Caitlin McNally

I drove from Minneapolis to Minot, North Dakota, this year as a late spring snowstorm was brewing. Interstate 94, near the state line, closed down and the two lane highways and farm roads snaking westward were covered in hard ice and occasional, demonic flurries of drifting snow. I concocted a route around the storm with some helpful farmers at a gas station. My car limped west then north, west then north, on a maze of empty back roads.

Guest: Jad Mouawad, The New York Times, covers the energy industry
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Five years ago today, a power outage blanketed states in the Northeast, Midwest and parts of Canada. Leaving 50 million in the dark, it was the largest blackout in North American history. The outage highlighted the fragility of our electricity system. And with energy demands rising, and economy in a slump and global warming fears taking center stage, "smart grid" technologies could provide solutions.
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Guest: Chad Hart, agricultural economist, Iowa State University, in Ames, Iowa
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Guest: Andrew Leonard, Salon.com
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There’s an oil boom in North Dakota, and the wealth under ground is creating millionaires.
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Guest: Caitlin McNally, documentary filmmaker
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The solution to high gas prices may not be offshore drilling. For a remote community in South Dakota, the future is not farming, it's oil. Plans are underway to make Union County, S.D., home to the nation’s first new oil refinery in 30 years. The company behind the project bills the refinery as a "green energy center" and many local politicians support the plans, but it's a sore point for residents closest to the site.
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The sharp rise in energy prices has pushed states to speed through legislation that allows companies to drill for gas. The potential for revenue is enormous, but what's the cost? WNYC's Ilya Marritz and ProPublica's Abrahm Lustgarten explain the potential environmental consequences of the rush for new energy as New York presses ahead with its plans to tap gas underneath the Catskill Mountains.
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Guest: Chad Hart, agricultural economist, Iowa State University
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View a gallery of images of the tribe from Survival International.
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NASA

20% of the world's fresh water is in the 5 Great Lakes of North America. The lakes are what's left over from a giant glacial melt at the end of the last ice age 20 or 30 thousand years ago...which is why the water isn't salty. It's a lucky break for North America and an enticing solution to water problems outside the Midwest.
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