Entries by Keith Schneider

Water and Climate Safety, Finance Security, Drive Keystone XL Conflict

/in , , /by

Nebraska is again a battleground over tar sands oil pipeline. By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue On January 24, President Donald Trump made good on a “Day One” campaign pledge to assist America’s oil producers. Trump signed one executive order that commanded the Army Corps of Engineers to issue an easement for the Dakota Access […]

Gina Lopez, Philippine Environment Secretary, Pursues Watershed Protection

/in , , , /by

Clear goals to enforce pollution laws jeopardize the new secretary’s job.

Choke Point: Tamil Nadu

/in /by

New reporting project describes how drought, storms, and floods are forcing big Indian state to contend with severe water stress. By Keith Schneider Circle of Blue TUTICORIN, INDIA — Among the 75 government ministries that manage and regulate this bewitching and impassioned nation, there is no Ministry of the Future. There should be. Narendra Modi, […]

Perspective: The Age of Disruption Powers a Global Awakening

/in /by

By Keith Schneider CHENNAI, INDIA — The last time I can recall a civic awakening as big, gallant, and well-intentioned as the mammoth demonstrations that occurred here in the capital of Tamil Nadu, and in American cities last weekend, I’d just turned 14 years old. On April 22, 1970 the United States celebrated the first […]

World Bank Loan to India Leads to Water-Damaging Projects

/in /by

Report finds that a generation after withdrawing big loan for hydro project the World Bank is back with indirect financing. By Keith Schneider Circle of Blue In the pantheon of public campaigns to block big hydropower projects around the world, the fight to stop the Sardar Sarovar dam in India belongs in the hall of […]

Water Safety Activism in Rural Red States Impedes Fossil Energy Development

/in /by

Opposition to a big pipeline in Kentucky is a case in point. By Keith Schneider Circle of Blue BEREA, KY — President-elect Donald J. Trump’s aggressive and unorthodox election campaign included a pledge to dismantle impediments to the speedy development of America’s reserves of fossil fuels. In pursuit of that goal, Trump this week named […]

At Standing Rock – Water, History, and Finance Converge As Sioux Nation Mounts Storied Battle Over Dakota Access Pipeline

/in , /by

Oil pipeline could be stranded asset in the making. By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue Heavy snow and winter cold settled this month on thousands of Native Americans and their supporters encamped on the banks of the Cannonball River, some 30 miles south of Bismarck, North Dakota. Nearby, the Missouri River slipped past. The river’s […]

In Water-Scarce Regions Desalination Plants Are Risky Investments

/in /by

Four big plants in Australia are stranded assets.   By Keith Schneider Circle of Blue Earlier this year, during India’s deepest drought in decades, local authorities in central Maharashtra reported the highest rainfall deficit in the country. Water levels behind dams dropped so far that reservoirs had bathtub rings of dried sand and mud. Puddles […]

Financiers Express Concern About Missouri River Pipeline Crossing

/in , /by

Conflict over water supplies and land makes investors nervous This story was updated on November 18, to reflect DNB bank leaders announcement that they sold a $US 3 million stake in the pipeline’s builder. By Keith Schneider Circle of Blue Executives of Energy Transfer Partners, builders of the Dakota Access Pipeline, expressed a sigh of […]

Protests Over Water Safety, Bank Financing Rock Bangladesh Coal Plants

/in /by

Rampal coal-fired generating station is defended by government, opposed by UN, and assailed by Bangladesh citizens. By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue In 2010, when Bangladesh drew up its Power Sector Master Plan to develop thousands of new megawatts of coal-fired electricity, the government also bought 742 hectares (1,834 acres) of bottomland along the Passur River. […]

World Bank Tribunal Rules Against El Salvador Gold Mine Involved in Water Conflict

/in /by

El Dorado decision, seven years in the making, raises risk of stranding big infrastructure projects. By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue When eastern El Salvador’s deep veins of gold, silver, and copper were first identified in the 1960s, the global mining industry operated under accepted rules of exploration that gave scant attention to water supply and […]