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Archive for March, 2012
Tornado-ravaged areas hit by snowstorm, cold
Posted by Reuters: John D. Stoll on March 5th, 2012
Reuters: A winter snow storm added to the woes on Monday of tornado-struck Indiana and Kentucky, dropping several inches of snow on the ravaged region where dozens of people were killed, meteorologists said.
Overnight, three to five inches of snow fell in southern Indiana and north-central Kentucky, where recovery efforts were underway after Friday's deadly twisters, the National Weather Service said.
The fast-moving tornadoes, numbering at least 30, splintered blocks of homes and tossed around vehicles...
Canada: Climate change inevitable, say scientists
Posted by 24 Hours: Michael Mui on March 5th, 2012
24 Hours: Sea level rises and climate change in the Great White North are “unavoidable,” regardless of any effort to halt them, according to local scientists.
If we completely stop producing greenhouse gas emissions today, Canadians can still expect the air to get two degrees Celsius hotter in the coming decades, said Simon Fraser University professor Kirsten Zickfeld.
“This is the warming we’ll get based on our past emissions,” she said.
“(It) will be unavoidable, and it will stick around for centuries...
Climate change could make Canada’s traditional street hockey extinct
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 5th, 2012
Guardian: A quintessentially Canadian winter tradition – outdoor street hockey – could be facing extinction within decades because of climate change, a new study says.
Pick-up games of street hockey, also called shinny or pond hockey, are a way of life during the long winters. Many towns are studded with neighbourhood ice rinks, some families even freeze over their backyards. Ottawa has the Rideau Canal, the 5-mile skate run through the nation's capital. But such pursuits are in peril as milder winters...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Climate change could make Canada’s traditional street hockey extinctEnbridge U.S. oil line to be shut for four more days
Posted by Reuters: K.T. Arasu on March 5th, 2012
Reuters: A key segment of Enbridge Inc's oil pipeline system in the U.S. Midwest will remain shut down for up to four more days after a deadly vehicle accident in Illinois caused an oil leak and fire, likely squeezing supplies for refiners in the region, the company said on Sunday.
The shutdown of Enbridge's 318,000 barrel a day Line 14/64, part of a network that carries oil produced in Canada to Griffith, Indiana, from Superior, Wisconsin, is also expected to pressure already-weak prices for Canadian...
Enbridge says no timeline for pipeline restart
Posted by Reuters: K.T. Arasu on March 4th, 2012
Reuters: Enbridge Inc said on Sunday a key segment of its oil pipeline system in the U.S. Midwest will remain shut down for up to four more days after a deadly vehicle accident in Illinois caused an oil leak and fire, likely squeezing supplies for refiners in the region.
The shutdown of Enbridge's 318,000 barrel a day Line 14/64, which extends to Griffith, Indiana, from Superior, Wisconsin, is also expected to pressure already-weak prices for Canadian crude this week as supplies back up in Alberta, market...
Turkey’s birdlife suffering consequences of conservation crisis
Posted by Todays Zaman: None Given on March 4th, 2012
Todays Zaman: The ongoing freeze in Turkey has brought life to a standstill in many parts of the country over the past two months. However, beyond the road closures, traffic chaos, electricity blackouts, commuter frustration and general winter blues, Turkey's birds have been facing a quiet battle for survival in some of the coldest temperatures to have gripped the country in decades.
Many experts say this situation is being compounded by the lack of attention dedicated to protecting refuge areas. For brazen...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Turkey’s birdlife suffering consequences of conservation crisisUnited States: Kitzhaber’s new 10-year energy plan draft floats big ideas to reactivate green energy
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 4th, 2012
Oregonian: Solar power remains only a tiny part of the energy supply picture in Oregon. For all the green energy sound and fury of the past decade -- Oregon's headlong recruitment of wind and solar companies, its controversial tax breaks, its aggressive mandates for renewable power -- change to the overall supply of electricity has been painfully slow to come.
Sure, the Columbia Plateau is now draped in wind turbines. But they still supply only 3 percent of Oregon's electricity. Solar and geothermal are...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United States: Kitzhaber’s new 10-year energy plan draft floats big ideas to reactivate green energyUnited Kingdom: Ancient woodlands under threat from new planning laws, campaigners warn
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 4th, 2012
Guardian: More than 200 ancient woodlands are currently under threat from development, and many more could be at risk without changes to the proposed planning reforms, campaigners are warning.
The Woodland Trust said 630 ancient woods had been threatened by development such as quarries and roads in the past decade, with 111 sites lost in 10 years due to weaknesses in planning policy, and 225 still under threat.
New maps from the trust show dozens of woodlands dating back more than 400 years at risk around...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Ancient woodlands under threat from new planning laws, campaigners warnAt least 37 dead as tornadoes batter American Midwest
Posted by Independent: Jim Suhr , Ken Kusmer on March 4th, 2012
Independent: A string of violent tornadoes touched down across the United States, flattening small towns from the Gulf Coast to the Great Lakes, cutting off rural communities and killing more than 30 people.
Yesterday, as daylight allowed mile after mile of wreckage to be sifted, the death toll was rising. An unknown number of people are still missing.
Searches in Indiana led to the discovery of a two-year-old girl lying alone in a cornfield. It was thought that she had been sucked up and swept across land...
Clean-Energy Plan Seen Benefiting Natural Gas Suppliers
Posted by Bloomberg: Mark Drajem and Justin Doom on March 4th, 2012
Bloomberg: Senator Jeff Bingaman proposed a measure that would require electricity providers to deliver an increasing share of less-carbon intensive energy over the period of 2015 to 2035. Photo: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
Senator Jeff Bingaman proposed a measure that would require electricity providers to deliver an increasing share of less-carbon intensive energy over the period of 2015 to 2035. Photo: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
Natural gas, which already is edging aside coal in American electricity generation,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Clean-Energy Plan Seen Benefiting Natural Gas Suppliers