How Tariffs Could Strain Water Supplies

Environmental groups sued to halt construction of the center located in the Big Cypress National Preserve, which Florida has spent billions of dollars to protect, the New York Times reported. The groups say that there has been no environmental review of the project under the National Environmental Policy Act or NEPA.

The area is critical habitat for endangered species, including panthers and a hawk called the Everglade snail kite. A wetlands ecologist testified that at least 20 acres of asphalt had been added to the site since construction began and that heavy equipment had been moved there. Another witness told the judge there are concerns that runoff could spread harmful chemicals into the Everglades. Industrial lighting at the center can be seen from 15 miles away in an area that is designated as an International Dark Sky Place.

The environmental groups were joined in their fight against the migration detention center by the Miccosukee Tribe, who were surprised when the activity started. Some of their villages are located within 900 feet of its entrance.

A separate suit is pending in federal court that alleges there have been violations of the civil rights of the incarcerated people because they have not been able to meet with attorneys and are being held without charges.

In the past, the report, which was released by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has been put together by hundreds of experts both inside and outside federal agencies. Recently, previous editions have been removed from government websites. The earlier assessments warned of the increasing risks to the country’s public health, economy, and infrastructure. In April, Trump took steps to dismiss scientists working on the report, which is mandated by Congress. 

Secretary Wright told CNN that earlier reports weren’t fair in their assessments of climate change and that the administration will be updating them. The climate reports have been used to discuss the latest climate science and the impacts of global warming in the U.S. Each report takes years to put together, and each goes through peer review by 13 agencies that do research on climate. The reports have been approved by the independent National Academy of Sciences.

The Hill reports that Secretary Wright is a former fracking company executive and has a history of downplaying the effects of global warming. In July, his department issued a report saying that greenhouse gases may be less damaging than previously believed, and supported the repeal of the “Endangerment Finding,” which was the basis for many regulations addressing climate change.

A single fabrication facility, or fab, can use tens of millions of gallons of tap water per day, which is cleaned to become “ultrapure” by removing any particles or salts that could damage the chips. Currently, the ultrapure water is used only once to make chips. The wastewater is used to cool the buildings, which get very hot, or in scrubbers that “shower off” gases and other chemical contaminants used in the manufacturing process. 

Several U.S. fabs are currently located in water-stressed areas such as Arizona, so can adding more plants in the country be achieved sustainably? Professor Paul Westerhoff at Arizona State University’s School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment told H2O Radio that fabs can be sustainable but would require companies to invest in ways to recycle water to continuously bring it back to an ultrapure state to avoid tapping into local supplies.

He and his colleagues are researching what reuse technologies and policies would be necessary to make facilitates “water neutral” or at least close to it, some of which would include protecting the watersheds where manufacturers operate.

Another problem in growing the semiconductor industry in the U.S. is climate change. Making semiconductors is energy intensive, so manufacturers would need to switch to renewables instead of fossil fuels to be sustainable. Otherwise, as global temperatures rise and severe droughts increase, the water upon which fabs rely may not be there when they’re ready. 

Writing last week in The Conversation, Federico de Isidro Gordejuela of Universidad CEU San Pablo in Spain explains that when temperatures soar, the iron in the structure expands, adding between 12 to 15 centimeters, because hotter conditions agitate atoms inside the metal, increasing the distance between them. The tower not only grows, it also leans a skosh. It’s not Tower-of-Pisa-level leaning—but it does tilt a fraction of a degree when the metal expands more on the sunny than shaded side. It then straightens back out after dark.

The tower shrinks to normal in winter but there's no telling how it will grow and tilt with global warming. So, in addition to being a beloved symbol of Paris, the Eiffel Tower is also, in effect, a giant climate change thermometer.