Archive for August, 2013

The Colonization of Kern County: A Story Of Oil And Water

Via Orion Magazine, a report on the watergy nexus in Kern County, California: IN THE CALIFORNIA OIL TOWN OF TAFT, in the stifling hundred-degree heat of July, Agnes Hardt, the eighty-two-year-old curator of the West Kern Oil Museum, tells me to look up Stanley Cooper. I was interested in seeing the natural oil seeps and […]

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Fracking Vs. The Drought: They Call It Texas Tea, But You Can’t Drink Oil

Via ThinkProgress, another report on Texas’ watergy crisis: How dry is it in Texas? So dry some residents are wishing for a hurricane to replenish the aquifer. So dry that many Texans are now against using water to frack for oil, which is famously called Texas Tea. Every fracking job requires several million gallons of […]

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China Takes A Keen Interest In Water-Energy Connections

Via Circle of Blue, a report on a team of American and Chinese water and energy specialists who are meeting in Beijing with the environmental scientists and sustainability experts of the Development Research Center of the State Council, the government research group that provides policy recommendations to China’s highest executive agency: Almost three years ago […]

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Water Demand In Bakken May Be Tapering Off

Via North Dakota’s InForum, an interesting article on a new state report that shows the volume of water used to produce oil in the booming Bakken Formation appears to have plateaued after more than four years of rapid growth: The volume of water used to produce oil in the booming Bakken Formation appears to have […]

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A Texan Tragedy: Ample Oil, No Water

Via The Guardian, an interesting article on how the fracking boom sucks away precious water from beneath the ground, leaving cattle dead, farms bone-dry and people thirsty: Beverly McGuire saw the warning signs before the town well went dry: sand in the toilet bowl, the sputter of air in the tap, a pump working overtime […]

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Energy And Water Are Running Out In Texas, But It’s Not Too Late

Via EDF’s Energy Exchange blog, a look at Texas’ efforts to manage the watergy nexus: As we’ve highlighted in previous posts, water and energy regulators often make decisions in silos, despite the inherent connection between these two sectors. Texas is no exception. Two very important and intertwined events are happening in Texas right now. First, […]

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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.”