-WAFS travel grants for water conferencesIn addition to funding graduate student research, J-WAFS also provides grants for graduate students to attend water conferences worldwide. Typically, students will only receive travel funding to attend conferences where they are presenting their research. However, the J-WAFS travel grants support learning, networking, and career exploration opportunities for exceptional MIT graduate students who are interested in a career in the water sector, whether in academia, nonprofits, government, or industry.Catherine Lu ’23, MNG ’24 was awarded a 2023 Travel Grant to attend the UNC Water and Health Conference in North Carolina. The conference serves as a curated space for policymakers, practitioners, and researchers to convene and assess data, scrutinize scientific findings, and enhance new and existing strategies for expanding access to and provision of services for water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). Lu, who studied civil and environmental engineering, worked with Professor Dara Entekhabi on modeling and predicting droughts in Africa using satellite Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) data. As she evaluated her research trajectory and career options in the water sector, Lu found the conference to be informative and enlightening. “I was able to expand my knowledge on all the sectors and issues that are related to water and the implications they have on my research topic.” Furthermore, she notes: “I was really impressed by the diverse range of people that were able to attend the conference. The global perspective offered at the conference provided a valuable context for understanding the challenges and successes of different regions around the world — from WASH education in schools in Zimbabwe and India to rural water access disparities in the United States … Being able to engage with such passionate and dedicated people has motivated me to continue progress in this sector.” Following graduation, Lu secured a position as a water resources engineer at CDM Smith, an engineering and construction firm.Daniela Morales, a master’s student in city planning in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, was a 2024 J-WAFS Travel Grant recipient who attended World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden. The annual global conference is organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute and convenes leading experts, decision-makers, and professionals in the water sector to actively engage in discussions and developments addressing critical water-related challenges. Morales’ research interests involve drinking water quality and access in rural and peri-urban areas affected by climate change impacts, the effects of municipal water shutoffs on marginalized communities, and the relationship between regional water management and public health outcomes. When reflecting on her experience at the conference, Morales writes: “Being part of this event has given me so much motivation to continue my professional and academic journey in water management as it relates to public health and city planning … There was so much energy that was collectively generated in the conference, and so many new ideas that I was able to process around my own career interests and my role as a future planner in water management, that the last day of the conference felt less like an ending and more of the beginning of a new chapter. I am excited to take all the information I learned to work towards my own research, and continue to build relationships with all the new contacts I made.” Morales also notes that without the support of the J-WAFS grant, “I would not have had the opportunity to make it to Stockholm and participate in such a unique week of water wisdom.”Seed grants and Solutions grantsJ-WAFS offers seed grants for early-stage research and Solutions Grants for later-stage research that is ready to move from the lab to the commercial world. Proposals for both types of grants must be submitted and led by an MIT principal investigator, but graduate students, and sometimes undergraduates, are often supported by these grants.Arjav Shah, a PhD-MBA student in MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering and the MIT Sloan School of Management, is currently pursuing the commercialization of a water treatment technology that was first supported through a 2019 J-WAFS seed grant and then a 2022 J-WAFS Solutions Grant with Professor Patrick Doyle. The technology uses hydrogels to remove a broad range of micropollutants from water. The Solutions funding enables entrepreneurial students and postdocs to lay the groundwork to commercialize a technology by assessing use scenarios and exploring business needs with actual potential customers. “With J-WAFS’ support, we were not only able to scale up the technology, but also gain a deeper understanding of market needs and develop a strong business case,” says Shah. Shah and the Solutions team have discovered that the hydrogels could be used in several real-world contexts, ranging from large-scale industrial use to small-scale, portable, off-grid applications. “We are incredibly grateful to J-WAFS for their support, particularly in fostering industry connections and facilitating introductions to investors, potential customers, and experts,” Shah adds.Shah was also a 2023 J-WAFS Travel Grant awardee who attended Stockholm World Water Week that year. He says, “J-WAFS has played a pivotal role in both my academic journey at MIT and my entrepreneurial pursuits. J-WAFS support has helped me grow both as a scientist and an aspiring entrepreneur. The exposure and opportunities provided have allowed me to develop critical skills such as customer discovery, financial modeling, business development, fundraising, and storytelling — all essential for translating technology into real-world impact. These experiences provided invaluable insights into what it takes to bring a technology from the lab to market.”Shah is currently leading efforts to spin out a company to commercialize the hydrogel research. Since receiving J-WAFS support, the team has made major strides toward launching a startup company, including winning the Pillar VC Moonshot Prize, Cleantech Open National Grand Prize, MassCEC Catalyst Award, and participation in the NSF I-Corps National Program.J-WAFS student video competitionsJ-WAFS has hosted two video competitions: MIT Research for a Water Secure Future and MIT Research for a Food Secure Future, in honor of World Water Day and Word Food Day, respectively. In these competitions, students are tasked with creating original videos showcasing their innovative water and food research conducted at MIT. The opportunity is open to MIT students, postdocs, and recent alumni.Following a review by a distinguished panel of judges, Vishnu Jayaprakash SM ’19, PhD ’22 won first place in the 2022 J-WAFS World Food Day Student Video Competition for his video focused on eliminating pesticide pollution and waste. Jayaprakash delved into the science behind AgZen-Cloak, a new generation of agricultural sprays that prevents pesticides from bouncing off of plants and seeping into the ground, thus causing harmful runoff. The J-WAFS competition provided Jayaprakash with a platform to highlight the universal, low-cost, and environmentally sustainable benefits of AgZen-Cloak. Jayaprakash worked on similar technology as a funded student on a J-WAFS Solutions grant with Professor Kripa Varanasi. The Solutions grant, in fact, helped Jayaprakash and Varanasi to launch AgZen, a company that deploys AgZen-Cloak and other products and technologies to control the interactions of droplets and sprays with crop surfaces. AgZen is currently helping farmers sustainably tend to their agricultural plots while also protecting the environment.  