PECOS, TexasExtreme drought has diminished the flows of the Rio Grande and Pecos River, two of the most iconic waterways in Texas.
The advocacy group American Rivers recently named the Lower Rio Grande one of its most endangered rivers, describing a near-permanent human-induced megadrought threatening all life that depends on it. On the Pecos River, there hasnt been enough water to distribute to irrigation districts below the Red Bluff Reservoir in recent years.
While farmers and cities face increasing water scarcity, oil and gas companies use billions of gallons of water from these rivers annually. An exclusive Inside Climate News analysis found that drillers used more than 31,000 acre feet, or more than 10 billion gallons, of Rio Grande water for drilling and fracking operations in the Eagle Ford Shale between 2021 and 2024.
Thats enough water to meet the needs of 113,500 Texas households for an entire year, based on average daily use of 246 gallons per household. At the Red Bluff Reservoir on the Pecos River, Daniel Arrant of Kingsley Water Company reports to have sold more than 75 million barrels of water, or more than 4 billion gallons, for oil and gas operations since 2016.
Numerous Texas oil and gas companies have made voluntary commitments to reduce their freshwater use and shift to brackish or recycled water for use in fracking for oil and gas. But the water sales, like those reported by Arrant of the Kingsley Water Company, show that oil and gas drilling is still reliant on surface water from Texas rivers.
Surface water sold for drilling and fracking is categorized as mining consumption under Texas law. Pumping water underground to drill or frack a well often permanently removes it from the natural hydrologic cycle, given the presence of chemical fracking fluids and natural toxins like arsenic following its use in the extraction process for oil or gas.
Inside Climate News obtained Rio Grande water data from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) through a public information request. Kingsley Water Company, an oil field water services firm based in the Woodlands, a Houston suburb, was the top user of Rio Grande water for oil and gas drilling, followed by SM Energy Company, Segundo Navarro Drilling, and Select Water Solutions.
Between the Rio Grande and the Pecos River, Kingsley has sold enough water for drilling to meet the needs of more than 100,000 Texas households for a year. Kinglsey and Arrant did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
State Representative Vikki Goodwin criticized Apache Corp. for buying water from the Pecos River when, she says, recycled produced water from fracking was available. Inside Climate News independently confirmed the water purchase.
Investments in projects to clean up and recycle frack water will dry up if oil companies dont opt to use the recycled water, Goodwin, a Democrat who represents Travis County, said. My hope is we dont wait until too late to make better decisions about our water resources in Texas.
A spokesperson for Apache, headquartered in Houston, said the company minimizes the use of fresh water and is using non-fresh, non-potable water for fracking its oil and gas wells in Loving County near the reservoir.
Eagle Ford Drillers Tap Rio Grande
Tributaries in Mexico feed the Rio Grande in South Texas. But with Mexico behind on water deliveries to the United States, tensions on the river are high. The Amistad Reservoir, where water delivered by Mexico is stored, hit a historic low in July 2024.
Extreme drought in counties like Webb and Maverick, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor, is compounding the problem. Groundwater springs and tributaries are feeding less water into the river. Flows have decreased on the Rio Grande by more than 30% in recent decades.
The Rio Grande is the sole source of drinking water for the city of Laredo in Webb County. Because of the drought, Laredo has asked residents to reduce water use for several consecutive years. Planners are considering costly alternative water sources to prepare for the day, projected to come around 2040, when the Rio Grande wont be enough to supply the city.
Agriculture consumes the lions share of Rio Grande water, followed by municipal use. While groundwater is the primary source for oil and gas drilling, several companies still consume substantial volumes of surface water from the river. Webb County is at the heart of the fracking boom that took off in South Texass Eagle Ford Shale formation in 2010. The Eagle Ford Shale is now consistently one of the top three oil-producing basins in the country.
Inside Climate News found that between 2020 and 2024, Kingsley Water Company used 12,363 acre feet of Rio Grande water, SM Energy used 11,379 acre feet, Segundo Navarro used 3,979 acre feet, and Select Water used 3,776 acre feet. An acre foot is the amount of water needed to cover one acre of land to a depth of one foot, or 325,851 gallons. The companies did not respond to requests for comment.
Rio Grande water rights are overseen by the TCEQ Rio Grande Watermaster. Water rights are adjudicated by the state and then can be bought and sold by private parties. Rights holders are allowed to divert a pre-approved amount of water at a specific location. Most of these rights are held by cities, farmers, and irrigation districts. Oilfield companies hold a small number.
