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Archive for September, 2012
No role for UK shale gas, say green groups
Posted by BusinessGreen: Will Nichols on September 21st, 2012
BusinessGreen: Green groups have slammed a report claiming shale gas could provide 10 per cent of the UK's gas supply for over a century.
The Institute of Directors (IoD) says there is sufficient supply of the controversial energy source to offset 60 per cent of the predicted decline in gas reserves, while building an industry capable of supporting 35,000 jobs.
It adds switching from coal-fired generation to shale gas would reduce UK emissions by 45 million tonnes of CO2, some eight per cent of the country's...
Oceans emptying out as 85% of fish species suffer severe decline
Posted by BBC: Gaia Vince on September 21st, 2012
BBC: When the number of king salmon running in Crooked Creek's river declined dramatically, the mostly native Alaskan villagers were left wondering where they could find enough food to last the winter.
It has been some time since most humans lived as hunter-gatherers -- with one important exception. Fish are the last wild animal that we hunt in large numbers. And yet, we may be the last generation to do so.
Entire species of marine life will never be seen in the Anthropocene (the Age of Man), let...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Oceans emptying out as 85% of fish species suffer severe declineNew York State’s Decision on Hydrofracking Will Await Health Review
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 21st, 2012
New York Times: After four years of study by the state, the Cuomo administration now says its decision on whether to allow high-volume hydraulic fracturing in New York will have to wait until it conducts a review of the potential public health effects of the controversial natural gas drilling process. On Thursday, Joseph Martens, commissioner of the State Department of Environmental Conservation, announced that he had asked the health commissioner, Dr. Nirav Shah, to assess his department’s analysis of the health...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on New York State’s Decision on Hydrofracking Will Await Health ReviewOil and gas drillers have injected more than 10 trillion gallons of wastewater into the earth
Posted by ProPublica: Abrahm Lustgarten on September 21st, 2012
ProPublica: On a cold, overcast afternoon in January 2003, two tanker trucks backed up to an injection well site in a pasture outside Rosharon, Texas. There, under a steel shed, they began to unload thousands of gallons of wastewater for burial deep beneath the earth.
The waste -- the byproduct of oil and gas drilling -- was described in regulatory documents as a benign mixture of salt and water. But as the liquid rushed from the trucks, it released a billowing vapor of far more volatile materials, including...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Oil and gas drillers have injected more than 10 trillion gallons of wastewater into the earthA Delay in New York’s Fracking Decision?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 20th, 2012
New York Times: New York State’s top environmental official just announced that he has asked the state health commissioner to assess the potential health impacts from allowing high-volume hydraulic fracturing in New York State. The environmental commissioner, Joe Martens, said he was rejecting requests from various groups for an independent health study. “While the review will be informed by outside perspectives on the science of hydrofracking, the decision-making will remain a governmental responsibility,” he...
Avian Malaria in Alaska: The Climate Change Connection
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 20th, 2012
Climate Central: A team of biologists has just announced the first documented case of bird-to-bird malaria transmission in Alaska. Writing in the journal PLOS ONE, they've shown that this frequently fatal avian illness, which is normally associated with the tropics and temperate areas, may be expanding its range. Fortunately, avian malaria doesn't affect humans, co-author Ravinder Sehgal of San Francisco State University said, but the findings are particularly significant from a bird conservation as well as a climate...
Drought Grows, Forecast to Persist Through Early Winter
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 20th, 2012
Climate Central: The massive and widespread 2012 drought that has gripped the nation since the spring refuses to die, according to the latest report from the U.S. Drought Monitor -- and in fact, it's expanded a little: as of September 18, 64.82 percent of the contiguous U.S. was suffering from at least moderate drought, slightly more than the 64.16 percent reported a week earlier, enough of a gain to set a new record for this drought category.
At the same time, NOAA released its seasonal drought outlook for the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Drought Grows, Forecast to Persist Through Early WinterNatural gas fracking fires protest over pollution fears
Posted by Guardian: Amy Goodman on September 20th, 2012
Guardian: Western Pennsylvania is considered the birthplace of commercial oil drilling. On 27 August 1859, Edwin Drake struck oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania, and changed the course of history. Now, people there are busy trying to stop wells, and the increasingly pervasive drilling practice known as fracking.
Fracking is the popular term for hydraulic fracturing, the technique used to extract natural gas from deep beneath the earth's surface. Fracking is promoted by the gas industry as the key to escaping...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Natural gas fracking fires protest over pollution fearsDrought area expands in northern U.S., eases in south
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 20th, 2012
Reuters: The worst drought to hit the United States in a half century expanded in the upper Midwest and northern Plains states in the past week due to warmer- and drier-than-normal weather, but loosened its grip on some central and southern areas of the country.
Nearly 65 percent of the contiguous United States were under at least "moderate" drought as of September 18, up from about 64 percent a week earlier, according to the Drought Monitor, a weekly compilation of data gathered by federal and academic...
Via You Tube, a New Conservation Genre
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 20th, 2012
New York Times: The drought of 2012, which continues to spread westward, is making its mark on the national consciousness in many ways. Rising food prices. Interrupted livelihoods. Fields of stunted, desiccated crops.
All of this dryness has resonance in our video culture. Just go to You Tube and look at the proliferation of public service announcements on water conservation. Making one of these seems to be the school project du jour these days. But in this array there are some standouts, like Oklahoma City`s...