In 2021, Hilary Johnson SM ’18, PhD ’22, won first place in the J-WAFS World Water Day video competition. Her video highlighted her work on a novel pump that uses adaptive hydraulics for improved pump efficiency. The pump was part of a sponsored research project with Xylem Inc., a J-WAFS Research Affiliate company, and Professor Alex Slocum of MechE. At the time, Johnson was a PhD student in Slocum’s lab. She was instrumental in the development of the pump by engineering the volute to expand and contract to meet changing system flow rates. Johnson went on to later become a 2021-22 J-WAFS Fellow, and is now a full-time mechanical engineer at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.J-WAFS-supported student clubsJ-WAFS-supported student clubs provide members of the MIT student community the opportunity for networking and professional advancement through events focused on water and food systems topics.J-WAFS is a sponsor of the MIT Water Club, a student-led group that supports and promotes the engagement of the MIT community in water-sector-related activism, dissemination of information, and research innovation. The club allows students to spearhead the organization of conferences, lectures, outreach events, research showcases, and entrepreneurship competitions including the former MIT Water Innovation Prize and MIT Water Summit. J-WAFS not only sponsors the MIT Water Club financially, but offers mentorship and guidance to the leadership team.The MIT Food and Agriculture Club is also supported by J-WAFS. The club’s mission is to promote the engagement of the MIT community in food and agriculture-related topics. In doing so, the students lead initiatives to share the innovative technology and business solutions researchers are developing in food and agriculture systems. J-WAFS assists in the connection of passionate MIT students with those who are actively working in the food and agriculture industry beyond the Institute. From 2015 to 2022, J-WAFS also helped the club co-produce the Rabobank-MIT Food and Agribusiness Innovation Prize — a student business plan competition for food and agricultural startups.From 2023 onward, the MIT Water Club and the MIT Food and Ag Club have been joining forces to organize a combined prize competition: The MIT Water, Food and Agriculture (WFA) Innovation Prize. The WFA Innovation Prize is a business plan competition for student-led startups focused on any region or market. The teams present business plans involving a technology, product, service, or process that is aimed at solving a problem related to water, food, or agriculture. The competition encourages all approaches to innovation, from engineering and product design to policy and data analytics. The goal of the competition is to help emerging entrepreneurs translate research and ideas into businesses, access mentors and resources, and build networks in the water, food, and agriculture industries. J-WAFS offers financial and in-kind support, working with student leaders to plan, organize, and implement the stages of the competition through to the final pitch event. This year, J-WAFS is continuing to support the WFA team, which is led by Ali Decker, an MBA student at MIT Sloan, and Sam Jakshtis, a master’s student in MIT’s science in real estate development program. The final pitch event will take place on April 30 in the MIT Media Lab.“I’ve had the opportunity to work with Renee Robins, executive director of J-WAFS, on MIT’s Water, Food and Agriculture Innovation Prize for the past two years, and it has been both immensely valuable and a delight to have her support,” says Decker. “Renee has helped us in all areas of prize planning: brainstorming new ideas, thinking through startup finalist selection, connecting to potential sponsors and partners, and more. Above all, she supports us with passion and joy; each time we meet, I look forward to our discussion,” Decker adds.J-WAFS eventsThroughout the year, J-WAFS aims to offer events that will engage any in the MIT student community who are working in water or food systems. For example, on April 19, 2023, J-WAFS teamed up with the MIT Energy Initiative (MITEI) and the Environmental Solutions Initiative (ESI) to co-host an MIT student poster session for Earth Month. The theme of the poster session was “MIT research for a changing planet,” and it featured work from 11 MIT students with projects in water, food, energy, and the environment. The students, who represented a range of MIT departments, labs, and centers, were on hand to discuss their projects and engage with those attending the event. Attendees could vote for their favorite poster after being asked to consider which poster most clearly communicated the research problem and the potential solution. At the end of the night, votes were tallied and the winner of the “People’s Choice Award” for best poster was Elaine Liu ’24, an undergraduate in mathematics at the time of the event. Liu’s poster featured her work on managing failure cascades in systems with wind power.J-WAFS also hosts less-structured student networking events. For instance, during MIT’s Independent Activities Period (IAP) in January 2024, J-WAFS hosted an ice cream social for student networking. The informal event was an opportunity for graduate and undergraduate students from across the Institute to meet and mingle with like-minded peers working in, or interested in, water and food systems. Students were able to explain their current and future research, interests, and projects and ask questions while exchanging ideas, engaging with one another, and potentially forming collaborations, or at the very least sharing insights.Looking ahead to 10 more years of student impactOver the past decade, J-WAFS has demonstrated a strong commitment to empowering students in the water and food sectors, fostering an environment where they can confidently drive meaningful change and innovation. PhD student Jonathan Bessette sums up the J-WAFS community as a “one-of-a-kind community that enables essential research in water and food that otherwise would not be pursued. It’s this type of research that is not often the focus of major funding, yet has such a strong impact in sustainable development.”J-WAFS aims to provide students with the support and tools they need to conduct authentic and meaningful water and food-related research that will benefit communities around the world. This support, coupled with an MIT education, enables students to become leaders in sustainable water and food systems. As the second decade of J-WAFS programming begins, the J-WAFS team remains committed to fostering student collaboration across the Institute, driving innovative solutions to revitalize the world’s water and food systems while empowering the next generation of pioneers in these critical fields. 

