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The 90 Day Plan

Saturday, April 3, 2010

Tampa Bay Desalination Plant Achieves Performance Milestones

Tampa Bay Water and American Water-Acciona Agua hit 25 MGD for 4 months mark, 20 MGD for 12 months

CLEARWATER, Fla., Feb 26, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Tampa Bay Water, American Water /quotes/comstock/13*!awk/quotes/nls/awk (AWK 21.81, 0.00, 0.00%) , and Acciona Agua announced today that the Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination Facility, the largest seawater desalination plant in the U.S., has passed the final two performance milestone tests. The tests required the plant to produce 25 million gallons of water per day (MGD) for 120 consecutive days and also average 20 MGD for 12 consecutive months. Both milestones were successfully completed this February.

"The completion of the last of a series of operational milestones at the Tampa Bay Seawater Desalination facility is an achievement for all of the region's water customers," said Gerald Seeber, General Manager of Tampa Bay Water. "The Facility provides an important, drought-proof component to the region's water supply system and is a true example of a successful public-private partnership."

At 25 MGD, the plant provides about 10 percent of the Tampa Bay region's drinking water supply and is operated by American Water and Acciona Agua through the joint venture American Water -- Acciona Agua LLC. The desalination plant serves as a model that other coastal communities may consider as a practical and sustainable solution to ease their water challenges.

"American Water is pleased to be a partner with Tampa Bay Water and Acciona Agua in delivering such a significant water solution," said Don Correll, president and CEO of American Water. "This innovative plant meets the growing water needs of the Tampa Bay area and has produced more than 18 billion gallons of water for 2.5 million customers in the last two years."

Luis Castilla, President for ACCIONA Agua SA, stated, "The public-private partnership with Tampa Bay Water highlights our commitment to the Tampa Bay region that the facility can deliver."

As a result of passing the test, Tampa Bay Water will receive $31.25 million dollars from the Southwest Florida Water Management District, commonly known as SWFWMD. SWFWMD had pledged funds to help build the plant, but had required the plant to achieve four performance benchmarks prior to releasing all the funds.

Seawater desalination is a sustainable, drought-proof, environmentally sound source of drinking water. Groundwater from aquifers and surface water from rivers is already part of Tampa Bay Water's regional system, but seawater desalination was selected to add another element of diversity and drought-resistance to the region's water supply network.

Tampa Bay Water provides wholesale water to the public utility systems of Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties, as well as the cities of New Port Richey, St. Petersburg and Tampa, who in turn serve 2.5 million people in the Tampa Bay region. To learn more about Tampa Bay Water, please visit www.tampabaywater.org.

Founded in 1886, American Water is the largest investor-owned U.S. water and wastewater utility company. With headquarters in Voorhees, N.J., the company employs approximately 7,000 dedicated professionals who provide drinking water, wastewater and other related services to approximately 16 million people in 35 states and Ontario and Manitoba, Canada.

Based in Madrid, Spain, ACCIONA is one of Spain's leading business corporations with more than 35,000 employees around the world. The company operates in infrastructure, energy, water and services in more than thirty countries. As part of this group ACCIONA Agua is one of the largest water treatment companies in the world, with over 75 desalination facilities in design, construction, or operation on 5 continents and water services to more than 2.5 million people, including the largest reverse osmosis facilities in Spain, Australia, the UK, and the U.S. and recently has been awarded with the largest wastewater treatment plant in the world, located in Atotonilco, Mexico.

SOURCE: American Water and Tampa Bay Water and Acciona Agua

 

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Obama Oil Drilling Plan Draws Critics

WASHINGTON —President Obama's proposal to open vast expanses of American coastlines to oil and natural gas drilling drew criticism from both sides in the drilling debate.

The plan, which Mr. Obama said would balance the need to produce more domestic energy while protecting natural resources, would allow drilling along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska. It would end a longstanding moratorium on exploration from the northern tip of Delaware to the central coast of Florida, covering 167 million acres of ocean.

"Drilling our coasts will doing nothing to lower gas prices or create energy independence," Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said in a statement. It will only jeopardize beaches, marine life, and coastal tourist economies, all so the oil industry can make a short-term profit."

On the other hand, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell called Mr. Obama's proposal "a step in the right direction, but a small one that leaves enormous amounts of American energy off limits."

Mr. McConnell also sought proof that the drilling would ultimately be permitted. "Will the administration actually take concrete steps to finish the studies, approve the necessary permits, and open these areas for production?" he said in a statement. "Will they stand by as their allies act to delay the implementation in the courts?"

