The River Blog

(02/04/10) | Filed Under: Dams & Dam Removal , Restoring Rivers by Serena McClain

Recently, the Virginia Senate passed legislation (SB 276) that strips Virginia Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Dam Safety Office of its ability to order repairs on dams it finds deficient, if that dam has an Emergency Action Plan in place, unless the state has funding to pay for said repairs themselves. This deals a crippling blow to an office that is responsible for regulating more than 1,637 dams throughout the state, of which 321 are classified as high or significant hazard.

(02/04/10) | Filed Under: Dams & Dam Removal , Restoring Rivers , Greening Water Infrastructure by Amy Souers Kober

American Rivers is a cooperating partner in the Water Environment Federation 2010 Urban River Restoration Conference March 7-10 in Boston.

(02/04/10) | Filed Under: Dams & Dam Removal , Global Warming , Restoring Rivers by Amy Souers Kober

Since our founding, American Rivers has been the leading voice protecting rivers from the adverse impacts of hydropower dams. We have spearheaded historic agreements to improve the operations of dams on rivers like the Deschutes, and we brought the idea of removing outdated dams into the mainstream.

(02/02/10) | Filed Under: Floods & Floodplains by Amy Souers Kober

The weathermen on the local TV news call it "wacky weather" – those freak storms and floods that seem to be getting more frequent and more severe every year. But usually lost in the news coverage is why flooding and flood damage is getting worse.

(02/02/10) | Filed Under: Dams & Dam Removal , Restoring Rivers by Amy Souers Kober

American Rivers is teaming up with writer and advocate David James Duncan to restore the Columbia and Snake rivers in the Pacific Northwest. Duncan's passionate and poetic voice has helped inspire hope and action in support of dam removal.

(01/27/10) | Filed Under: Most Endangered Rivers , Protecting Rivers , Wild and Scenic Rivers by Kavita Heyn

This week former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber and former Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury sounded an urgent call to action to protect Oregon's Rogue river.  Their opinion editorial ran in the Oregonian.

(01/27/10) | Filed Under: Dams & Dam Removal , Restoring Rivers by Caitlin Jennings

Last Saturday, Michael Garrity, our Washington state conservation director, was a panelist on "Another Dam Panel" at the Orca Network's "Ways of Whales" workshop on Whidbey Island, WA. 

(01/26/10) | Filed Under: Blue Trails , Protecting Rivers by Jamie Mierau

Do you like to draw? Want to see your artwork supporting a great cause?

(01/26/10) | Filed Under: Most Endangered Rivers , Clean Water , Water Supply by Katherine Baer

Energy production has a major impact on rivers with hydropower and mountaintop removal mining as obvious examples. In the rush to develop domestic sources of energy nationwide, the impacts to streams and rivers are largely ignored. Case in point –  “hydrofracking” (or hydraulic fracturing) – an environmentally destructive technique to extract natural gas that has been used out West is now being used in the Marcellus Shale formation which is concentrated in parts of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia.

(01/15/10) | Filed Under: Clean Water by Katherine Baer

Excess phosphorus and nitrogen is a leading cause of pollution of streams and rivers nationwide. This sort of nutrient pollution comes from a variety of sources but in many cases is unregulated, and leads to major problems like the Dead Zone in the Gulf of Mexico.