OUR PICKSCongress Failed Repeatedly to Address Immigration Dysfunction | AI Presents Political Peril for 2024 | Threatening the Colorado River, and more

Over Decades, Congress Failed Repeatedly to Address Immigration Dysfunction  (Karoun Demirjian, New York Times)
Legislative initiatives to overhaul immigration policy have fallen flat as partisan differences and other rifts have scuttled attempts at compromise.

This Lawsuit Could Change How the Forest Service Fights Wildfires  (Ula Chrobak, The Atlantic)
In a suit filed in Montana’s Federal District Court last October, Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics(FSEEE) argued that fire retardant is a pollutant, so the Forest Service needs a Clean Water Act permit if it flows into waterways. The agency is now working with the EPA to get the appropriate federal and state permits, but that process will take at least two years.
In the meantime, FSEEE has suggested that the use of retardant be barred within 600 feet of water, doubling the distance required by current Forest Service policies. In a legal document filed in February, the agency said that the request could prevent pilots from using retardant at all. 
The Forest Service considers retardant a crucial wildfire-suppression tool. The substance is made up of roughly 85 percent water—which helps it disperse uniformly—and 10 percent ammonium-phosphate fertilizers. It also contains small amounts of thickeners, which help it stick to trees and bushes, as well as coloring that helps pilots see where they’re dropping it. When the heat of a wildfire meets vegetation coated in retardant, the ammonium phosphate encourages organic material to release water, creating moisture that slows down combustion.
But when retardant is dropped in waterways, it can be toxic to fish.

Where to Find the Energy to Save the World  (Maria Streshinsky, Wired)
Jamie Beard is pouring everything into a singular vision: Tap into the awesome potential of geothermal power in Texas, and beyond. She has no time to lose.

Dangerous Heat Wave Unfolding in Pacific Northwest, Western Canada  (Bill Deger, AccuWeather)
A spring heat wave is building across the Pacific Northwest, and AccuWeather forecasters say that many cities and towns, including Seattle, could end up having their first 90-degree days of the year.

Migrants Are Frustrated with the Border App, Even After Its Latest Overhaul  (Joel Rose and Marisa Peñaloza, NPR)
Immigration authorities touted a major update meant to improve CBP One, an app that’s now the main authorized portal to seek asylum at the border. But migrants in Juárez say it’s still not working.

AI Presents Political Peril for 2024 With Threat to Mislead Voters  (AP / VOA News)
Computer engineers and tech-inclined political scientists have warned for years that cheap, powerful artificial intelligence tools would soon allow anyone to create fake images, video and audio that was realistic enough to fool voters and perhaps sway an election.
The synthetic images that emerged were often crude, unconvincing and costly to produce, especially when other kinds of misinformation were so inexpensive and easy to spread on social media. The threat posed by AI and so-called deepfakes always seemed a year or two away.
No more.
Sophisticated generative AI tools can now create cloned human voices and hyper-realistic images, videos and audio in seconds, at minimal cost. When strapped to powerful social media algorithms, this fake and digitally created content can spread far and fast and target highly specific audiences, potentially taking campaign dirty tricks to a new low.

How the Mirage of Oil Shale Riches in Utah Threatens the Colorado River  (Stephanie Mencimer, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists)
Last summer, during one of the driest years of a 23-year mega drought in the West, the federal government told the seven Colorado River basin states they must come up with a plan to reduce water consumption by up to 40 percent of the river’s current volume, or enough to serve more than 6 million households for a year. This year, federal water managers plan to cut deliveries from the river by up to 25 percent. Record snowfall this winter may head off some of the worst of the cuts, but the runoff will only partially refill badly depleted Lake Powell and Lake Mead, the country’s largest reservoirs. The water crisis remains urgent, and the long-term prospects for the Colorado are grim.
The dire state of the Colorado River hasn’t stopped Utah officials from enthusiastically supporting policies to encourage Enefit’s oil shale production and all sorts of other thirsty, ill-conceived fossil fuel projects in the Uinta Basin in what some environmentalists have dubbed a “suicide pact.” These projects and priorities generally, and Enefit’s in particular, illustrate how a state, run largely by people who don’t believe in climate change, still presses ahead with carbon-belching fossil-fuel developments that, if successful, will only exacerbate the megadrought that has brought the Colorado River—and the West—to the brink of disaster.