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Archive for January, 2012
In Montana, a rough road for oil sands equipment
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 18th, 2012
Reuters: Along a remote stretch of mountain highway near the Idaho/ Montana border, on the very same route that nearly killed the legendary 19th century explorers Lewis & Clark, two men are huddled in the snow, guarding a gargantuan blue box owned by Canada's Imperial Oil Ltd.
Pulled by truck, this house-sized "test module" set off from an inland Idaho port nine months ago to demonstrate how Exxon Mobil-owned Imperial planned to ship millions of pounds of Korean-made equipment across the back roads of...
Study: Nature Creates Buffer Against Climate Change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 18th, 2012
Voice of America: The most extensive study ever of biodiversity confirms what scientists have long believed, that natural ecosystems are healthier and more resilient when they support a large variety of plant life.
Reported in the Journal Science, this globe-spanning research finds that abundant forms of plant life keep soils more fertile and productive, and help to buffer ecosystems against the stresses of a changing climate.
The study focused on semi-arid ecosystems which cover 40 percent of the planet and...
Factbox: Keystone XL dominates energy, environment agenda
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 18th, 2012
Reuters: TransCanada Corp's Keystone XL pipeline has been at the center of an emotional debate in the United States, pitting promoters of energy security and job creation against advocates of a green economy who fear the environmental risks of moving oil across the length of the country.
Here are the facts and figures of the proposal and the major issues surrounding it:
PROJECT
Proponent: TransCanada, its country's largest pipeline and power generation operator, is best known for running the most...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Factbox: Keystone XL dominates energy, environment agendaU.S.: Obama Rejects Giant Keystone Pipeline Scheme
Posted by Inter Press Service: Jim Lobe on January 18th, 2012
Inter Press Service: In a decision fraught with political risk, U.S. President Barack Obama Wednesday rejected the permit for the proposed giant Keystone XL pipeline project, insisting that his administration needed more time to determine whether it served the national interest.
His decision was hailed by environmentalists, who have strongly opposed the seven-billion-dollar project that would transport oil extracted from tar sands in Canada some 2,700 kms to U.S. ports on the Gulf of Mexico, and denounced by Republicans...
Breaking: White House Poised to Reject Keystone Pipeline
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on January 18th, 2012
Climate Central: BAccording to news reports, the Obama administration is expected to announce today that it is rejecting the permit application for the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline. The pipeline would have been built by the Canadian firm TransCanada to transport oil from Canadian tar sands in Alberta to refineries in Texas. Congress had mandated that the White House determine the fate of the pipeline by February 21, and this decision is not completely unexpected, since it did not give the Obama administration...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Breaking: White House Poised to Reject Keystone PipelineChina report spells out ‘grim’ climate change risks
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 18th, 2012
Reuters: Global warming threatens China's march to prosperity by cutting crops, shrinking rivers and unleashing more droughts and floods, says the government's latest assessment of climate change, projecting big shifts in how the nation feeds itself. The warnings are carried in the government's "Second National Assessment Report on Climate Change," which sums up advancing scientific knowledge about the consequences and costs of global warming for China -- the world's second biggest economy and the biggest...
Why east Africa’s famine warning was not heeded
Posted by Guardian: Hugo Slim on January 18th, 2012
Guardian: Natural sciences can predict certain things quite well once they have established particular natural laws. But political and social sciences are notoriously bad at it. This is not surprising. Human events are deeply unpredictable, so we tend not to be too hard on ourselves when we miss things like the Arab spring.
But should we be much harder on ourselves when we miss a famine? Surely, there is quite a lot of hard science in a famine – indicators of drought, rising food prices, distressed asset...
Obama set to reject Keystone oil pipeline: sources
Posted by Reuters: Jeff Mason on January 18th, 2012
Reuters: The Obama administration was poised on Wednesday to reject the Keystone crude oil pipeline, according to sources, a decision that would be welcomed by environmental groups but inflame the domestic energy industry.
Sources familiar with the matter told Reuters the administration could announce its rejection of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline late on Wednesday. But State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said later that it has not made a decision on the proposed pipeline.
TransCanada...
United States: Obama administration to deny Keystone XL permit
Posted by LA Times: Neela Banerjee and Christi Parsons on January 18th, 2012
LA Times: The Obama administration has decided that it will not issue a permit before Feb. 21 for the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, according to people with knowledge of the decision.
The announcement, which could come as early as Wednesday, comes in response to a 60-day deadline Congress imposed in late December on the decision-making process for the permit as part of a deal to extend a payroll-tax break and unemployment benefits for two months.
Today's decision, expected from...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United States: Obama administration to deny Keystone XL permitStudy: Global warming related sea level rise poses big threat to Washington, D.C
Posted by Washington Post: Andrew Freedman on January 18th, 2012
Washington Post: Inundation resulting from 0.1 meter (m), 0.4 m, 1.0 m, 2.5 m, and 5.0 m of sea level rise in Washington, D.C. (left maps); and a composite on right map (Risk Analysis)
Global warming-related sea level rise constitutes a major threat to the nation's capital, with the potential to inundate national monuments, museums, military bases, and parts of the Metro Rail system during the next several decades and beyond, according to a recent study published in the journal "Risk Analysis.' The study helps...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Study: Global warming related sea level rise poses big threat to Washington, D.C