Food
Water
Agriculture

Toilet to tap: El Paso is about to embark on a whole new way to save its limited water supply

El Paso’s dry climate — it rains just 9 inches annually — is one of the reasons the city has taken water management so seriously.

Subscribe to The Y’all — a weekly dispatch about the people, places and policies defining Texas, produced by Texas Tribune journalists living in communities across the state. This article is part of Running Out, an occasional series about Texas’ water crisis. Read more stories about the threats facing Texas’ water supply here. EL PASO — It all starts with a flush of a toilet. Wastewater travels underground through this arid city’s pipes to a wastewater treatment facility where it goes through multiple treatment steps to filter out contaminants. The next step is purification. Membranes filter out contaminants at high pressure. Ultraviolet light and chlorine disinfect the water. A dash of minerals is added. The end result? Clean drinking water. Behind this effort is El Paso Water, the utility that serves 220,000 homes, businesses and government agencies in far West Texas. The Pure Water Center, which is expected to be fully operational in 2028, is the agency's latest attempt to use every drop of water and make it drinkable — a solution the city sees as essential for its future. El Paso has become a national leader in water innovation — pioneering brackish groundwater desalination, wastewater reuse, and aggressive conservation efforts, according to water experts. Now, it's taking another step forward. This advanced water purification system will deliver 10 million gallons daily in a city that used roughly 105 million gallons per day last year. Some say it will be the first direct potable reuse, or “toilet-to-tap” facility in the country. Inside a primary clarifier, resembling petri-dish tanks, heavy solids and grease sink to the bottom and machines skim off particles at the top at the Roberto Bustamante Wastewater Treatment Plant in El Paso. Credit: Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribune Left: Sewage sludge from the Roberto Bustamante Wastewater Treatment Plant is dewatered before being trucked to and disposed of in open fields. Right: Treated water leaves the plant to be reused for irrigation in El Paso. Credit: Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribune Other cities have reused wastewater for drinking, including Big Springs. However, they send it to a reservoir or river where it blends with surface water and then treat it again before it reaches taps. El Paso’s facility will be the first to send purified water straight into the distribution system — pipe to pipe. Gilbert Trejo, vice president of operations and technical services at El Paso Water, said the utility gained public support and eased the “ick factor” by educating residents on how the project maximizes the city’s existing water supply. Related Story March 13, 2025 “A lot of cities pay money to bring water to their community through reservoirs or investing in water importation. We owe it to our customers to develop our current water,” Trejo said. As Texas faces mounting water challenges, with lawmakers searching for solutions to an impending water crisis — including transporting water from water-rich areas to dry ones through pipelines — some water experts say El Paso's approach could serve as a blueprint for other cities, especially those in West Texas, where communities get little to no rain and have limited water resources to tap into. El Paso, a city of nearly 679,000 people, occupies a unique geographic and hydrological position. Nestled in the far western corner of Texas, it sits at the headwaters of the Rio Grande within the state, where the river first enters Texas after flowing through Colorado and New Mexico. Just across the U.S. border lies Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, a city of about 1.5 million, and to the northwest the state of New Mexico. El Paso’s water challenges are deeply interconnected with its neighbors, making water management a complex balancing act between three governments and multiple agencies. Like much of the state, El Paso relies on two main water sources: groundwater from its aquifers and surface water. The city’s two underground aquifers, the Hueco Bolson and Mesilla Bolson supply about 55% of the city’s water supply. While the Rio Grande, fed by snowmelt from Colorado and stored in New Mexico’s Elephant Butte Reservoir before being released downstream to farmers and cities, supplies about 40% (in a year without drought). Both supplies are shrinking and becoming increasingly unreliable. Latest in the series: Running Out: Texas’ Water Crisis Loading content … Experts warn that this freshwater supply may only last a few more decades at current usage rates. Elephant Butte is at historic lows, sometimes holding just 6% of its capacity. The city’s surface water allotment, which last year was from March to October, is predicted to dwindle to about eight weeks this year. This has city leaders juggling as they determine how much water to suck out of its aquifers. While some border towns are just now beginning to face severe water constraints, El Paso has been grappling with that for decades. Unlike other parts of Texas, where massive reservoirs were built after the devastating drought of the 1950s to store rainwater for dry years, El Paso’s dry climate — where annual rainfall averages less than 9 inches — reservoirs have never been a