Archive for January 3rd, 2013

Fracking can be done safely in New York state: dept report

Posted by Reuters: Peter Rudegeair on January 3rd, 2013
Reuters: The natural gas drilling process known as fracking would not be a danger to public health in New York state so long as proper safeguards were put into place, according to a health department report that environmentalists fear could help lift a moratorium on the controversial technique. Governor Andrew Cuomo is weighing the economic benefits of hydraulic fracturing - commonly known as fracking - against the environmental risks from a technology that could unlock a vast domestic energy supply but...
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Canada minister says Northern Gateway line can still go ahead

Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 3rd, 2013
Reuters: Proponents of the planned Northern Gateway pipeline from Alberta's oil sands to Canada's West Coast can still carry the day even though the project has generated a wave of opposition, the country's natural resources minister said. "I am still of the belief that we can get this done, on the assumption, of course, that it passes regulatory muster," Joe Oliver told Postmedia News in an interview published on Thursday. "If the conclusion is this project can be safe for Canadians, safe for the environment...
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Transocean To Pay $1.4 Billion In Gulf Oil Spill Settlement

Posted by National Public Radio: Carrie Johnson on January 3rd, 2013
National Public Radio: Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon rig where 11 men died in April 2010, has agreed to pay $1.4 billion in criminal and civil penalties to resolve Justice Department allegations over its role in the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. A Transocean subsidiary also agreed to plead guilty to a single criminal misdemeanor charge for violating the Clean Water Act. Federal authorities blamed the company for acting negligently when the rig's crew proceeded with maneuvers to the deep-sea well in the face...
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Transocean to pay $1.4 billion for role in BP oil spill

Posted by Reuters: David Ingram on January 3rd, 2013
Reuters: Offshore rig contractor Transocean Ltd has agreed to pay $1.4 billion to settle U.S. government charges arising from BP Plc's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010. The settlement unveiled on Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice includes $1 billion in civil penalties and $400 million in criminal penalties. The company had set aside $1.95 billion in potential losses related to the Macondo well disaster, including $1.5 billion for its anticipated DoJ settlement. Still looming...
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United Kingdom: Floods ‘made worse by failure to clear water courses’

Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 3rd, 2013
Telegraph: The Met Office has confirmed that last year was the second wettest on record for the UK, just a few millimetres short of the record in 2000. The national forecasters also said that extreme rainfall has become more common in the last few decades, possibly as a consequence of climate change. Floods caused damage to thousands of properties, as well as destroying crops and causing transport chaos. Mr Paterson said a number of people have complained to him that failure to clear out rivers and...
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United Kingdom: Prince of Wales: countryside is “as precious as an ancient cathedral”

Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 3rd, 2013
Telegraph: In an impassioned speech to the Oxford Farming Conference (OFC), the Prince also said the countryside is threatened by flooding, drought and the outbreak of plant disease such as ash dieback. He said the only way to protect Britain's rural landscape is to support the farmers responsible for maintaining fields, buildings and businesses - especially small family farms struggling to survive. "It is the people and what they do that creates the beating heart of our countryside -- the vitality that comes...
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Drought persists in U.S. Plains; slight improvement in Midwest

Posted by Reuters: Julie Ingwersen on January 3rd, 2013
Reuters: Snowfall in parts of the Plains last week had little impact on historic drought gripping the region, but parts of Illinois, Wisconsin and the Southeast showed slight improvement, weather experts said. A weekly report issued Thursday by a consortium of federal and state climatology experts said that as of January 1, 42.05 percent of the contiguous United States was in severe to exceptional drought, down from 42.45 percent the previous week. Parts of the central Plains received snow in the last...
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New Tree Blockade Halts Construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline

Posted by EcoWatch: Tar Sands Blockade on January 3rd, 2013
EcoWatch: Late last night, blockaders set up two “dump platforms” in trees outside of Diboll, Texas which would otherwise be cleared to make way for TransCanada`s Keystone XL toxic tar sands pipeline. These special “dump platforms” are shielded by an unprecedented 80-100 foot perimeter of life-lines arranged, which if disturbed would certainly dump the two blockaders nested in them roughly 50-60 feet in the air. The blockaders are sitting in soldarity with the now global Idle No More campaign for First Nation`s...
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From the Mouth of Babes: President Obama, End Mountaintop Removal Now

Posted by EcoWatch: Appalachian Voices on January 3rd, 2013
EcoWatch: In Appalachia, children are 42 percent more likely to have birth defects if they live near a mountaintop removal coal mine. More people are likely to die from cardiovascular disease, and 50 percent are more likely to die of cancer--if they live near one of these sites of utter destruction. What if those were your loved ones? That is the question posed in a new video released today by Appalachian Voices with a strong message to President Obama: No more excuses. End mountaintop removal now. ...
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United Kingdom: Extreme rainfall on the rise, is climate change to blame?

Posted by The Week UK: None Given on January 3rd, 2013
The Week UK: BRITAIN endured its second wettest year on record in 2012 and the Met Office has warned that "extreme rainfall" is becoming more frequent, something that could be connected to climate change. Although the first few months of last year were dry, the rest of 2012 was a washout, and by the end of December the total rainfall stood at 1330.7mm, just 6.6mm off the record set in 2000. Four of the five wettest years since records began in 1910 have occurred since the turn of the century. "Changes in...
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