Kingsley Water Company is a subsidiary of Kingsley Constructors, headquartered in the Woodlands. In 2011, Daniel Arrant led the purchase and permitting of the Rio Grande water rights, according to the website of Voyager, the Houston private equity firm where he is a partner. Arrant entered contracts to resell the water to operators completing wells in the Eagle Ford Shale. These deals have sold more than 235 million barrels, or 9.87 billion gallons, of Rio Grande water, according to the Voyager website.
Select Water Solutions, headquartered in Gainesville, Texas, also resells Rio Grande water to drilling companies. The companys 2023 sustainability report states that it places the utmost importance on safe, environmentally responsible management of water.
Select Water Solutions reported selling a larger share of recycled water each year between 2020 and 2023. But the total volume of freshwater sold also increased in 2023 to a four-year high of more than 97 million barrels, or more than 4 billion gallons.
SM Energy, a Denver-based independent exploration and production company, does not have public sustainability targets for minimizing water use and protecting water quality. Neither does San Antonio-based Segundo Navarro Drilling, a subsidiary of Lewis Energy Group.
TCEQ does not collect data on how oil and gas companies use the surface water they purchase. Drilling, well completion, and fracking are all different steps in the lifecycle of a well that require water.
TCEQ spokesperson Ricky Richter said that between 2009 and 2023, annual surface water use for mining, which includes oil and gas operations, averaged 40,000 acre feet statewide, or about 13 billion gallons. TCEQ defines mining use as water for mining processes including hydraulic use, drilling, washing sand and gravel, and oil field repressuring.
Martin Castro, watershed science director at the Rio Grande International Study Center (RGISC) in Laredo, analyzed water use in oil and gas operations for a 2021 report. He found drillers used 19 billion gallons of Rio Grande water between 2010 and 2020.
Any reductions of the rivers water supply, when coupled with recurring droughts, will have disastrous consequences for Webb County and South Texas, Castro wrote at the time.
Inside Climate Newss analysis found slightly higher annual rates of water diversions for oil and gas between 2021 to 2024 than rates noted in RGISCs report spanning the preceding decade. Castro was concerned that drillers are still using large volumes of Rio Grande water.
Were not doing any better than four years ago, he said.
Castro previously worked for TCEQ and observed water diversions used for fracking. But he said that, without reporting requirements, the true scale is unknown. Castro would like to see TCEQ collect data on how much surface water goes to drilling as opposed to fracking. He has also called on TCEQ to publish Rio Grande water diversion data, which currently is only available through records requests.
There is no transparency, he said.
RGISC collaborated with American Rivers in its campaign that named the Lower Rio Grande one of the countrys most endangered rivers. Castro said improving resilience on the river will require thinking outside of the box and increasing investment.
The only way were going to improve conditions on the river is if we make serious federal investments, he said.
Water rights downstream of Amistad Reservoir on the Rio Grande operate on a priority system, which ensures cities get their share of water during times of scarcity.
Priority is given to municipal use, and municipal priority is guaranteed through a municipal reserve, said TCEQ spokesperson Laura Lopez. Water for mining use, as with irrigation and recreational use, is allocated to a water right holders account based on available storage in the system.
Pecos River Water Sold from Red Bluff Reservoir
The Pecos River begins in the mountains of New Mexico and flows through West Texas to meet the Rio Grande. An inter-state compact requires New Mexico to send Pecos River water to Texas, where it is impounded at the Red Bluff Reservoir.
Reduced flows on the Pecos have lowered water levels at Red Bluff. On paper, the Red Bluff Power and Irrigation District, which manages the reservoir, holds rights to 292,500 acre feet a year of water. But its been a long time since there was that much water in the reservoir. Red Bluff sat at 65,000 acre feet in early May. Because of the low reservoir levels, Red Bluff is often unable to send water downstream to irrigation districts.
Kingsley secured the mining water right in 2014 for up to 7,500 acre feet of water a year, about 2.44 billion gallons. The Red Bluff district told Inside Climate News that Kinglsey purchased 1,400 acre feet, or more than 450 million gallons, in 2024.
District general manager Robin Prewit said the water sales to oil and gas drillers are a drop in the bucket. She said that even if the district did not sell water to Kingsley, because of evaporation and transportation losses, there would not be enough water to send to the irrigation districts.