viable option for El Paso. The Rio Grande supplies about 40% of El Paso’s water supply. Experts worry that freshwater supply will only last a few more decades at current usage rates. Credit: Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribune Shane Walker, director of the Water and the Environment Research Center at Texas Tech University said El Paso has become one of the most progressive water utilities in the country. “They're always thinking ahead. They're thinking 50 years or even 100 years down the road,” Walker said. “There are so many other water utilities that benefit from El Paso Water leadership because they're willing to to spend the extra work to figure things out the first time.” El Paso became a leader out of need Inside the utility’s water center, or TecH2O, there’s a timeline of the city’s water history. A black and white photo from 1892 shows the city’s first water supply plant — a small building and water pipe bursting with water flowing into a canal. In the early 1900s, the city relied almost entirely on groundwater from the Hueco and Mesilla Bolsons. As the population grew, city leaders recognized that groundwater alone wouldn’t be enough. In the 1920s, the Rio Grande Project was developed to manage and distribute river water each year for irrigation. Again, there was still not enough. El Paso’s pioneering efforts in water reuse began in the 1960s, when the city started using treated wastewater for irrigation. By the 1980s, the Fred Hervey Water Reclamation Plant was treating wastewater to drinking water standards using ozone disinfection — one of the earliest examples of advanced water reclamation in the country. That treated wastewater was used to replenish the aquifer. (Today it’s sold to El Paso Electric Company for cooling towers, and used to water a golf course, parks and a cemetery in the city.) In the 1990s, El Paso expanded its recycled water program with a purple pipe system that delivered treated wastewater for irrigation and industrial use. Within that same decade, the city also launched conservation rebate and incentive programs, including a toilet rebate program that offered a $50 rebate per toilet, up to two toilets per household, for customers who purchase water-efficient toilets that use 1.28 gallons per flush, as opposed to older toilets that use as much as six gallons per flush. “This time was a massive change in the way people thought about water and used water,” said Jennifer Barr, the utility's water conservation manager. As the city’s water challenges intensified, El Paso continued to diversify its water portfolio. In 2007, it opened the Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant, a large inland desalination facility capable of producing at max capacity 27.5 million gallons of fresh water daily from brackish groundwater. The city has also embraced aquifer recharge, storing treated water underground for future use. It also reuses treated wastewater for irrigation or to replenish and maintain the Rio Bosque Wetlands, a 372-acre nature preserve located near the U.S.-Mexico border along the Rio Grande. Jennifer Barr, TecH20 Center’s water conservation manager, says the center hosts educational field trips for students where they learn about how to reduce their water consumption. Credit: Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribune Left: An exhibit depicting the water reclamation in El Paso at the TecH20 conference and learning center. Right: Painted Dunes Desert Golf Course receives water treated by the Fred Hervey Water Reclamation Plant. Credit: Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribune The city has also secured additional water rights from nearby Dell City. However, treating and transporting the water 90 miles to the city will be expensive. The water from the city would need to be desalinated. Since the 1990s, the utility has delivered more than 180,000 acre-feet of recycled water for irrigation and industrial use, helping to reduce the amount of groundwater pumped from aquifers. That’s enough to supply water to 1 million Texans for a year. Recycled water — 80,000 acre feet — has also been used to recharge the Hueco Bolson Aquifer. Meanwhile, the city's conservation programs have cut water use by 40% since the 1970s. Without these efforts, the utility estimates it would need to produce an additional 35,000 acre-feet of water each year to meet current demand. Although the city has a drought contingency plan in place to manage water shortages, it hasn’t implemented mandatory water restrictions since 2003 — when a severe river drought forced residents to limit outdoor watering to once a week. What can the state learn from these water leaders? Generations of El Pasoans have developed what Trejo, with the water utility, calls a “high water IQ,” shaped by constant drought and the unpredictable Rio Grande. Many grew up with the utility’s smiling mascot, Willie the Waterdrop, which some residents remember from when they were young. “The generation that grew up having to be very water conscious are now the adults in the room,” Trejo said, which he sees as an opportunity. This long-standing awareness helped El Paso gain public acceptance for its new toilet-to-tap project. More than a decade ago, El Paso Water launched an outreach campaign, training employees to deliver a clear, informative pitch. They put together a 30-minute presentation that walked residents through the city’s history of water reuse, explained why the next step was