The Pew Charitable Trusts

WATER WAR:  Georgia may be able to continue to rely on Lake Lanier for water after all, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports . A federal appeals court overturned an earlier decision that had said Lake Lanier — the Atlanta region's largest water source — was never intended as a source of drinking water, a ruling that would have cut water withdrawals to levels from the 1970s starting in July 2012. Instead, the appeals court said that Lake Lanier was intended to supply drinking water and asked the Army Corps of Engineers to determine how the water should be divvied up. The decision was considered a defeat for  Alabama and Florida , which depend on water that flows downstream from Lake Lanier. The states have been battling in court over water for 20 years. 

CAP-AND-TRADE DELAYED: Stymied by a court challenge, California is delaying implementing its cap-and-trade system to limit greenhouse gas emissions by a year, the Los Angeles Times reports . A judge ruled earlier this year that California hadn't sufficiently considered other ways to limit greenhouse gas emissions, forcing the state to analyze alternative methods to regulate large industrial emitters. Instead of starting in January, the system is now scheduled to go into effect in 2013. California is trying to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020, a goal officials say they'll still meet.

GETTING THE DRILL:  New York has taken the first step to end its moratorium on a controversial technique for drilling for natural gas, the New York Times reports . The state's Department of Environmental Conservation released a report last week recommending when hydrofracking — which involves boring through rock with pressurized fluid — should be allowed and when it shouldn't. New York, like other states, is trying to balance the economic and energy supply benefits of the practice and conerns about water pollution. Under New York's preliminary policy, hydrofracking would be forbidden on public land and in the New York City watershed.  

  

NO DRILLING TAX:  Pennsylvania isn't going to impose a tax or fee on natural gas drilling just yet, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports . Despite a push for the fee from Republican leaders in the Pennsylvania Senate — and despite Pennsylvania's status as the only major natural gas producing state without an extraction tax — the state wrapped up work on its budget last week without one. That represented a victory for Governor Tom Corbett, who campaigned for election last year by opposing any tax increases and said he would consider supporting a fee only after an advisory committee reports back. That report is due July 22.

RGGI RUPTURE: Both houses of the  New Jersey legislature have voted to maintain the state's participation in the Northeast's cap-and-trade program, but the Record reports  that that doesn't mean the state will actually be staying in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Governor Chris Christie announced in May that the state would become the first to leave the pact, which limits greenhouse gas emissions from power plants through a cap-and-trade program. Christie is expected to veto the legislation. Some legislators argue he didn't have the power to leave the program without their permission.