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Archive for April 15th, 2011
Oil Industry Threatens Obama Admin Over Clean Water Act Guidance for Wetlands
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 15th, 2011
Greenwire: Some of the biggest names in the oil industry -- Exxon Mobil Corp., Marathon Oil Corp. and the American Petroleum Institute -- have waded into the fight to stop the Obama administration from strengthening Clean Water Act regulation of streams and wetlands. The three oil heavyweights met with White House officials last month and threatened legal warfare if the administration proceeds with issuing new guidance on Clean Water Act rules that would increase the number of wetlands and streams subject...
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Comments Off on Oil Industry Threatens Obama Admin Over Clean Water Act Guidance for WetlandsUnited States: 1872 mining law threatens Grand Canyon
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 15th, 2011
Reuters: A U.S. law from the pick-and-shovel days of the Western frontier now threatens natural treasures including Grand Canyon National Park as mining claims on public lands proliferate, an environmental group said on Friday.
The 1872 Mining Law, signed by President Ulysses S. Grant, allows mining companies -- including foreign-owned ones -- to take about $1 billion a year in gold and other metals from public lands without paying a royalty, according to a report by the nonprofit Pew Environment Group....
Canada: Suncor fined for water charge at oil sands site
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 15th, 2011
Reuters: Suncor Energy Inc has been fined C$275,000 ($286,000) after pleading guilty to charges that it failed to manage storm water at an oil sands construction site, Alberta's Environment Ministry said on Friday. The charge stems from a May 2008 incident in which a mixture of water and dirt from Suncor's Voyageur upgrader construction site flowed into the Athabasca River, in contravention of the company's water management plan. Suncor pleaded guilty to one count under Alberta's Water Act. The government...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canada: Suncor fined for water charge at oil sands siteIndonesia drags heels on deforestation ban
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 15th, 2011
Carbon Positive: More than three months after a landmark moratorium on deforestation in Indonesia was due to take effect, the initiative is not in place as Jakarta battles to resolve the details of the forest clearing ban. Last year, Norway offered Indonesia $1 billion under a deal that would see Jakarta place a two-year moratorium on forest clearing. The deal is at the frontline of global efforts to establish a REDD+ mechanism to halt deforestation in developing countries and is being watched closely around the...
RSPB calls for wildlife farming to bring back birds
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 15th, 2011
Telegraph: Favourite farmland birds such as the turtle dove, starling and yellowhammer have plummeted over the last 40 years by more than 50 per cent.
Traditionally conservationists blamed the post war transformation of the British countryside from mixed patchwork fields to rolling monoculture. They argue that birds and animals are starving to death because agriculture is now too efficient to leave enough seeds or insects for nature to survive.
But after years of campaigning against farmers, the Royal...
Ag research funding up in Africa, but still spotty – report
Posted by AlertNet: Max Greene on April 15th, 2011
AlertNet: Investment in agricultural research and development in sub-Saharan Africa rose by more than 20 percent this decade, but most of the growth occurred in only a handful of countries, while the rest saw stagnant or falling investment, a new study shows.
Where funding did increase, much of the money went to boost low salaries and rehabilitate infrastructure and equipment after years of neglect, the study by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) found.
With the world's population...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Ag research funding up in Africa, but still spotty – reportGreat Lakes wolves could come off endangered list
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 15th, 2011
Associated Press: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said Friday it would try again to drop wolves in the western Great Lakes region from the federal endangered species list, although courts have overruled previous attempts.
About 4,200 wolves roam and forests and fields of Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan's Upper Peninsula, their numbers growing steadily since receiving government protection in the early 1970s.
"Wolves in the western Great Lakes have achieved recovery," said Rowan Gould, acting director of...
Arctic climate change a “crucial foreign policy issue” being ignored
Posted by Nunatsiaq News: None Given on April 15th, 2011
Nunatsiaq News: Arctic climate change is one of the most crucial foreign and environmental policy issues facing Canada, but it has largely been ignored by all parties in the current federal election, says former foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Winnipeg, speaking at a Toronto event to discuss a report on Arctic climate change released this week by U.S.-based Aspen Institute.
"As Canadians once again go to the polls to choose a new Parliament, the future of the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Arctic climate change a “crucial foreign policy issue” being ignoredAir pollution ‘damaging Europe’s wildlife havens’
Posted by BBC: Roger Harrabin on April 15th, 2011
BBC: Air pollution is damaging 60% of Europe's prime wildlife sites in meadows, forests and heaths, according to a new report.
A team of EU scientists said nitrogen emissions from cars, factories and farming was threatening biodiversity.
It's the second report this week warning of the on-going risks and threats linked to nitrogen pollution.
The Nitrogen Deposition and Natura 2000 report was published at a key scientific conference in Edinburgh.
Earlier this week, the European Nitrogen Assessment...
Increased fertiliser use can stem loss of W.Africa forest-study
Posted by AlertNet: George Fominyen on April 15th, 2011
AlertNet: West African farmers could have saved 2.1 million hectares of tropical forest from being cleared or degraded if they used more fertiliser to grow crops such as cocoa, cassava and oil palm, according to a study by the International Institute for Tropical Agriculture.
About two million households in West Africa depend on cocoa for their income. Between 1997 and 2007, production of the crop doubled in the region's Guinean Rainforest area, which stretches from Liberia to Cameroon.
Forest with high...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Increased fertiliser use can stem loss of W.Africa forest-study