necessary, and broke down the advanced treatment process. Over the course of a year, the utility visited 30 community organizations, including neighborhood associations, rotary clubs, and news media outlets. The discussions weren’t one-on-one but held in group settings, where residents could ask questions and voice concerns. The timing helped. The region was just coming off the severe 2013 drought when El Paso had only six weeks of surface water left and had to ask residents to cut back. That fresh memory underscored the need to prepare for the future, according to the utility’s spokesperson. The Pure Water Center broke ground earlier this year and may be the nation's first direct potable use system or "toilet-to-tap" facility. Credit: Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribune The utility’s message was simple: “toilet-to-tap” was a logical next step. By the time the project moved forward, the groundwork had already been laid for community buy-in. An initial survey in 2013 showed 84% of residents approved the concept — proof, Trejo says, that years of public education paid off. While “toilet-to-tap” may sound unappealing, utility experts emphasize that advanced treatment removes pharmaceuticals, forever chemicals and other contaminants, with multiple safeguards built in. The water from the resident's sink, shower or toilet is so thoroughly purified that minerals are added back for taste. The state’s environmental regulator, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, authorized El Paso Water to begin construction of the advanced purification facility in October 2024. The utility broke ground earlier this year. As water supplies dwindle nationwide, other cities are watching. Two Arizona cities are already exploring similar systems. “When you're the first one to do something novel and unique, it's a pain in the butt,” Robert Mace, executive director of the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment at Texas State University, said. “But once that first entity goes through and figures it all out, it becomes easier for everyone else.” El Paso isn’t the first Texas city to attempt direct potable reuse. Big Spring in West Texas became the first in the U.S. to treat wastewater for drinking in 2013, blending the purified water with raw water before sending it to a treatment plant. Wichita Falls implemented a temporary system during a severe drought in 2014. Several other Texas cities, including San Marcos, Buda, and Marble Falls, are looking to implement direct reuse projects as part of their water supply planning for the future, according to Mace. Trejo says this approach offers a smarter alternative to expensive new reservoirs or water pipelines. Gilbert Trejo, vice president of operations and technical services at El Paso Water, stands in front of 72 RO membranes at the Kay Bailey Desalination Plant in El Paso. The membranes clean salty water and make it drinkable. Credit: Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribune Left: El Paso Water's mascot, Willie the Waterdrop, stands behind a stack of applications offering cash to residents who replace their toilets with high efficiency models. Right: Jessiel Acosta tests the water hardness of the raw water feeding into the Kay Bailey Hutchison Desalination Plant. Credit: Justin Hamel for The Texas Tribune “Everything is about recycling — except water? If we’re investing in desalination, why not reuse what we already have?” he said. At a state level, Trejo said he is disappointed that water recycling is not more part of the water strategy discussions at the Capitol. Lawmakers are expected to pledge billions of dollars to save the state’s water supply. Most of the conversation has been around what water experts call “new water supply.” That includes desalination or the process of removing salt from seawater or brackish groundwater to make the water drinkable. Another strategy: constructing pipelines to transport water from the water-rich regions of Texas to arid, drought-stricken areas. Some worry that other water strategies, like what El Paso is doing, will get left out of the funding. “Communities will need to have funding,” Trejo said. “If the state is not going to include water recycling in the discussion, it will affect us greatly.” The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation awarded El Paso $3.5 million in 2019 for the facility’s design. It later committed an additional $20 million in 2022 to support construction. The total project cost is currently estimated at $295 million. The utility says it continues to pursue additional state and federal funding. According to recommendations in the state water plan, Texas could rely on direct potable reuse for 62,000 acre-feet per year by 2070 — enough to supply 372,000 people annually. The money is important. But it won’t solve every crisis. El Paso has approached water management with preparation rather than panic. That steady, forward-looking mindset has helped build the trust with the public needed to take bold steps driven by vision, not desperation. Trejo’s advice to other utilities: Start preparing now. Disclosure: El Paso Electric Company and Texas Tech University have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here. Tickets are on sale now for the 15th annual Texas Tribune Festival, Texas’ breakout ideas and politics event happening Nov. 13–15 in downtown Austin. Get tickets before May 1 and save big! TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.

