RSS Feed
Archive for January, 2012
Rejecting Keystone XL pipeline proposal, Obama blames House Republicans
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 19th, 2012
New York Times: President Obama on Wednesday rejected, for now, the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline, saying the $7 billion project could not be adequately reviewed within the 60-day deadline set by Congress. While the president’s action does not preclude later approval of the project, it sets up a baldly partisan fight over energy, jobs and regulation that will most likely persist through the November election. The president said his hand had been forced by Republicans in Congress, who inserted a provision in...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Rejecting Keystone XL pipeline proposal, Obama blames House RepublicansAustralia: Scientists reject plan to save Murray-Darling
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 19th, 2012
Sydney Morning Herald: A GROUP of Australia's leading scientists have rejected the proposed plan to save the Murray-Darling, saying basic information needed to have confidence it will deliver a healthy river is missing.
In a statement released yesterday, the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists has also accused the Murray-Darling Basin Authority of developing a set of river reforms that ''manipulates science in an attempt to engineer a pre-determined political outcome''.
The draft basin plan, released last year,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia: Scientists reject plan to save Murray-DarlingBulgaria: The Dark Side of Serbia’s Oil Shale Fairy Tale
Posted by Inter Press Service: Vesna Peric Zimonjic on January 19th, 2012
Inter Press Service: According to an old Serbian fairy tale, God tells a poor man who enters a gold mine that no matter what he chooses to do inside, he'll be sorry when he leaves. If he takes some gold, he'll be sorry for not taking more; if he doesn't, he'll be sorry for not taking any at all.
Modern Serbia now finds itself in a similar situation to the hero of that ancient tale.
Experts have revealed that parts of South-eastern Serbia lie on two billion tons of oil shale that could be processed into oil worth...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Bulgaria: The Dark Side of Serbia’s Oil Shale Fairy TaleDueling NY studies over natural gas climate impact
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 19th, 2012
Associated press: Two groups of scientists at Cornell University are dueling over whether natural gas from shale is better or worse than coal when it comes to global climate change.
It's a significant question because proponents of shale gas development using the controversial practice of high-volume hydraulic fracturing argue that natural gas is a cleaner-burning "bridge fuel" from the age of coal to an era of wind, solar and other sustainable energy sources.
Last spring, Cornell scientist Robert Howarth said...
Canada critical to Obama’s rejection of oil sand pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 19th, 2012
Guardian: US president Barack Obama has rejected TransCanada's bid to build a pipeline from Alberta's tar sands to refineries in Texas. Republicans and the Canadian government say the pipeline would have meant the creation of thousands of jobs in both countries. Environmentalists hail the decision as brave
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canada critical to Obama’s rejection of oil sand pipelineTanzanian farmers look to science – and tradition – to resist drought
Posted by AlertNet: Felix Mwakyembe on January 19th, 2012
AlertNet: Recent years have not been kind to Veremund Mfuse and his maize crops.
As Tanzania struggles with increasingly extreme weather, the farmer, from Mbarali in Tanzania's Mbeya region, has seen his maize production decline, a problem he says is affecting farmers across the region.
"Our major challenge here is drought. We face a critical shortage of water, rains are not reliable (and) we harvest very little,' Mfuse said.
In response to the problem, which experts in the region say is linked to...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Tanzanian farmers look to science – and tradition – to resist droughtGreen policies are costing Britons the earth
Posted by Telegraph: Ruth Porter on January 19th, 2012
Telegraph: Rather predictably, Ed Miliband blamed the cuts for making life tough for those on low and middle incomes this week. And he has heaped scorn on what he calls "rip-off Britain". Both he and Cameron, however, are missing a trick when it comes to making life easier for lower earners. It is in part the green agenda that is driving up living costs and making life harder for vast swathes of Britain.
People on low incomes spend 15 per cent of their total expenditure on food and non-alcoholic drinks,...
Keystone denial a threat to Gateway line: Enbridge
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 19th, 2012
Reuters: The head of pipeline company Enbridge Inc (ENB.TO) said on Wednesday that the Obama administration's rejection of the Keystone XL line may be a threat to other new pipeline projects, including its planned C$5.5. billion ($5.45 billion) Northern Gateway line.
Chief Executive Pat Daniel conceded that Enbridge, whose lines carry the bulk of Canada's crude exports to the United States, may see some short term benefit from the U.S. decision on Wednesday to deny TransCanada Corp's (TRP.TO) Keystone...
Amazon basin becoming carbon emitter
Posted by TG Daily: None Given on January 19th, 2012
TG Daily: Deforestation and climate change are having a profound effect on the Amazon basin, shifting it from a carbon sink to a carbon emitter.
The Large-Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in the Amazon (LBA) evaluates the connections between climate change, agricultural expansion, logging, and fire risk.
And, concludes the team, there are clear signs of transition to a disturbance-dominated regime in the southern and eastern portions of the Amazon basin.
"Deforestation has moved the net basin-wide...
State Dept. to Put Pipeline on Hold, Officials Say
Posted by New York Times: John M. Broder and Dan Frosch on January 19th, 2012
New York Times: The State Department was expected to announce later Wednesday that it cannot recommend going forward with the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline within the 60-day deadline set by Congress, putting the politically charged project on hold indefinitely, administration officials said. The administration has until Feb. 21 to decide the fate of the 1,700-mile pipeline to carry heavy crude oil from formations in Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Gulf Coast. Officials are expected to announce that they...