Im not having to choose one or the other, she said.
What she said she could really use is more rain in the Pecos River watershed in New Mexico.
Salinity is another challenge. The water at Red Bluff is salty enough to be considered brackish. Farmers in the area grow salt-tolerant plants. But to be potable for human consumption the water would have to be treated. Apache, which purchased water from Kinglsey early this year, reported using 98.2% nonfresh water in 2023. Water from Red Bluff would be considered nonfresh because of the salinity levels.
Ernest Woodward, a rancher outside McCamey, opposes the water sales for oil and gas drilling. It should not be, he said. Its for irrigation.
He gave up farming barley after several years without irrigation water from Red Bluff. You go to all the labor to get the land prepared, and then you dont get the water, he said.
Woodward would like to see water flowing in the river again.
We dont have enough water, he said. Were starving.
This article originally appeared on Inside Climate News. It is republished with permission. Sign up for its newsletter here.
In the mid-1920s, most Americans ate light breakfasts. Edward Bernays, who would eventually be considered the father of public relations, was hired by a company that sold bacon to promote the idea that a hearty meal including bacon and eggs was more scientifically beneficial. Bernays conducted interviews and then carefully framed the results that led to a shift in public opinion. Americas iconic breakfast is now bacon and eggs.
In the 1950s, the Keep America Beautiful campaign was launched by a coalition of corporations whose products were often littered (soda bottles, plastic packages, etc.). Their iconic moment was 1971s commercial with actor Iron Eyes Cody as a Native American shedding a single tear about litter and pollution.
Both of these campaigns were carefully crafted propaganda designed to focus on individual decisions and actions. They relied on imagery, symbolism, and emotion, not raw facts. And they werent designed to explicitly sell bacon or guilt. Public relations storytellers shaped public opinion like artists and nudged enough behavior change that the entire culture was impacted.
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Artful vision and the power to reframe
Propaganda is an idea or allegation crafted not to inform neutrally, but to influence behavior and belief. Art is an object or image shaped with skill and imagination to evoke emotion and meaning. Its useful to learn from people who create art and propaganda. In my workplanning transportation systems with a bias toward human flourishingI often say I create propagandart to save the human race.
prä-p-gan-därt (noun): ideas, allegations, and aesthetic objects produced with the conscious use of skill and creative imagination, spread deliberately to further ones cause or to damage an opposing cause
The people best equipped to influence behavior arent just marketers or policymakerstheyre propagandartists. The photographer who shapes what you notice. The muralist who reclaims public space. The meme creator who distills frustration into a punchline. Each is practicing a form of strategic persuasion. Each is shaping not just what we see, but how we feel about it.
Whether youre pitching a startup, selling a product, or reshaping a city, you’re competing with ads, reels, renderings, memesall designed to influence perception before youve said a word. To win the room, you dont need new tools nearly as much as you need to master an old one: the art of influence.
Consider a fine art photographer and a meme lord. One crafts a single frame with obsessive care; the other floods the internet with viral punchlines. Both are propagandistsstorytellers who deliberately shape how we see and feel. If I want to create walk-friendly, bicycle-friendly places that increase the smile density in my city, Im only going to reach that goal through persuasive storytelling.
Every photograph is a lie. Photography isnt objective. Ansel Adams didnt just capture Yosemite; he framed it to evoke awe. Gordon Parks didnt just document injustice; he gave it emotional gravity. Whats left out of the frame is as important as whats inside it.
Thats the lesson: direct attention with intention. Dont pitch the product. Show the life it makes possible. The relieved parent, the joyful commuter, the profitable small business, etc. Great art doesnt just showit sells a version of reality.
Remix culture and the new public square
For urbanism innovators, shaping imaginations is a vital part of the playbook. Launching a new cargo bike, pitching a housing policy, or designing a bus transfer hub requires persuasion. If you cant shape public imagination, your product, policy, or vision will be dead on arrival, no matter how brilliant the data behind it.
Judy Chicago, The Dinner Party, 1979 on display at the Brooklyn Museum, ca. 2007. [Photo: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images]
Artists reframe the past, present, and futuresometimes in an effort to change culture in some way, sometimes just to be irreverent or entertaining. From Shepard Faireys Hope poster to Judy Chicagos The Dinner Party, art can create appetites for ideas the mainstream hasnt developed yet. A speculative rendering of a car-free downtown is an example of a prompt for belief. The High Line in New York began this way: a vision, illustrated and circulated, that turned an abandoned rail line into a civic treasure.
