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Archive for February 1st, 2013
Energy secretary Steven Chu resigns
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2013
Washington Post: Energy Secretary Steven Chu resigned Friday after a four-year tenure during which he handed out tens of billions of dollars of grants and loans to foster renewable energy technologies -- and ended up fostering controversy over whether the money was well spent.
The Nobel Prize-winning physicist, who was brought to Washington by President Obama because of Chu's deep concern about climate change, found himself embroiled in controversy over a half-billion-dollar loan to solar-panel-maker Solyndra,...
Mississippi River barge backup shrinks, oil cleanup continues
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2013
Reuters: Mississippi River barge traffic remained congested on Friday near Vicksburg, Mississippi, where a barge accident and oil spill shuttered the major shipping artery on Sunday, but the backlog of boats was slowly declining.
The U.S. Coast Guard reopened the river on Wednesday to one-way traffic through a 16-mile safety zone from river mile marker 425 to 441, where the backlog of barges had ballooned to more than 1,000.
The backup thinned to 519 barges by midday Friday, including 11 northbound...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Mississippi River barge backup shrinks, oil cleanup continuesBackroom Deal with Coal Company Forsakes Clean Water
Posted by EcoWatch: Appalachian Voices on February 1st, 2013
EcoWatch: A coalition of citizens’ groups hoping to protect Kentucky’s waters filed objections today to a proposed settlement between Kentucky’s Energy and Environment Cabinet and one of the state’s largest coal mining companies, Frasure Creek Mining. The agreement purports to resolve hundreds of water pollution violations from 2011 and 2012 at all of Frasure Creek’s mines across eastern Kentucky, but the groups say that the agreement will not fix the pollution problems.
“We are full parties to this enforcement...
United Kingdom: From Somerset to Sellafield: it’s a thumbs-down to storing nuclear waste
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2013
Telegraph: Lecture titles do not normally stick in the mind, but one has stayed with me for more than 30 years. The lion of nuclear fission has been tamed,' it ran. "It remains to clear up what he leaves in his cage.'
A generation has passed since the talk was delivered -- by Ned Franklin, perhaps the best atomic industry chief of the day -- and the nuclear-waste mess is still festering. Indeed, after this week, there is little chance of it being cleaned up in the foreseeable future, causing it to threaten...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: From Somerset to Sellafield: it’s a thumbs-down to storing nuclear wastePennsylvania DEP Ignores Stringent Testing for Water Contamination from Fracking
Posted by EcoWatch: Daniel Raichel, Natural Resources Defense Council on February 1st, 2013
EcoWatch: Last week, a news report by the Timesonline revealed that the Pennsylvania Department of Environment (DEP) has been avoiding using its most stringent water testing method for determining if local drinking water has been polluted by fracking. The report serves as yet one more chapter in the continuing saga regarding DEP’s water testing practices that turn a blind eye to fracking contaminants.
The whole issue revolves around how the Pennsylvania DEP tests and reports results for water supplies reportedly...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Pennsylvania DEP Ignores Stringent Testing for Water Contamination from FrackingThe Effect of Forests on Climate
Posted by Environmental News Network: Andy Soos on February 1st, 2013
Environmental News Network: Once there were vast forests covering North America and Europe. What happens to the climate if they were returned? Planting trees in an area where there are no trees now, can reduce the effect of climate change by cooling temperate regions finds a study in BioMed Central's open access journal Carbon Balance and Management. Afforestation could lead to cooler and wetter summers by the end of this century if it was done now. Of course doing it now is a problem not only of resources of what it replaces...
New York Fracking Opponents, Binghamton Mayor Escalate Efforts To Block Natural Gas Industry
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2013
Huffington Post: Eileen Hamlin leaned in towards the computer screen for a closer look at the purple blocks peppering a digital map of New York state. The color denoted land leased to natural gas companies in anticipation of a potential lift of the state's four-and-a-half-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
"I've just learned that I'm surrounded on three sides by leased property," said Hamlin, a finger pointing out her Kirkwood land on the map. She sat still for several more seconds, eyes frozen...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on New York Fracking Opponents, Binghamton Mayor Escalate Efforts To Block Natural Gas IndustryHow are Children Impacted by Environmental Contaminants?
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on February 1st, 2013
EcoWatch: This week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released America’s Children and the Environment, a comprehensive compilation of information from a variety of sources on children’s health and the environment.
According to the press release, the report shows trends for contaminants in air, water, food and soil that may affect children, concentrations of contaminants in the bodies of children and women of child-bearing age, and childhood illnesses and health conditions. The report incorporates...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on How are Children Impacted by Environmental Contaminants?United Kingdom: 42 years on from Ramsar: what have we achieved?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2013
Ecologist: As World Wetlands Day approaches, it is time to celebrate some of the UK’s most dramatic, beautiful, biologically diverse and wildlife-rich marshland ecosystems. Also to look to a future where freshwater wetlands full of wildlife are found across the UK’s urban and rural landscapes where they are highly-prized by society for the services they provide. World Wetlands Day marks the date of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar on the shores of...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: 42 years on from Ramsar: what have we achieved?United Kingdom: MPs call for urgent action to reduce flooding
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 1st, 2013
BBC: The government needs to take urgent action to reduce the impact of flooding, MPs have said.
Ministers had been "too slow" in pushing through changes to improve protection, the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee said.
But it welcomed government plans for more competition in the water sector, in its report on the draft Water Bill.
The government said the proposed legislation would build resilience into the UK's water infrastructure.
However, Labour said the plans were "ideologically...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: MPs call for urgent action to reduce flooding