E2 Round-up: Water pollution on the rise, the growing threat of manure, and IPCC tries to recover

Water pollution is a growing problem because controversial Supreme Court rulings has created uncertainty about which waterways are regulated by the Clean Water Act, according to this account in the New York Times.

“Companies that have spilled oil, carcinogens and dangerous bacteria into lakes, rivers and other waters are not being prosecuted, according to Environmental Protection Agency regulators working on those cases,” the paper says.

The debate centers on the word "navigable." The Supreme Court rulings restricted its meaning. The result has been that some smaller bodies of water that feed into larger rivers or lakes are now uncovered by the federal clean water rules. One regulator said companies are starting to remember "how much cheaper it is to just dump stuff in a nearby creek," the Times reports.

The water issue has been on the back burner in Congress, as lawmakers struggle instead on climate change and reducing greenhouse gases, an effort that itself has stalled.

But the Times story could recharge the debate. Western Republicans have already warned Democrats not to try to advance a bill designed to give federal regulators their old powers.

The Washington Post takes a look at one big source of water pollution: manure. 

“Animal manure, a byproduct as old as agriculture, has become an unlikely modern pollution problem,” the Post reports.

“Excess” manure releases air pollutants including methane, a greenhouse gas. And manure has helped to cause the 230 oxygen-deprived “dead zones” along the U.S. coast.

Meanwhile, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is developing a strategy to rebuild its tarnished reputation, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The U.N. climate panel announced over the weekend that it will hire independent experts to investigate how errors found their way to its seminal report on climate change.