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Archive for June, 2011
China steps up flood evacuations
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 17th, 2011
BBC: Fatal floods hit China forcing over 500,000 to flee
China has raised the disaster alert to the highest level, as flooding spreads across central and southern provinces
Days of torrential rain have forced the evacuation of hundreds of thousands of people in central and southern China.
The government has described flooding in some areas as the worst since 1955 and has mobilised troops to evacuate some 555,000 people.
More than 100 people are known to have died so far this month.
China's...
UK to fare better than most as world warms up
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 17th, 2011
Independent: Britain will fare better than most other countries as the world heats up in the 21st century, but people living in London and other major UK cities will have to get used to uncomfortably hot summer nights, the latest assessment of global warming suggests.
A team of climate scientists in the United States have produced a detailed global study of the temperature increases expected in different regions over the coming century.
The analysis shows places such as China and the Arctic experiencing...
Plan for Hydroelectric Dam in Patagonia Outrages Chileans
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 17th, 2011
New York Times: A white gas mask hanging from her neck, Paula Bañados strode side by side with 30,000 other marchers through this capital one recent Friday, a determined look on her face. “Patagonia without dams!” Ms. Bañados, 19, shouted with the others, pumping a fist in the air. “The government is saying we will be left without energy, but it’s a lie,” she said. “They are just trying to scare us. But we won’t be scared away, because we know we’re right.” By the time Ms. Bañados reached Chile’s presidential...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Plan for Hydroelectric Dam in Patagonia Outrages ChileansChina raises flood alert to top level, 555,000 evacuated
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 17th, 2011
Reuters: China has mobilized troops to help with flood relief and raised its disaster alert to the highest level after days of downpours forced the evacuation of more than half a million people in central and southern provinces.
More than 555,000 people had been evacuated in seven provinces and a municipality after rains in recently drought-stricken areas caused floods and mudslides in the Yangtze River basin, the official China Daily said.
State media said that as of Thursday evening, floods caused...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on China raises flood alert to top level, 555,000 evacuatedOregon panel approves tough new clean water rules
Posted by Reuters: Teresa Carson on June 17th, 2011
Reuters: Oregon's environmental regulators on Thursday approved new health-based water quality standards, touted as the toughest in the nation, for curtailing toxic pollutants in rivers and streams.
The rules, subject to approval by the Environmental Protection Agency, are up to 10 times more stringent than current national standards and are designed in part to account for comparatively large amounts of fish in the diets of Oregonians, especially Native Americans.
Five years in the making, the regulations...
Japan cleanup of radioactive water hits snag
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 17th, 2011
Reuters: Japan's crisis-hit nuclear power plant could spill more radioactive water into the sea within a week unless engineers can fix a glitch in a new system to clean up growing pools of contaminated water, officials said.
Tokyo Electric Power Co, known as Tepco, has pumped massive amounts of water to cool three reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi plant that went into meltdown after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disabled cooling systems.
But managing the radioactive water has become a major headache...
Record dead zone projected due to Midwest floods
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 16th, 2011
Mongabay: Flooding in the Midwest is likely to cause the largest-ever dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, reports the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
NOAA-supported scientists from three universities –; the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, Louisiana State University and the University of Michigan –; predict the area of low oxygen in the Gulf will measure between 8,500 and 9,421 square miles, an area roughly the size of New Hampshire. The largest Gulf dead zone ever measured...
Over 900 species added to endangered list during past year
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 16th, 2011
Mongabay: Over 900 species added to endangered list during past year Previously unpublished 17th Century Dutch sketch of the dodo, taken from a real specimen, either alive or stuffed. Dronte means dodo in Dutch.
The past twelve months have seen 914 species added to the threatened list by the world's authority of species endangerment, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)'s Red List. Over 19,000 species are now classified in one of three threatened categories, i.e. Vulnerable, Endangered,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Over 900 species added to endangered list during past yearStiff winds test gains of wildfire crews in Arizona
Posted by Reuters: David Schwartz on June 16th, 2011
Reuters: Fire crews battling stubborn flames in eastern Arizona's mountainous pine forests braced on Thursday for a return of stiff winds that could reverse gains against the largest wildfire in state history.
By daybreak, a force of more than 4,600 firefighters had managed to extend containment lines around nearly 30 percent of a blaze that has charred an area half the size of Rhode Island in and around the Sitgreaves-Apache National Forest.
Fire information officer Kelly Wood said much of the effort...
Farm Jobs Lost? Blame Environmentalists! (Or Not.)
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 16th, 2011
New York Times: Protesters marching along a dry canal in 2009. When a drought led California farmers to fallow fields and let workers go, they said environmental laws deprived them of water they needed.
The Pacific Institute, one of the premier research organizations on water issues, has undermined the conventional wisdom in California`s Central Valley with its latest report.
Farmers and most other residents in the state`s breadbasket blame environmentalism run amok for forcing them to leave fields unplanted...