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Archive for March 1st, 2013
US admits Keystone impact, says this is only option
Posted by NBC: M. Alex Johnson on March 1st, 2013
NBC: Construction of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline would create "numerous" and "substantial" impacts on the environment, the State Department said Friday in a draft environmental impact statement. But the project is a better bet than any of the alternatives, it said in essentially clearing the project to go ahead.
The report concluded that the Canadian synthetic crude oil the pipeline is slated to transport into the U.S. produces 17 percent more greenhouse gases than natural crude oil already...
Keystone XL pipeline would have little impact on climate change, State Department analysis says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin and Steven Mufson on March 1st, 2013
Washington Post: The State Department released a draft environmental impact assessment of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline Friday, suggesting that the project would have little impact on climate change. Canada’s oil sands will be developed even if President Obama denies a permit to the pipeline connecting the region to Gulf Coast refineries, the analysis said. Such a move also would not alter U.S. oil consumption, the report added. The lengthy assessment did not give environmentalists the answer they had...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Keystone XL pipeline would have little impact on climate change, State Department analysis saysU.S. Report Sees No Environmental Bar to Keystone Pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 1st, 2013
New York Times: The State Department issued a revised environmental impact statement for the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline on Friday that makes no recommendation about whether the project should be built but presents no conclusive environmental reason it should not be. The 2,000-page document also makes no statement on whether the pipeline is in the United States’ economic and energy interests, a determination to be made later this year by President Obama. But it will certainly add a new element to the already...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.S. Report Sees No Environmental Bar to Keystone PipelineRemarkable Summer in Australia Is its Hottest On Record
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on March 1st, 2013
Climate Central: Australia: It's so hot right now.
Or rather, it was so hot this summer, that the country set a record for its hottest summer since recordkeeping began there in 1910, the country's Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) announced Friday. For a country that has an arid climate and is prone to heat waves, that might not seem unusual.
But the summer was remarkable in almost every respect, as the Australian continent smashed records for heat intensity, geographic scope, and duration. Moreover, the heat continued...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Remarkable Summer in Australia Is its Hottest On RecordKeystone XL clears big hurdle, gets thumbs-up from State Dept. report
Posted by Grist: None Given on March 1st, 2013
Grist: The U.S. State Department just released a draft environmental impact statement for the Keystone XL pipeline, and it`s not what climate activists have been hoping for.
As The New York Times puts it, the report "makes no recommendation about whether the project should be built but presents no conclusive environmental reason it should not be." According to The Washington Post, the report "suggest[s] that blocking the project would not have a significant impact on either the future development of...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Keystone XL clears big hurdle, gets thumbs-up from State Dept. reportPopulation growth is threat to other species, poll respondents say
Posted by LA Times: Kenneth R. Weiss on March 1st, 2013
LA Times: Nearly two-thirds of American voters believe that human population growth is driving other animal species to extinction and that if the situation gets worse, society has a "moral responsibility to address the problem," according to new national public opinion poll.
A slightly lower percentage of those polled -- 59% -- believes that population growth is an important environmental issue and 54% believe that stabilizing the population will help protect the environment.
The survey was conducted...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Population growth is threat to other species, poll respondents sayDraft Assessment of Tar Sands Pipeline “Devastatingly Cynical”
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 1st, 2013
Inter Press Service: The U.S. State Department late Friday released a draft environmental impact assessment of a contentious pipeline project that simultaneously acknowledged the dangers posed by climate change while also noting the project would "not likely result in significant adverse environmental effects".
Scientists and advocates have reacted with significant alarm, warning that the new report, officially a Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS), is merely recycling deeply flawed conclusions offered...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Draft Assessment of Tar Sands Pipeline “Devastatingly Cynical”U.S. review gives boost to Keystone oil pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 1st, 2013
Reuters: The Keystone XL oil pipeline got a boost on Friday when the State Department said the project would not likely change the rate at which Canada's oil sands are developed, discounting warnings from environmentalists that it would lead to a spike in greenhouse gas emissions.
The report is far from the last word on Keystone. The environmental assessment must be finalized after the public comment. Federal agencies will then have 90 days to work with the State Department to determine whether the pipeline...
Australia’s Record-Breaking Hottest Summer
Posted by Guardian: Lair Trewin and Karl Braganza on March 1st, 2013
Guardian: This summer hasn't just felt hot. It's been hot. In fact, the summer of 2012-13 is now the hottest on record. Average temperatures beat the record set in the summer of 1997-98, and daytime maximum temperatures knocked over the 1982-83 record. January 2013 has been the hottest month since records began in 1910.
A significant summer, for weather and climate
There is an old adage in meteorology and climatology circles, "Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get". But what does this mean?...
Louisiana chief says master plan can adapt to sea level rise
Posted by Advocate: Bob Marshall on March 1st, 2013
Advocate: Yes, we can. And, by the way: You’re wrong. That’s how Garret Graves, head of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, and some coastal scientists have responded to federal researchers who last week predicted the southeast coast faces the highest rate of sea level rise “on the planet” – 4.4 feet by 2100.
At that rate, they said, parts of the state’s coastal Master Plan will be obsolete before they are completed.
“The NOAA folks are just misinformed,” said Graves, summing...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Louisiana chief says master plan can adapt to sea level rise