Water
Climate
Chemicals

Oops, we accidentally drugged the world’s fish

For those of us with anxiety (hello!), the class of prescription drugs known as benzodiazepines, or benzos, can be a boon in times of crisis. Though they are addictive, they’re pretty good at chilling us out.  But it turns out that by drugging ourselves with these pills, we are inadvertently drugging wild animals as well. […]

Michelangeli, a study coauthor, releases young salmon into the river as part of the experiment. | Owen Humphreys/PA Images via Getty Images For those of us with anxiety (hello!), the class of prescription drugs known as benzodiazepines, or benzos, can be a boon in times of crisis. Though they are addictive, they’re pretty good at chilling us out.  But it turns out that by drugging ourselves with these pills, we are inadvertently drugging wild animals as well. Especially the ones that live in water.  Our bodies don’t absorb 100 percent of the drugs we ingest, so traces of them end up in the toilet. And because sewage treatment plants usually can’t filter them all out, those compounds ultimately end up where treated sewage is released — in rivers, lakes, and coastal habitats.  This means that fish and other aquatic critters that live in these environments are, for better or worse, exposed to our meds. Basically fish are on drugs — our drugs. What, exactly, does that mean for wildlife? That’s what a relatively new field of research is trying to figure out. And a study just published in the journal Science offers some compelling clues.  The authors gave young Atlantic salmon in Sweden a dose of clobazam — a benzo used to treat seizures and anxiety that’s often found in wastewater — equal to what some fish might naturally be exposed to in streams. Then they monitored what the drug did to the fish as they migrated, as young salmon do, from a river out to the Baltic Sea.  Remarkably, the study found that more of the salmon on benzos made it out to sea than those that were drug-free, perhaps because they were more likely to survive the journey. The clobazam fish also passed through obstacles along the way — two hydropower dams — at a faster clip.  These results highlight a strange irony: Humans have made the world more stressful for all kinds of animals by, for example, destroying their habitat and damming up rivers. At the same time, we’re flooding the environment with mood-changing meds. Is that somehow helping them cope?  Our meds are their meds Pretty much everywhere scientists look for drugs in the water, they find them. Caffeine. Metformin. Antidepressants. Antibiotics. Birth control. Tylenol. Basically, if we use a lot of them, they’re part of aquatic habitats.  Thankfully, they appear in low enough doses that if you, say, chug a glass of river water those chemicals are not likely to affect you (again, for better or worse). Most fish, however, are much smaller. And previous research shows that these micro-doses can influence them in serious ways. A seminal 2007 study, for example, showed that small amounts of synthetic estrogen — a common ingredient in birth control that often makes its way into the environment — can “feminize” male minnows. This means they can produce early-stage eggs in their testes, essentially becoming intersex. That ultimately impairs their ability to mate and can, as the study showed, cause fish populations to collapse.  Researchers have also shown that male fish exposed to estrogen struggle to build nests and put on courtship displays for females. Trace levels of antidepressants, like fluoxetine (Prozac) and sertraline (Zoloft) affect fish behavior, too — sometimes in bizarre ways. I came across one study linking fluoxetine exposure to larger “gonopodium” size. That’s basically a fish penis. The drug can also “increase male coercive mating behavior,” the authors wrote.  A study on sertraline, meanwhile, suggests the drug can make fish less anxious and more likely to take risks and explore. Some research on the benzo oxazepam has similarly been shown to make fish bolder.   Oh, and I also found some interesting experiments with metformin, which is used to treat Type 2 diabetes and thus one of the most widespread drugs in wastewater. A 2018 paper suggests that when Siamese fighting fish — like the betta fish you can buy at pet stores — are exposed to levels of metformin that have been found in the environment, they become less aggressive. Fighting fish, fighting less! “Subjects exhibited less aggression toward a male dummy stimulus,” the authors wrote.  Over the last two decades scientists have turned up plenty of evidence that drugs in our wastewater alter the lives and behavior of fish (and some other animals). The problem is that most of these studies are done in labs, in fish tanks, and not in the wild. So they don’t tell us much about what this means for animals in the real world, many of which are threatened with extinction, including some populations of Atlantic salmon.   That’s what makes this new study so useful — and frankly, impressive.  More drugged salmon make it out to sea Atlantic salmon, if I may say, live remarkable lives. They’re born in freshwater streams and then, as young, go through a number of physical transformations before migrating to the salty ocean in a process that can cover thousands of miles. After living their lives at sea for a year or more, they’ll swim back up river — typically in the same river they were born in, relying on some magical-sounding navigation skills — to have babies and produce the next salmon generation.  Even in historic times, this life was probably stressful. All that travel. Swimming through rivers full of predators. Yikes! Humans have only made it harder. We’ve installed dams that fish have to navigate; there are more than 7,600 dams in Sweden alone. We’ve heated up the ocean and streams, which can deprive salmon of oxygen. We fish the hell out of them. And of course, we’ve polluted their habitat.  