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Archive for August 20th, 2012
Low water strands 97 vessels on Mississippi River: USCG
Posted by Reuters: Karl Plume on August 20th, 2012
Reuters: The U.S. Coast Guard said on Monday that 97 vessels were stranded by low water on the Mississippi River near Greenville, Mississippi, after it closed an 11-mile stretch of the drought-parched waterway for dredging and to replace missing navigation buoys.
The worst U.S. drought in 56 years has left the river there at its lowest point since 1988, a year when a similarly dire drought also stalled commercial traffic on the major shipping waterway.
Further north, dredging operations near St. Louis...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Low water strands 97 vessels on Mississippi River: USCGHydropower Dam to Flood Sacred Amazon Indigenous Site
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2012
Inter Press Service: The Sete Quedas or "seven waterfalls" on the Teles Pires River, which runs through the Amazon rainforest states of Mato Grosso and Pará in central Brazil, are a spiritual oasis venerated by several indigenous groups.
But the 20-metre-high rocky falls are to be covered by a reservoir created by a hydroelectric dam that is to flood an area of 95 square km.
"It's a sacred area, our creator and mother. And the 'pajé` (shaman) says it is where the fish lay their eggs," João Kayabi, 52, told...
Hurricanes Get Supercharged by River Mouths
Posted by National Geographic: Charles Choi on August 20th, 2012
National Geographic: Hurricanes can get supercharged when they hit river mouths, researchers now find.
Hurricanes keep alive by converting the warmth of tropical waters into motion. The strong winds they kick up in turn cause surface water heated by the sun to mix with deeper, cooler waters, and that drop in warmth causes hurricanes to weaken.
Rivers and rainfall alter this pattern by adding freshwater, which is less dense than saltwater. Therefore, this freshwater sits on top of cold seawater for much the same...
11-mile stretch of Mississippi River closed
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2012
Associated Press: The U.S. Coast Guard says 97 boats and barges are waiting for passage along an 11-mile stretch of the Mississippi River that has been closed because of low water levels.
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EPA seeks input on ethanol mandate waiver requests
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2012
Reuters: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday said it has begun weighing requests to suspend the U.S. ethanol mandate, which requires refiners to blend ethanol into gasoline, and is seeking public feedback.
The governors of North Carolina and Arkansas asked the agency last week to temporarily waive the U.S. quota on ethanol made from corn, because the worst drought in 50 years has driven corn prices higher and hurt livestock producers who depend on the grain for feed.
The EPA asked on...
What’s Causing Extreme Weather?
Posted by National Geographic: Peter Miller on August 20th, 2012
National Geographic: and 2011 that routed storms away from drought-prone parts of North America, and a massive high pressure system, known as a heat ridge, that parked itself over the U.S. this summer and refused to budge.
But there's more to the story, said John Nielsen-Gammon, state climatologist in Texas, which just went through the worst one-year drought in its history.
It wasn't just bad luck that caused these disasters, he explained. Human-induced global warming was also to blame. (Test your global warming...
Fire crews battle wildfires blazing across West
Posted by NBC News: Vignesh Ramachandran on August 20th, 2012
NBC News: As a flurry of wildfires rage across the Western United States, firefighters on Monday were trying to gain control of the 15,000-acre Ponderosa fire in Northern California that began over the weekend.
Firefighters have only been able to contain five percent of the blaze, which is burning across both Tehama and Shasta counties.
The fire began on Saturday after lighting strikes hit the densely forested area about 170 miles north of Sacramento, according to The Associated Press. So far, it has...
Balkan drought highlights years of farm neglect
Posted by Reuters: Daria Sito-Sucic on August 20th, 2012
Reuters: As crops wilt and die in the Balkans, farmers struck down by a particularly harsh drought this year are ruing the region's failure to upgrade irrigation networks and invest in a long-term agricultural strategy.
Hot, dry weather in eastern and southern Europe has piled pressure on world grain markets already reeling from huge drought damage in the United States.
The toll in Bosnia, where surface soil temperatures in the south have hit 47 degrees Celsius (116 Fahrenheit), is estimated at almost...
US drought will lead to inflation and higher food prices, says report
Posted by Guardian: Larry Elliott on August 20th, 2012
Guardian: America's severest drought in half a century will push up inflation and put a fresh obstacle in the path of the struggling global economy, one of the UK's leading banks has warned.
Karen Ward, senior global economist at HSBC, said sharp increases in the cost of wheat, corn and soya beans came at a time when growth was slowing but said the weakness of wage pressure meant there was no need for central banks to raise interest in response to a higher cost of living."
Blistering heat in the US has...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on US drought will lead to inflation and higher food prices, says reportShell running out of time to drill in U.S. Arctic – this year
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2012
Mongabay: The clock is running out for oil giant, Royal Dutch Shell, to drill controversial oil wells in the U.S. Arctic before the harsh winter sets in, reports the Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg. While the company is still optimistic it can reach the Arctic by summer's end, it awaits a number of final permits after suffering numerous setbacks, including one of its drilling ships going adrift and nearly running aground in Alaska.
If it makes it to its drilling sites, the company would have to complete...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Shell running out of time to drill in U.S. Arctic – this year