Applying lessons learned from the art world doesnt require training to become a great artist yourself. Memes are fast, cheap, and culturally potent. Theyre the digital ages most accessible form of propagandart and we all know they can sometimes look sloppy and haphazard. A meme doesnt explainit distills. The Distracted Boyfriend image reshaped debates about loyalty. Bernie Sanders in mittens became a viral fundraiser. Memes bypass logic, persuading with speed, irony, and emotional friction.
For builders and changemakers, memes offer a strategy. Want to communicate the absurdity of legacy infrastructure or bloated software? A meme can do in seconds what a slide deck does in 30 minutes. Memes can help energize a movement or reframe a dull category. The trick is to stop thinking of them as fluff and start using them as signals.
Organized persuasion
Weve been taught to fear the word propaganda. But propaganda, at its root, is organized persuasion. And in an environment of infinite messages, intentional persuasion is a competitive edge. Propagandart blends arts emotional pull with strategys clarity. A viral video about your mission is propagandart. A campaign calling out industry greenwashing is propagandart. A cartoon satirizing the way zoning keeps Americans trapped in cars is propagandart.
Decide what belief or point of view youre trying to implant, or what behavior youre trying to shift. Then use facts to create stories that move markets.
From canvas to camera to meme, the artists role has never changed: shape what people seeand how they feel about it. This is true for shipping code, designing buildings, or launching a movement of kids biking to school. Your work and your legacy lives or dies by stories.
With artistic tools in every pocket and publi platforms a click away, were in a golden age of propagandart. If you want your idea to stick, it needs more than a data pointit needs to be seen, felt, and shared.
Just ask the campaigners behind Barcelonas Superblocks. Before reconfiguring traffic patterns or drafting ordinances, they shared speculative renderings of tree-lined streets, kids playing in former intersections, and cafes spilling into quiet roads once dominated by cars. Those images didnt just illustrate the plan. They created public appetite for changeturning skepticism into support.
The power of propagandart is shaping not just what people know, but what they want. Picture a better world. Frame the story. Share it. If you can shape how people feel, you can shape what they demand.
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How do you feel about your work? Do its daily demands leave you burned out and drained of energy?
Do you find yourself reducing how much effort you make to engage in some quiet or “soft” quitting? Or maybe you dream of taking a more decisive step and joining the “great resignation.”
The prevalenceand popularityof these responses suggest that there has been quite a change in many peoples attitudes to the way they earn a living. Some think that this change stems from a post-COVID evaluation of work-life balance. Others say its an individual form of industrial action.
However, these explanations keep the spotlight firmly on workers rather than the work itself. Perhaps the truth lies in a fundamental deterioration in peoples relationship with their work and maybe the work needs to shoulder some of the responsibility.
Our experience of working, and its impact on our lives, is about more than what goes on within the office or school or hospital or factory that pays our wages. Even something as simple (yet important) as the number of hours someone works might be the result of a complex combination of national law, professional expectations, and an organizations resources.
This is where something known as the psychosocial work environment comes inan approach (especially popular in Scandinavia) that examines the various structures, conditions, and experiences that affect an employees psychological and emotional well-being.
Research in this field suggests that there are three conditions vital to the modern work experience: autonomy, boundary management, and “precarity.”
Autonomy is about how much control and influence you have when it comes to doing your job and is key to how most employees feel about their work.
Low levels of autonomy can leave people feeling overwhelmed and powerless. But high levels can also be detrimental, leading to excessive levels of individual responsibility and overwhelming hours.
Ideally, you should have enough autonomy to feel a sense of flexibility and self-determinationbut not so much that you feel you need to always be available and constantly on the clock.
Setting boundaries
Boundary management is the ability to manage the physical and mental boundaries between work and nonwork lives. Achieving a suitable work-life balance has become even more important in a world of hybrid working.
But in jobs with high levels of autonomy and responsibility, boundaries can become blurred and unpredictable. Phones ping with work-related notifications, and leisure becomes work at the swipe of a screen.
All of this can lead to feelings of anxiety and exhaustion. The goal here is to set clear boundaries that bring predictability and clarity around work time and demands. This provides flexibility that is empowering rather than exploitative.