Key, here, is that some of that pollution consists of drugs specifically designed to make humans less anxious. Authors of the new study wanted to figure out whether they might have a related effect on fish — and, importantly, what that means for their arduous journey.  The researchers’ methods were somewhat bizarre: They collected dozens of young wild salmon from a hatchery along the Dalälven, a river in Sweden, and inserted medical implants into their flesh. Some of those implants slowly released drugs — including the benzo clobazam — at a level akin to what they might be exposed to in the wild. (The researchers didn’t detect clobazam in this particular river.) Other implants were essentially placebos, meaning they didn’t release anything.  The team also performed surgeries on the fish to insert miniature devices that emit sound; those sounds can be picked up by underwater microphones that were placed along the river to track each individual fish. (How do you do surgery on a fish? You sedate it and run water over their gills while you’re operating.) Then they released the fish back into the river — which has two hydropower dams downstream — and tracked their journey to sea.  As they discovered, the fish drugged with clobazam were more likely to make it to sea compared to those that were drug-free. It’s likely that more of the undrugged salmon died on their journey or were otherwise slowed down, said Jack Brand, the study’s lead author and a researcher at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.  This might be because the benzos made the fish less social — less likely to school in the face of predators — and more likely to take risks, he said. Those traits can be helpful for navigating downstream. Solitary fish tend to move faster, Brand told me. And with benzos in their system, they may be less afraid to swim through a dam.  “These drugs can be used in humans as anti-stress drugs,” Brand said. “You can imagine passing through a hydropower dam — these are big dams with big turbines — is a fairly stressful event for a small fish. And usually what you find is that lots of predators hang around these areas. Maybe it’s helping the fish recover from stress faster.” Outside experts I talked to mostly agree with his interpretation — that the clobazam likely made the fish less risk-averse. “It probably was because they were more bold than the other fish, which were kind of shy and hanging together,” said James Meador, an affiliate professor at the University of Washington who has spent years studying how pollutants affect fish. He was not involved with the research. “Even in the presence of predators, I guess they really weren’t too concerned.”  This is pretty wild to think about. When these fish encounter stressful situations, trace levels of human anti-anxiety medications — which are, to be clear, pollution — may be sort of chilling them out. So, drugs: good?  Are drugged salmon better off?  At face value, it seems like a little dose of clobazam can help these fish out with their stressful lives, not unlike it may do for some of us. But, as I was told, that is very clearly the wrong takeaway.  “We think that any changes to natural behavior are likely to have potential negative consequences,” Brand said. Such as?  Fish on clobazam are less likely to school, or group together, which is an anti-predator response. So even though they appear better at navigating the river — and less likely to be eaten during their seaward migration — it’s possible that they may be more prone to getting killed at sea. We just don’t know. (Some past research shows that young salmon exposed to a much higher dose of a different benzo — oxazepam — were more likely to be eaten by predators during their downstream migration.) “The definition of pollution is that it causes harm,” said Karen Kidd, an ecotoxicologist at McMaster University in Canada who was not involved in the new Science study. “There are still many unknowns, such as whether it influences their survival in the ocean or their ability to return to spawn in the river as adults.” In other words, while it’s not clear exactly how clobazam is shaping salmon populations, it is influencing the complex behavior of a species — and its relationships in a food web balanced by millennia. That alone is cause for concern: It’s another way we’re messing with nature. And clobazam is just one of the thousands of prescription drugs worldwide.  That leads me to the last point: We’re pumping out more and more chemicals every year and scientists still don’t understand how most of them — there are tens if not hundreds of thousands — affect the natural world.  “If society values clean water, then we need to understand the consequences of chemicals that we put in the natural world,” said Bryan Brooks, an environmental scientist at Baylor University, who was not involved with the new research. The bottom line, he added, is that “if we put stuff in the environment, we need to understand what happens to it.” Today roughly a quarter of freshwater wildlife is in decline and at risk of extinction. Most of the threats they face are visible — dams, the destruction of habitat, invasive species. Our drugs are almost certainly another serious threat, though it’s one we can’t see and poorly understood. “Pharmaceutical pollution, or chemical pollution in general, is really this invisible agent of global change,” Brand said. “It’s probably posing a greater risk than at least what the public acknowledges. This is a potentially significant threat to our aquatic wildlife.”