House Republican Leader John Boehner also criticized the plan for keeping the vast majority of America's offshore energy resources off limits at a time when, the Ohio representative said, Americans want an "all of the above" strategy for promoting American energy production and creating American jobs.

Mr. Obama, speaking at Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington, anticipated the reaction and tried to blunt the criticism.

"Ultimately, we need to move beyond the tired debates of the left and the right, between business leaders and environmentalists, between those who would claim drilling is a cure all and those who would claim it has no place," he said. "Because this issue is just too important to allow our progress to languish while we fight the same old battles over and over again."

While Mr. Obama has staked out middle ground on other environmental matters — supporting nuclear power, for example — the sheer breadth of the offshore drillingdecision took some of his supporters aback.

"We're appalled that the president is unleashing a wholesale assault on the oceans," Jacqueline Savitz of the environmental group Oceana said on Wednesday. "Expanding offshore drilling is the wrong move if the Obama administration is serious about improving energy security, creating lasting jobs and averting climate change."

And it is no sure thing that it will win support for a climate bill from undecided senators close to the oil industry, like Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, or Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana.

Under the plan, the coastline from New Jersey northward would remain closed to all oil and gas activity. So would the Pacific Coast, from Mexico to the Canadian border.

The environmentally sensitive Bristol Bay in southwestern Alaska would be protected and no drilling would be allowed under the plan, officials said. But large tracts in the Chukchi Sea and Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean north of Alaska — nearly 130 million acres — would be eligible for exploration and drilling after extensive studies.

To critics who branded the decision both unnecessary and a threat to the environment, Mr. Obama said in his remarks: "There will be those who strongly disagree with this decision, including those who say we should not open any new areas to drilling, But what I want to emphasize is that this announcement is part of a broader strategy that will move us from an economy that runs on fossil fuels and foreign oil to one that relies more on homegrown fuels and clean energy. And the only way this transition will succeed is if it strengthens our economy in the short term and long term. To fail to recognize this reality would be a mistake."

Mr. Obama also tried to answer oil industry officials and Republicans in Congress who would claim that the president did not go far enough.

"They'd deny the fact that with less than 2 percent of oil reserves, but more than 20 percent of world consumption, drilling alone cannot come close to meeting our long-term energy needs," he said, "and that for the sake of the planet and our energy independence, we need to begin the transition to cleaner fuels now."

The Senate is expected to take up a climate bill in the next few weeks — the last chance to enact such legislation before midterm election concerns take over.

The proposal is also intended to generate revenue from the sale of offshore leases and help win political support for comprehensive energy and climate legislation. Mr. Obama and his allies in the Senate have already made significant concessions on coal and nuclear power to try to win votes from Republicans and moderate Democrats. The new plan now grants one of the biggest items on the oil industry's wish list — access to vast areas of the Outer Continental Shelf for drilling.

But even as Mr. Obama curries favors with pro-drilling interests, he risks a backlash from some coastal governors, senators and environmental advocates, who say that the relatively small amounts of oil to be gained in the offshore areas are not worth the environmental risks.

The Obama administration's plan adopts some drilling proposals floated by President George W. Bush near the end of his tenure, including opening much of the Atlantic and Arctic Coasts. Those proposals were challenged in court on environmental grounds and set aside by President Obama shortly after he took office.

Unlike the Bush plan, however, Mr. Obama's proposal would put Bristol Bay, home to major Alaskan commercial fisheries and populations of endangered whales, off limits to oil rigs.

Actual drilling in much of the newly opened areas, if it takes place, would not begin for years.

Mr. Obama said several times during his presidential campaign that he supported expanded offshore drilling. He noted in his State of the Union address in January that weaning the country from imported oil would require "tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development."

Perhaps in anticipation of controversy, the new policy had been closely held within the administration. White House and Interior Department officials began briefing members of Congress and local officials in affected states late Tuesday.

It is not known how much potential fuel lies in the areas opened to exploration, although according to Interior Department estimates there could be as much as a three-year supply of recoverable oil and more than two years' worth of natural gas, at current rates of consumption. But those estimates are based on seismic data that is, in some cases, more than 30 years old.

The first lease sale off the coast of Virginia could occur as early as next year in a triangular tract 50 miles off the coast that had already been approved for development but was held up by a court challenge and additional Interior Department review, officials said.

But as a result of the Obama decision, the Interior Department will spend several years conducting geologic and environmental studies along the rest of the southern and central Atlantic Seaboard. If a tract is deemed suitable for development, it is listed for sale in a competitive bidding system. The next lease sales — if any are authorized by the Interior Department — would not be held before 2012.