Finally, “precarity” refers to a lack of stability and security in life. It refers specifically to a harmful state of uncertainty that is typically associated with job insecurity (zero-hour contracts, for example).
This uncertainty and insecurity can dominate daily work time (and free time), leading to feelings of stress and anxiety. It can also have a negative impact on personal finances and career plans.
Income and contract security can help here, although people working in insecure jobs often have little power when it comes to persuading their employers to make the necessary changes.
But addressing the deteriorating relationship between employees and their work means confronting certain core conditions. Reflecting on the psychosocial elements of employment can help to identify the gap between expectation and actual experience.
Before experiencing burnout or resorting to quitting (in any of its forms), this approach encourages employees and employers to reflect on two key questions. How does work make you feel? And what are the things that cause those feelings?
Research on psychosocial work environments provides some guidance. It suggests that workers are more likely to thrive when they have autonomy that feels like control rather than abandonment, and flexibility and clarity that allows for a good work-life balance. They also need security that offers certainty in the presentand confidence in the future.
John-Paul Byrne is a lecturer at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
New Jersey Transit urged riders to reach their destinations before the end of the day Thursday or risk being stranded, as last-minute talks continued in a bid to avert a rail strike by train engineers that would affect some 350,000 commuters in New Jersey and New York City.
The labor dispute is stressing out some Manhattan commuters and already disrupting travel to Shakira concerts Thursday and Friday at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Amid the uncertainty over whether the strike would happen, the transit agency canceled train and bus service at the stadium.
The system’s advisory provided riders with details on contingency plans that would take effect if engineers walk off the job at 12:01 a.m. ET Friday. The agency plans to increase bus service, saying it would add very limited capacity to existing New York commuter bus routes in close proximity to rail stations and will contract with private carriers to operate bus service from key regional park-and-ride locations during weekday peak periods.
However, the agency noted that the buses would not be able to handle close to the same number of passengersonly about 20% of current rail customersso it is has urged people who can work from home to do so if there is a strike.
NJ Transitthe nations third largest transit systemoperates buses and rail in the state, providing nearly 1 million weekday trips, including into New York City. A walkout would halt all NJ Transit commuter trains, which provide heavily used public transit routes between New York Citys Penn Station on one side of the Hudson River and communities in northern New Jersey on the other, as well as the Newark Airport, which has grappled with unrelated delays of its own recently.
Wages have been the main sticking point of the negotiations between the agency and the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen. The union says its members earn an average salary of $113,000 a year and that an agreement could be reached if agency CEO Kris Kolluri agrees to an average yearly salary of $170,000.
NJ Transit leadership, though, disputes the unions data, saying the engineers have average total earnings of $135,000 annually, with the highest earners exceeding $200,000.
If the walkout happens, it would be the states first transit strike in more than 40 years. It comes a month after union members overwhelmingly rejected a labor agreement with management.
The parties met Monday with a federal mediation board in Washington to discuss the dispute, but both sides and the board have declined to comment on whether any progress has been made in subsequent talks this week.
Bruce Shipkowski, Associated Press
If brands want to reach the shoppers of the future, theyll need to meet them where they already are: playing video games.
For this youngest generation, the coolest places to hang out arent the local mall or park but inside virtual worlds. While millennials had Sega Mega Drive and Mario Kart, and Gen Z grew up on The Sims and Angry Birds, Gen Alphaborn between 2010 and 2024 and still younger than 17is coming of age in a world even more seamlessly integrated with technology. Gaming is no longer fringe culture; its where they socialize.
Analysts at investment bank UBS recently found that while older generations still spend about two more hours per week on social platforms than on games, Gen Alpha splits their time evenly between the two. Their engagement with digital platforms goes far beyond passive scrolling. For them, gaming is a medium for creativity and self-expression. If Gen Z and millennials were the social generationsraised on MySpace, Facebook, and InstagramGen Alpha is the gaming generation.
Now, brands are stepping further into these virtual spaces. Just today, Roblox announced its opening its Commerce APIs to eligible creators and brands, with Shopify as the first integrated partner. That means Shopify merchants can now sell physical goods directly within their Roblox experiences. It also works the other way. Through Robloxs new Approved Merchandiser Program, users can buy physical items in the real world that unlock digital content in-game.