Animals
Crisis
Extinction

Greenpeace Activists Arrested in London After Red Dye Poured Into US Embassy Pond

Six people have been arrested in London after environmental activists from Greenpeace poured 300 liters (79 gallons) of blood-red dye into the U.S. embassy’s pond in protest against arms sales to Israel

LONDON (AP) — Police in London arrested six people on Thursday after environmental activists from Greenpeace poured 300 liters (79 gallons) of blood-red dye into a pond in front of the U.S. Embassy in a protest against arms sales to Israel.The Metropolitan Police said the six people had been arrested on suspicion of criminal damage and conspiracy to cause criminal damage. It added that there was “no breach or attempted breach of the secure perimeter” of the embassy building, as the pond was accessible via a public footpath.Greenpeace U.K. said 12 of its activists tipped “non-toxic, biodegradable dye from containers emblazoned with the words Stop Arming Israel” into the pond.In a statement, the independent global campaigning network said its U.K. co-executive director, Will McCallum, was among those arrested after the protest, which was aimed at highlighting "the death and devastation caused in Gaza as a direct result of the U.S.’s continued sale of weapons to Israel.”It said the containers of dye were delivered to the embassy on bicycles with trailers disguised as delivery bikes.The embassy said the protest had “damaged a 1.5 million gallon (4.5 million liters) water supply on the property, wasting a local environmental resource."Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - Feb. 2025

Activism
Water

Company Says Thousands of Gallons of Oil Have Been Recovered From a Pipeline Spill in North Dakota

Workers have recovered thousands of gallons of crude oil from an underground pipeline spill on North Dakota farmland

South Bow is still investigating the cause of the spill Tuesday along its pipeline near Fort Ransom, North Dakota, about 60 miles (97 kilometers) southwest of Fargo, the company said.The spill released an estimated 3,500 barrels, or 147,000 gallons of oil, onto farmland. The company said 700 barrels, or 29,400 gallons, have been recovered so far. More than 200 workers are on-site as part of the cleanup and investigation. South Bow has not set a timeline for restarting the 2,689-mile (4,327 kilometers) pipeline, which stretches from Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Illinois, Oklahoma and Texas. The company said it “will only resume service with regulator approvals.”South Bow is working with the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the state Department of Environmental Quality.Continuous monitoring of air quality hasn't indicated any adverse health or public concerns, South Bow said.The site remains busy, said Myron Hammer, a nearby landowner who farms the land affected by the spill. Workers have been bringing in mats to the field so equipment can access the site, and lots of equipment is being assembled, he said.The area has traffic checkpoints, and workers have been hauling gravel to maintain the roads, Hammer said.There is a cluster of homes in the area, and residents include retirees and people who work in nearby towns, he said. But the spill site is not in a heavily populated area, Hammer said.Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Photos You Should See - Feb. 2025

Health

Maryland’s sweeping new energy legislation is a mixed bag for climate

Maryland just passed a raft of energy legislation designed to curb rising utility bills and boost in-state power generation. The reaction from climate advocates was mixed. On the one hand, advocates lauded steps to limit gas infrastructure investments, streamline the community solar build-out, install more battery…

Maryland just passed a raft of energy legislation designed to curb rising utility bills and boost in-state power generation. The reaction from climate advocates was mixed. On the one hand, advocates lauded steps to limit gas infrastructure investments, streamline the community solar build-out, install more battery storage, and remove renewable-energy subsidies for trash incinerators. But they’re also wary of recently passed legislation that expedites new gas and nuclear power plants. Environmental groups had pushed back on those measures, arguing the energy sources could raise costs for consumers and run counter to the state’s ambitious climate goals. The policies accomplished ​“some really good things for lowering bills and protecting ratepayers, but we’re going to have to watch the implementation very closely to ensure that this keeps us in line with climate goals,” said Brittany Baker, Maryland director at the nonprofit Chesapeake Climate Action Network. The three energy bills passed Monday are now headed to Democratic Gov. Wes Moore’s desk for signing. The largest is the Next Generation Energy Act, which cobbled together provisions from various bills introduced throughout the legislative session — many of which take steps to reduce carbon emissions and lower residential energy bills, clean energy advocates said. For one, the bill sets up a process for the state to install up to 1.75 gigawatts of battery storage and disqualifies waste-to-energy plants from receiving subsidies through the state’s renewable portfolio standard. A separate bill will accelerate community solar development and limit the ability of local governments to block certain solar projects. Lawmakers also took historic action to rein in utility rate hikes and protect ratepayers. Last year, a report by the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel found that growing gas and electric bills were largely driven by multiyear rate hikes and a 2013 state law that allows gas utilities to recoup pipeline-replacement costs up front through a monthly surcharge on bills. That law ​“created a financial incentive to replace gas lines,” said Susan Stevens Miller, senior attorney at the nonprofit Earthjustice. ​“Sadly, it created too much of an incentive,” causing utilities to replace pipelines unnecessarily to earn the guaranteed return on their investment. The Next Generation Energy Act takes aim at both issues by requiring gas companies to demonstrate ​“customer benefits” and cost-effectiveness when spending on pipelines under the 2013 law, and setting stricter standards for utility regulators to approve multiyear rate plans. The legislation also prohibits utilities from charging customers for membership dues to trade associations that engage in lobbying, like the American Gas Association and Edison Electric Institute, and for private jets. Maryland joins a growing wave of states that have introduced laws to prevent utilities from recovering lobbying costs and luxury expenses from customers. Overall, these protections ​“will save Marylanders hundreds of millions of dollars,” said Emily Scarr, senior advisor at the Maryland Public Interest Research Group, in a statement.

Climate
Energy
Waste

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