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Archive for August, 2011
U.S. Panel Endorses Fracking As Its Members Are Faulted for Industry Ties
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 11th, 2011
Yale Environment 360: A U.S. Energy Department advisory panel has issued a qualified endorsement of the controversial shale gas exploitation technique of hydraulic fracturing, but a group of scientists charges that the panel’s recommendations are tainted because six of its seven members have current financial ties to the natural gas industry. The panel’s report says that hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” could be a productive way of extracting natural gas if the industry follows a set of strict guidelines. These include...
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Drought deepens in South; Texas driest in century
Posted by Reuters: Carey Gillam on August 11th, 2011
Reuters: A devastating drought deepened over the last week in many areas, spreading through more of the Plains and going into the Midwest as triple-digit temperatures baked already thirsty crops and livestock.
The Corn Belt states of South Dakota, Iowa, Illinois and Indiana saw drought develop quickly as the important corn-growing region got only spotty rainfall amid the high heat, according to the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor, produced by a consortium of national climate experts.
Abnormal dryness intensified...
Texas toasts but will it conserve?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 11th, 2011
Christian Science Monitor: How hot is Texas? Really hot. Hot enough to bake chocolate-chip cookies on your Chevy’s dashboard.
Dallas is expected to hit 106 degrees today, a record. The city’s 10-day forecast reads like this: 106, 106, 105, 103, 103, 104, 103, 103, 103, 104. “Big D” has had 39 straight days of temperatures over 100 degrees. The state’s largest city will burn past its all-time record for 100-plus degree days in a row (42) this Friday.
But it’s not just the heat, it’s the dry that’s producing the biggest...
Interview: Emerging Challenges In U.S. Environmental Health
Posted by Yale Environment 360: Elizabeth Grossman on August 11th, 2011
Yale Environment 360: Lynn Goldman, a pediatrician and epidemiologist, has spent her professional life trying to understand and alleviate threats from environmental sources, including the impact of chemical exposures on children. Her interest in the field dates back to her childhood in Galveston, Texas, where she grew up along the Gulf of Mexico surrounded by oil refineries and chemical plants that lit up the night sky with eerie blue, green, and orange hues.
George Washington UniversityLynn Goldman In an interview...
Philippines’ tribes try to save their forest
Posted by Al Jazeera: None Given on August 11th, 2011
Al Jazeera: In the Philippines, when the rest of the population goes to sleep, a reclusive community of indigenous people prepares for another restless night of fear and uncertainty.
Far away in the dense, dark forests of Occidental Mindoro, where Mangyan people are scattered in small remote settlements, tribal leaders now routinely contemplate their future in feverish debates that usually last until daybreak.
"We are petrified that big mining companies will take over our ancestral land. If the government...
The mission to build a toilet that utilises human poo
Posted by Ecologist: Paul Miles on August 11th, 2011
Ecologist: Imagine a toilet that takes human waste and converts it into minerals for fertiliser and clean water, while harvesting energy in the process.
The toilet doesn't use water, doesn't need expensive infrastructure of a sewerage system, doesn't need to be connected to mains electricity and, unlike composting toilets, doesn't need lots of space and time. If a new multi-million dollar project, the 'Reinventing the toilet challenge', is a success, such a toilet may soon become a reality.
The first...
Stop crackdown on small tin miners: Indonesia industry
Posted by Reuters: Michael Taylor on August 11th, 2011
Reuters: Indonesian police carrying out an environmental crackdown in the main tin producing region of Bangka island, should stop targeting small-scale miners as it is hindering domestic smelters' supplies, the Indonesian Tin Industry Association said.
Small-scale traditional tin miners in Indonesia, the world's top tin exporter, have slowed mining activity because they fear being raided by the police, who have been intensifying a crackdown on illegal miners for the past few months.
Small smelters in...
U.S. panel seeks more disclosure on natgas drilling
Posted by Reuters: The Lone Start State Is Breaking Heat and Drought Records This Summer, With No E on August 11th, 2011
Reuters: Natural gas drillers should reveal all chemicals they use in the drilling technique called "fracking" used to tap deep shale reserves, a government panel said on Thursday, even though the risk of water pollution from the technique is "remote."
The U.S. Energy Department's natural gas advisory subcommittee urged regulators to require drillers to release more information about the impact of hydraulic fracturing, which is essential to tapping the nation's plentiful shale gas reserves.
The panel...
Energy Panel Wants Answers On Gas Fracking
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 11th, 2011
National Public Radio: A Department of Energy panel hopes new recommendations "” if implemented "” will restore the public's trust in hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" for natural gas.
In the last few years, fracking has brought new life to old gas fields around the country. Most of the increasing production comes from dense layers of shale deep underground. By pumping huge deep underground amounts of water, along with smaller amounts of chemicals and sand, drillers can force gas out of shale.
Due in part to fracking,...
Southern Heat Wave Strains Power Generation
Posted by Climate Central: Alyson Kenward on August 10th, 2011
Climate Central: The heat this summer has been extraordinarily intense in many Central and Southern states, and triple-digit temperatures continue to roast parts of Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. For example, Dallas, Texas is closing in on its record for the longest streak of 100°F days, and similar milestones have already been reached in other parts of the Lone Star state. At 88.9°F, the average temperature in Oklahoma during the month of July set a new record for the all-time warmest calendar month for any state...