Among popular gaming platforms, Roblox reaches one of the youngest audiences, with 60% of its users under the age of 16. These digital worlds have replaced group chats and casual hangouts with avatars serving as extensions of personality and style, Liv Burke, associate director of social at social media agency Superdigital, recently wrote in an op-ed for Variety. In these spaces, Gen Alpha is building and personalizing virtual worlds with limited-edition skins and viral emotesand inviting their friends to join.
For a generation that grew up with iPads in hand, their entertainment ecosystems exist largely beyond the reach of traditional advertising. As a result, advertisers investment in gaming is projected to nearly double over the next five years, according to Futurescape. After all, this generation already accounts for an estimated $50 billion in annual spendinga figure expected to reach $5.5 trillion by 2029.
For brands looking to connect with the next wave of consumers, its game on.
Exciting news for anyone who’s already burned through the entirety of Netflix: There’s a new online movie rental platform coming to town.
Letterboxd, the movie-tracking app and the preferred social media of your most insufferable film-loving friend, announced this week that the Letterboxd Video Store is on the way.
The announcement was made Tuesday at the Cannes Film Festival. While the company hasnt revealed too many specifics just yet, we do know the upcoming streaming service will be called the Letterboxd Video Store and will feature curated shelves of handpicked titles.
Like other services such as Prime Video, Apple TV, or Google Play, users will be able to rent films on demand or during specified release windows. But dont expect the usual lineup. These selections will be carefully curated by Letterboxd, spotlighting lesser-known films, emerging filmmakers, and titles from the festival circuit.
By showcasing movies that haven’t yet secured wide distribution, Letterboxd aims to position its transactional video-on-demand (TVOD) service as a potential new path to audience connection for filmmakers and sales agents seeking visibility and momentum.
Details around launch dates, availability by territory, and specific titles will be announced in the coming months. However, the company has confirmed that selections will be informed by behavioral insight drawn from its 20 million-strong community of dedicated film lovers.
Launched in 2011, the platform, often dubbed the Goodreads for film, remained a niche hub for cinephiles for nearly a decade. By mid-2020, it had only 1.8 million members. Today, Letterboxd has gone fully mainstream. Top reviewers enjoy micro-celebrity status, its Four Favorites trend routinely goes viral on TikTok, and users gleefully speculate about celebrities burner accounts.
Every day, we see members recommending films to each other, adding to their watch lists and hungry to discover more, Letterboxd CEO Matthew Buchanan said, per The Hollywood Reporter. Letterboxd Video Store is our way of delivering for those film lovers, creating a dedicated space for films that deserve an audience.
Stock in Coinbase (COIN), the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange, fell over 8% Thursday on news it was the victim of a cyberattack, in which hackers successfully bribed overseas contractors to leak important information so they could steal customer data. The company estimates it could cost $400 million to resolve the situation.
While investors may be concerned, Coinbase customers undoubtedly are, too. Here’s what users of the crypto exchange need to know.
What happened?
Coinbase reported in a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that on May 11, it received an email from an entity claiming to have obtained information about certain Coinbase customer accounts and internal Coinbase documentationincluding materials relating to customer-service and account-management systems.
The filing said hackers sent an email threatening to publish customers’ personal data if Coinbase did not pay a $20 million ransom, which CEO Brian Armstrong confirmed on X was specifically for “$20 million in Bitcoin.” According to the SEC filing, Coinbase learned the cyber criminals obtained the data by paying off multiple overseas contractors or employees working in support roles. Once detected, Coinbase immediately terminated those involved.
Coinbase said it did not pay the ransom and has been working with law enforcement to investigate the breach. It’s establishing a $20 million reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for the attack.
Was my Coinbase password or private key leaked in the attack?
No. The SEC filing said the data breach did not compromise customer passwords or private keys.
Were my Coinbase funds exposed in the attack?
According to the SEC filing, neither “targeted contractors” nor “employees” were able to access customer funds.
What about Coinbase customer data like my email, address, and phone number?
Yes, according to Coinbase’s blog, the following personal information was compromised:
Name, address, phone, and email
Masked Social Security (last 4 digits only)
Masked bankaccount numbers and some bank account identifiers
GovernmentID images (e.g., drivers license, passport)
Account data (balance snapshots and transaction history)
Limited corporate data (including documents, training material, and communications available to support agents)
How can I protect myself?
Coinbase told Fast Company: “Expect imposters. Scammersrelated to this incident or notmay pose as Coinbase employees and try to pressure you into moving your funds.”
