[Gil]

I wasn't sure whether this was more appropriate in this forum or the saloon, but will try it here. My friend Brian persuaded NBC to send me along with him to photograph a series of stories that he was doing about troubles on farms that use the Ogallala Aquifer in Texas, Kansas, South Dakota and Nebraska. So I flew down to Lubbock in April and off we went on five-day, 2,500-mile driving spree in which we interviewed some 30 people, including farmers struggling with drought, scientists trying to help them, academics, ice-cream shop clerks, county agricultural specialists, diesel mechanics/satellite antenna installers, Sioux tribespeople and the governor of Kansas. The result was three stories looking at Texas' drought, Kansas' attempt to not become Texas, and the alliance of the Sioux and farmers in South Dakota and Nebraska in fighting the Keystone XL pipeline. Here are those three stories and a link to my Flickr album if you want to see the outtakes that I culled from the 3,000 images that I shot. http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/last-drop-americas-breadbasket-faces-dire-water-crisis-n146836 http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/heartland-water-crisis-why-planet-depends-these-kansas-farmers-n150036 http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/we-will-fight-keystone-xl-pipeline-foes-fear-worst-water-n150041 Flickr album: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gaeger2/sets/72157644218431692/

[Ski]

thank you, Gil. it's perfectly appropriate here in Stewardship. pretty good synopsis of the problems. I have nothing good to say about corn, tar sands, Montsano, Trans-Canada, Keystone, or ethanol subsidies. other than Montsano, Archer Daniels Midland, and DuPont, what reasons are there for continuing to use corn for fuel production?

[zephyr]

Thanks for posting those articles, Gil. 'Sobering to consider the implications of the Ogallala Aquifer running dry in such a short time frame. I appreciated seeing the work of the Kansas farmers who limit their use of water and the research in perennial crops as mentioned in the interview with Wes Jackson. That last article explained the danger to the aquifer from the Keystone XL pipeline and how this threat has brought Nebraska farmers and the Rosebud Sioux together in opposition. You and your friend did an excellent job of gathering and presenting all these stories. ~z

[Gil]

Brian and I will be on WVOX in Westchester, NY tomorrow/Tuesday to discuss this series. Brian starts at 7 a.m. ET and I'll join at 7:35 a.m. ET to discuss the photography. WVOX streams at wvox.com.

[HunterConservationist]

[DIYSteve]

Corn methane is stupid, but it's a small issue in the big scheme of things. The depletion if the Ogallala Aquifer is largely due to good ol' private and corporate landowners exploiting a natural resource by drilling holes and mining water, i.e., capitalism at work. The biggest threat to polluting the OA is too little regulation. Thanks for posting this, Gil. The depletion of the OA is a matter of historic proportions that is difficult to comprehend. The good news for nature is that the land will eventually revert to the grass prairie it once was.

[MadCapLaughs]

[HunterConservationist]

[DIYSteve]

See Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3 of the Constitution of the United States, aka the Commerce Clause.