Fracking Is Already Straining U.S. Water Supplies

Via Alternet, an interesting article on how some of America’s most intensive oil and gas fracking development is occurring in drought-prone regions where water is scarce: As the level of hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells in the United States has intensified in recent years, much of the mounting public concern has centered on […]

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New Mexico County First In Nation To Ban Fracking To Safeguard Water

Via the Los Angeles Times, a report  on one New Mexico county’s decision to ban fracking — hydraulic fracturing for oil: Tiny Mora County in northern New Mexico recently became the first county in the country to pass an ordinance banning hydraulic fracturing, the controversial oil extraction process known as fracking, which can release harmful […]

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Escalating Water Strains In Fracking Regions

Via Forbes, a look at the increasing tension in the US between energy and water: It’s bad enough that Western farmers and ranchers are reeling from a three-year-old drought and record heat waves. Now they’re feeling the heat from the goliath energy industry – over water. From Texas to Colorado, hydraulic fracturing energy production is […]

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The Fight For North Dakota’s Fracking-Water Market

Via Yahoo! News, an interesting article on North Dakota’s unique watergy nexus: In towns across North Dakota, the wellhead of the North American energy boom, the locals have taken to quoting the adage: “Whiskey is for drinking, and water is for fighting.” It’s not that they lack water, like Texas and California. They are swimming […]

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Water Scarcity May Reshape Energy Industry

Via the Christian Science Monitor, a report on how the demand for fresh water could exceed supply by an estimated 40% by 2030 which would push up prices for the water-intensive energy industry: There is a broad and growing consensus that freshwater is undervalued. It is a limited, but vital, commodity without a price. In […]

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Report: Half Of U.S. Fracking Wells Are Drilled In Highly Water-Stressed Regions

Courtesy of Circle of Blue, a sobering report on fracking’s impact on water in the United States: Hydraulically fractured shale regions are outlined in black and overlaid onto a map of U.S. river basins coded by water risk according to the World Resources Institute’s Aqueduct tool. River basins colored light yellow have low water stress; […]

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About This Blog And Its Author
As the scarcity of water and energy continues to grow, the linkage between these two critical resources will become more defined and even more acute in the months ahead.  This blog is committed to analyzing and referencing articles, reports, and interviews that can help unlock the nascent, complex and expanding linkages between water and energy -- The Watergy Nexus -- and will endeavor to provide a central clearinghouse for insightful articles and comments for all to consider.

Educated at Yale University (Bachelor of Arts - History) and Harvard (Master in Public Policy - International Development), Monty Simus has held a lifelong interest in environmental and conservation issues, primarily as they relate to freshwater scarcity, renewable energy, and national park policy.  Working from a water-scarce base in Las Vegas with his wife and son, he is the founder of Water Politics, an organization dedicated to the identification and analysis of geopolitical water issues arising from the world’s growing and vast water deficits, and is also a co-founder of SmartMarkets, an eco-preneurial venture that applies web 2.0 technology and online social networking innovations to motivate energy & water conservation.  He previously worked for an independent power producer in Central Asia; co-authored an article appearing in the Summer 2010 issue of the Tulane Environmental Law Journal, titled: “The Water Ethic: The Inexorable Birth Of A Certain Alienable Right”; and authored an article appearing in the inaugural issue of Johns Hopkins University's Global Water Magazine in July 2010 titled: “H2Own: The Water Ethic and an Equitable Market for the Exchange of Individual Water Efficiency Credits.”