Additionally, the company outlined what customers can do in this post.
What should I do if I receive a phone call, text, or request from Coinbase?
A Coinbase spokesperson told Fast Company, “if you receive this call, hang up the phone. Coinbase will never ask you to contact an unknown number to reach us.”
Again, remember, Coinbase will never call or text, or ask for your password or 2FA codes, or for you to transfer assets to a specific or new address, account, vault, or wallet.
I think my Coinbase information was leaked in the cyberattack. What should I do?
Coinbase said it will reimburse customers who were tricked into sending funds to the attacker due to social engineering attacks.
If your data was accessed, you should have already received an email; notifications were sent Wednesday, May 15 at 7:20 a.m. ET to affected customers.
Flagged accounts now require additional ID checks on large withdrawals and include mandatory scamawareness prompts. As Coinbase monitors high-risk transactions, customers may experience delays.
The company said it is opening a new support hub in the U.S., adding stronger security controls, and monitoring across all locations, and will keep the community updated as the investigation progresses.
Noodles & Company, the fast-casual chain known for serving an array of noodle-based dishes, will shutter up to 21 restaurants.The brand, founded in Denver, Colorado in 1995, has already closed at least nine locations over the past year. In a conference call last week, chief financial officer Michael Hynes said, “We expect to close 13 to 17 company-owned and four franchise restaurants in 2025.” The most recent count is up from a previous estimate of 12 to 15 company-owned closures.
Noodles & Company currently has 380 company-owned restaurants and 89 franchised locations in 31 states. According to the brand’s website, the impending closures are due to higher food costs and increased marketing expenses.
Recently, Noodles & Company revamped its menu and, according to QSR, saw revenue tick upward, rising 2% in the first quarter, with same-store sales increasing 4.4% and a 4.7% gain at company-owned locations.
And despite the looming closures, Noodles & Company maintains a positive outlook. In a May 7 press release announcing first-quarter financial results, chief executive officer Drew Madsen explained that the company has actually been growing.
We are very pleased with the strong comparable restaurant sales and traffic performance we achieved during the first quarter despite a challenging macroeconomic environment, Madsen said. Our momentum is being driven by our fully reimagined new menu that launched on March 12, supported by increased marketing investment and a new brand strategy. Since the new menu introduction, comparable sales have increased by approximately 5% through April.
Nation’s Restaurant News also reported that according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Noodles & Company is opening at least two new restaurants this year.
Fast-casual restaurants have been struggling amid higher food costs and slower foot traffic. In 2024, TGI Fridays, Bloomin Brands, Hooters, and Dennys all closed underperforming locations, while other chains like BurgerFi, Red Lobster, and Sticky Fingers filed for bankruptcy. Most recently, fast-casual and fast-food chains Chipotle and McDonald’s have seen weaker sales.
Noodles & Company has not released a list of the closing restaurant locations and did not immediately respond to a Fast Company inquiry.
The head of the Environmental Protection Agency came under bipartisan criticism Wednesday over his agency’s actions to cancel billions of dollars in congressionally approved spending to address chronic pollution in minority communities and jump-start clean energy programs across the country.
Nearly 800 grants were awarded by former President Joe Bidens administration under the 2022 climate law, which directed the EPA to spend $3 billion on grants to help low-income and minority communities improve their air and water and protect against climate change. The law allocated another $20 billion under a so-called green bank program to finance clean energy and climate-friendly projects nationwide.
Funding for both programs was abruptly terminated by the Trump administration in actions that Democrats have denounced as illegal and unconstitutional.
Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, a Democrat, said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has illegally withheld, or impounded, climate-law funding despite a decades-old law that explicitly prohibits such actions by the executive branch. Repeated court rulings, including by the Supreme Court, support the power of Congress to set federal spending levels.
Zeldin’s budget maneuvers endanger communities by making it harder to address pollution and climate chaos, Merkley said at a hearing Wednesday.
Varied approaches to questioning the EPA chief
Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, chair of a Senate Appropriations subcommittee on the environment, also criticized Zeldin, saying funding freezes approved by his agencyincluding to grants intended for rural communities in Alaskawere somewhat indiscriminate.
Murkowski questioned whether severe budget cuts proposed by President Donald Trump were serious. Many of the proposals, such as an 88% cut to a state revolving fund for clean water, are likely to be reversed by Congress, she said.
