Water Resources

Leadership Grant Grant

Supporting Wetlands Managers

The Association of State Wetland Managers received a $40,000 Leadership grant to hire Dr. Brenda Zollitsch in a new staff position of Policy Analyst. Brenda, a recent PhD graduate from the University of Southern Maine's Muskie School of...
January 22, 2014
Fellow Story

Hansen says 'everything' in response to West Virginia water crisis worrisome

In addition to multiple concerns related to the CDC’s safety standards, methodology, and transparency, Hansen said he feels much of the blame falls on the state and the long history of lax oversight this incident exposed.
January 20, 2014
Fellow Story

Hansen's tweets on water safety in West Virginia picked up by local media

Evan Hansen, an environmental consultant with the Morgantown firm Downstream Strategies, has been wondering for several days about whether the health studies and water-sampling efforts included the other constituents of Crude MCHM. Posting his thoughts on Twitter, Hansen said the distinction between the two substances is important. "Are water tests in area being done for all constituents of Crude MCHM or just for 4-MCHM," Hansen posted. Read more
January 20, 2014
Fellow Story

Hall says tropical forests mitigate extreme weather events

"Our project aims to clearly quantify environmental services such as water flow, carbon storage and biodiversity conservation that decision makers will consider as they evaluate projects from forest restoration to watershed management," said Jefferson Hall, Smithsonian staff scientist and project director. Read more
January 17, 2014
Fellow Story

Mapping tool, policy analysis of West Virginia crisis

From 1996 Switzer Fellow Evan Hansen, whose West Virginia-based firm Downstream Strategies offers environmental consulting services with a core belief in the importance of protecting the environment and linking economic development with natural resource stewardship:
January 17, 2014
Fellow Story

Responding to crisis in West Virginia, organizing relief effort

From 2000 Switzer Fellow Jen Osha, who is coordinating an effort to bring bottled water to West Virginia residents whose water supply was contaminated by the chemical leak at Freedom Industries last week:
January 16, 2014
Fellow Story

Mulvaney edits multimedia Green Atlas

This reference resource, in atlas format, is an online-only compendium of maps and data sets accompanied by multimedia elements designed to illustrate key concepts in green issues and environmentalism graphically and interactively. Topics for the maps presented in this work were selected from articles in the 12-volume SAGE Reference Series on Green Society: Toward a Sustainable Future. Each map includes links to one or more of the series articles. Maps include interactive components, with clickable icons to deliver the data and statistics that make up each map.
January 16, 2014
Fellow Story

Heimsath offering course on effects of climate change on world's water supply

GLG 108 Water Planet, a class created by professors Kelin Whipple and Arjun Heimsath in ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration, answers these questions and dives more deeply into how climate change could affect the world’s already strained water supply. “Water is precious, limited and can be severely impacted by both climate change and humans,” Heimsath said. Read more
January 6, 2014
Fellow Story

Wolf and Morello-Frosch sign fracking ban letter to Governor Brown

We believe that the process of unconventional fossil fuel development including shale tight oil and gas development in the Monterey Shale formation using hydraulic fracturing, acidization, and other forms of well stimulation will exacerbate many of these environmental threats, particularly climate disruption, local air and water pollution, and resource consumption. Thus, the decisions you make about the development of unconventional oil and gas production from shale in California will hold important consequences for California and the state’s future.
November 28, 2013
Fellow Story

Hansen testifies on lack of data on gas drilling waste disposal in West Virginia

A 2011 law has provided new information about what natural gas companies are doing with the huge amounts of waste generated by West Virginia's drilling boom, but major data gaps remain, a legislative committee heard Tuesday. Evan Hansen, president of the consulting firm Downstream Strategies, said the state requires drilling operators to report what they do with only about 38 percent of the waste they produce.
November 22, 2013