Entries by Keith Schneider

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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 […]

World Bank, Despite Promises, Finances Big Coal and Industrial Projects That Threaten Water, Communities

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Investigation finds International Finance Corporation invests big in industrial development banks. By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue In 2013, GNP Power, a Philippine energy developer, began generating power from its Mariveles coal-fired electrical generating station on the Bataan Peninsula about 173 kilometers (107 miles) south of Manila, the capital. Philippine authorities and company executives hailed the […]

Halt to Dakota Pipeline Is Part of International Resistance to Water Threats

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At frontlines, fossil fuel transport and production infrastructure opposed worldwide.

Circle of Blue’s Brett Walton Honored By Society of Environmental Journalists

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Keith SchneiderCircle of Blue’s senior editor and chief correspondent based in Traverse City, Michigan. He has reported on the contest for energy, food, and water in the era of climate change from six continents. Contact Keith Schneider http:/Circleofblue.org/about/staff/Keith

Gina Lopez, a “Crusader,” Sets Philippines Water, Mining Safety on Unexpected New Course

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New environment secretary vows to enforce rule of law. By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue Before Regina Lopez agreed in June to serve as the secretary of the Philippines Department of Environment and Natural Resources, her standing as one of the Pacific island nation’s determined environmental activists was unchallenged. As the top executive of the […]

Big Banks Finance Water-Damaging, Climate-Warming Energy Projects

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Despite commitment to reduce national emissions, development banks spend $US billions on coal-fired power plants.