The eastern Gulf of Mexico tract that would be offered for lease is adjacent to an area that already contains thousands of wells and hundreds of drilling platforms. The eastern Gulf area is believed to contain as much as 3.5 billion barrels of oil and 17 trillion cubic feet of gas, the richest single tract that would be open to drilling under the Obama plan.

Drilling there has been strongly opposed by officials from both political parties in Alabama and Florida who fear damage to coastlines, fisheries, popular beaches and wildlife. Interior Department officials said no wells would be allowed within 125 miles of the Florida and Alabama coasts, making them invisible from shore.

The Interior Department and the Pentagon are discussing possible restrictions on oil and gas operations in some areas off Virginia and Florida, home to some of the nation's biggest Navy and Air Force facilities. States are also likely to claim rights to the revenues from oil and gas deposits within 3 to 12 miles of shore and to some portion of lease proceeds, officials said.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar developed the offshore drilling plan after conducting four public meetings over the past year in Alaska, California, Louisiana and New Jersey. The Interior Department received more than 500,000 public comments on the issue.

Mr. Salazar has said that he hoped to rebalance the nation's oil and gas policy to find a middle ground between the "drill here drill now" advocacy of many oil industry advocates and the preservationist impulse to block oil exploration beneath virtually all public lands and waters.

He has called the offshore drilling plan a new chapter in the nation's search for a comprehensive energy policy that can open new areas to oil and gas development "in the right way and in the right places," according to an aide.

In many of the newly opened areas, drilling would begin only after the completion of geologic studies, environmental impact statements, court challenges and public lease sales. Much of the oil and gas may not be recoverable at current prices and may be prohibitively expensive even if oil prices spike as they did in the summer of 2008.


Wednesday, March 31, 2010

USGS Water topics website

http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/specials.html

Yahoo! News Story - Why solving the Asian carp problem is so hard - Yahoo! News

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Monday, March 29, 2010

Whale joins Jodie Nelson paddling 40 miles for cancer research




DANA POINT – When Jodie Nelson felt exhaustion set in as she dug her paddle into the cold ocean, she would look down at the top of her Stand Up Paddleboard for motivation.
There read the names of loved ones who have passed away or have battled breast cancer – and those people were the reasons why Nelson was attempting what no woman had done before.

CHRISTINE COTTER, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER
More information:
Donations go toward Keep a Breast Foundation and Boarding for Breast Cancer. Nelson's goal is to raise $100,000, and as of Sunday afternoon had raised about $8,000. To donate, go to paddlewithpurpose.com.



In an attempt to raise awareness and money for breast cancer education, Nelson, of San Clemente, paddled nearly 40 miles from Catalina to Dana Point on Saturday, a feat that only three or so men – one being famous waterman Laird Hamilton — have completed.
"I wanted to go out there and do something that was big and overwhelming ... and something I had a good chance of failing at. It's nothing compared to what they go through," she said. "They don't give up."
After watching helplessly as close friend Angela Robinson become ill from breast cancer and chemotherapy treatments, Nelson wanted to somehow show support.
At first, Robinson didn't like the dangerous idea. But she soon realized there was no talking Nelson out of it.
Nelson trained hard, spending long days paddling along the coast. About two weeks ago, her trainer and good friend Steve Adler died from an aneurysm – making the paddle that much more emotional.
She started the paddle at about 6:15 a.m., hours earlier than others doing a relay as part of the Ohana Ocean Catalina Challenge. She was the only person doing a solo paddle.
A few hours in, a 30-foot gray whale came up beside her board – at first startling Nelson and the boat crew.
The whale – dubbed Larry – was close enough that she could have pet it with her paddle. He started making bubbles beneath her, fluking, and showing his tummy to her. The whale stayed with her for about an hour and a half.
"It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life," she said.
Not once during the paddle did she ask the time, or how far she had gone.
But after 8 hours and 51 minutes of paddling, loved ones cheered as they saw her coming to the finish line at Baby Beach. Her son Taylor, 15, held a sign that read: "I'm Jodie's biggest fan."
When she got close to shore, she lifted her paddle in victory, then threw it up in the air.
"I'm pretty sure, besides the birth of my son, this was the most monumental day of my life," she said.
For Robinson, watching Nelson from the support boat as she struggled for hours from exhaustion gave her a different perspective of what Nelson experiences as she supports her during her battle with cancer.
"The struggle she went through today to encourage me was just enormous," Robinson said.
Donations go toward Keep a Breast Foundation and Boarding for Breast Cancer. Nelson's goal is to raise $100,000, and as of Sunday afternoon had raised about $8,000. To donate, go to paddlewithpurpose.com 


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