The EPA’s approach under Zeldin is problematic, Murkowski added. EPA has not adhered to our guidelines and has been largely unresponsive to questions,” she said.
Zeldin told Murkowski she has a special phone number for his office and can call him any time.
His exchanges with Democrats were less friendly.
So you understand that when you impound funds, youre violating the law?” Merkley asked Zeldin, a former New York congressman who took over at EPA in January.
No, Senator, we are going to follow all statutory obligations,” Zeldin replied. We absolutely disagree with you very strongly.”
Asked under what authority the money was being withheld, Zeldin cited policy priorities under Trump that differ from Biden-era views.
But it wasnt the Biden administration that passed this law. It was Congress,” Merkley shot back. And so, this is in the law as written, and its signed by the president, and yet youre defying it.”
Zeldin said he rejected Merkley’s premise, adding, “We couldnt possibly disagree more strongly with what youre saying.”
If he can’t follow his oath of office, Zeldin should resign, Merkley said, a suggestion Zeldin immediately rejected.
Accused of trying to burn it down
Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington state said Zeldin and Trump shared an approach when it comes to EPA: “Burn it down.”
Money being withheld by EPA would pay for things like heat pumps to reduce energy costs and pollution, wildfire preparedness and infrastructure upgrades to protect drinking water from floods and earthquakes, Murray said. “Blocking this funding is hurting communities everywhere,” she said.
Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff asked Zeldin why he had canceled a $19.8 million grant to Thomasville, Georgia, to replace a wastewater collection system and build a community health clinic.
Is a new health clinic for Thomasville woke? Ossoff asked, noting that the grant was approved under an environmental justice program the EPA has terminated.
Zeldin again cited policy priorities before Ossoff, a Democrat, cut him off. “You hurt my constituents,” he said.
Zeldin later said grants to Thomasville and towns in Alaska and Washington state may be restored if language about environmental justice and diversity is removed, in accordance with an executive order by Trump.
Zeldin declined to provide specific goals for EPA staffing under his tenure, but appeared to acknowledge claims by Merkley and Murray that staff totals could return to a level last seen under former President Ronald Reagan. The EPA had fewer than 11,000 employees in 1983, compared to more than 15,100 in 2024.
The agency has laid off hundreds of employees and offered voluntary retirement or deferred resignations to thousands more as part of a broader effort by Trump and adviser Elon Musk to downsize the federal workforce.
Matthew Daly, Associated Press
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), under acting director Russell Vought, canceled proposed new rules this week that would have protected Americans sensitive private dataincluding financial data, credit history, and Social Security numbersfrom being collected by data brokers without consent and sold to advertisers and other third parties.
The proposed rules, which were crafted in December by the Biden administrations CFPB director, Rohit Chopra, were aimed at protecting consumers from commercial surveillance practices that threaten our personal safety and undermine Americas national security. (Wired, for example, reported in February that U.S. data brokers were using Google’s ad-tech tools to sell access to information about devices linked to military service members and national security decision-makers.)
Proposed rules clarified that many data brokers are in fact consumer reporting agencies, like the credit bureaus, which already must comply with the privacy and accuracy rules in the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). For example, under those requirements, data brokers would have to get explicit consent from consumers before collecting and selling their data.
But on Tuesday, the Vought-led CFPB quietly announced in the Federal Register that it was withdrawing the proposed rules, stating that they are not necessary or appropriate at this time. The CFPBs argument against the proposed rules revolved around a single comment left during the public comment period about the proposed rules propriety under the plain text of the FCRA.
Data privacy advocates have been fighting for years to make data brokers subject to the FCRAs privacy rules. The withdrawal of the proposal is a victory for large data brokers such as Acxiom and Epsilon, for the consumer websites that sell data, and for the vast digital advertising ecosystem that uses the data to target ads.
While many consumers are unaware of the vast personal data marketplace centered around data brokers, privacy advocates immediately saw the death of the proposed rules as a major setback. The data broker industry is out of controldata brokers threaten our privacy, national security, physical safety, and economic security every day, said Electronic Privacy Information Center law fellow Caroline Kraczon in a statement Tuesday. The CFPBs withdrawal of the proposed rules is another attack in the administrations war against consumers on behalf of corporate interests.
At the state level, California, New Jersey, and Vermont have passed legislation giving consumers the right to demand that data brokers delete sensitive personal information about them.
