The energy Industry appears to be working on ways to lower the amount of water used and reusing/recycling the water used for fracking, but it is still a WIP (Work In Progress). How Much Water Does Hydraulic Fracturing Use? The average fracking job uses roughly 4 million gallons of water per well – or about as much water as New York City uses every six minutes and about 1.3 percent of the water used by the country’s car washes every day. That can vary by state, because the amount of water used in each hydraulic fracturing job depends on geology and a number of other factors. In California, for example, the average fracking job needed more than 116,000 gallons of water. Yet, that’s less than half the water used every day to irrigate the average California golf course. That said, industry is constantly working to reduce water use, investing heavily in reuse and recycling technologies. These efforts are working. For example, in Texas requests for recycling permits rose from less than two a year in 2011 to 30 approved applications in 2012. More than 90 percent of flowback fluid – water that returns to the surface after fracturing – is being reused in the Marcellus region of Pennsylvania.
There is a fair amount of overlap between that map and what the National Geographic has as the Dust Bowl.
One of the ad slogans the railroads came up with to get people to settle Kansas: The rain follows the plow.
This comment by the Fed Chair in testimony before Congress should get a lot more coverage than it has: "If you fast forward 10 or 15 years, they're going to be regions of the country where you can't get a mortgage, there won't be ATMs. There won't, you know, the banks won't have branches, things like that. That's, that's a possibility coming up down the road." He's not talking about Vermont. Again, take a cold, hard look at things. You don't want to be the last one on your block or the last one at a gas station. Capital is extremely mobile, but we don't move that easily.
A third of Pacific island nation applies for Australian climate change visa More than a third of Tuvalu citizens have entered the ballot for a world-first climate visa which would allow them to permanently migrate to Australia. Opening for the first intake on 16 June, the influx of registrations could indicate that programme will be hugely oversubscribed, with only 280 visas awarded to Tuvalu citizens from the random ballot each year. The visa programme has been pegged by the Australia's foreign affairs department as a landmark response to the threat of climate-related displacement. At just five metres (16ft) above sea level, the tiny Pacific archipelago is one of the most climate-threatened nations in the world. There have been 1,124 applications submitted to the ballot as of 27 June, which accounts for 4,052 Tuvalu citizens with the inclusion of family members. The island nation is home to 10,643 people, according to census figures collected in 2022. If successful, holders of the Pacific Engagement visa will be granted indefinite permanent residency in Australia, with the ability to freely travel in and out of the country. The visa will also provide for Australian supports on arrival in the country, such as access to the country's Medicare system, childcare subsidies and the ability to study at schools, university and vocational facilities at the same subsidisation as Australian citizens. Entry to the 2025 ballot costs A$25 (£11.93, $16.37), and will close 18 July. The new class of visa was created as part of the Australia-Tuvalu Falepili Union, announced in August 2024, which includes a commitment by Canberra to defend the island in the face of natural disasters, public health emergencies and "military aggression". "For the first time there is a country that has committed legally to recognise the future statehood and sovereignty of Tuvalu despite the detrimental impact of climate changed-induced sea level rise," said Prime Minister Feleti Teo in a statement last year. Scientists at Nasa have predicted that the majority of land mass and critical infrastructure in Tuvalu will sit below the level of the current high tide by 2050.
