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Archive for March 28th, 2013
Wastewater Injection Linked to Oklahoma’s Largest Earthquake
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on March 28th, 2013
Environment News Service: The rising number of earthquakes in normally calm parts of Arkansas, Texas, Ohio and Colorado are linked to the underground injection of wastewater, finds a new study in the journal "Geology."
As an example, the study authors point to the magnitude 5.7 earthquake near Prague, Oklahoma on November 6, 2011. The largest quake ever recorded in Oklahoma, this quake is also the largest ever linked to wastewater injection. The quake destroyed 14 homes in the Shawnee-Sparks area, buckled a federal highway...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Wastewater Injection Linked to Oklahoma’s Largest EarthquakeUS forced to cut mineral revenue payments to states, prompting backlash
Posted by EnergyWire: Scott Streater on March 28th, 2013
EnergyWire: The Interior Department has informed dozens of states that it will withhold millions of dollars in federal mineral revenue payments due to budget cuts necessitated by sequestration, a move that stunned the state of Wyoming, which receives nearly $1 billion in annual payments.
Interior's Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) has informed the treasurers in 36 states that sequestration will force withholding millions of dollars in monthly mineral lease payments for oil and natural gas development...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on US forced to cut mineral revenue payments to states, prompting backlashNew Yorkers Prefer Water Improvements to Subways: Survey
Posted by Bloomberg: Justin Doom on March 28th, 2013
Bloomberg: Water and wastewater upgrades top the wish list for infrastructure improvements by more than four in five New Yorkers, surpassing subway lines in importance, according to survey results released today by Xylem Inc. (XYL)
The water company whose pumps helped clean tunnels and homes flooded by Hurricane Sandy said the survey showed that 82 percent of residents want New York to spend more on water systems. Almost two-thirds said they’re willing to pay higher rates to help complete such projects,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on New Yorkers Prefer Water Improvements to Subways: SurveyThree suspected rhino poachers shot dead in South Africa’s Kruger Park
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 28th, 2013
Reuters: Three suspected rhinoceros poachers were killed in a shoot-out with rangers in South Africa's Kruger National Park, a park official said on Thursday.
The killing of rhinos for their horns, worth more than their weight in gold, is rampant in the park. So far this year, 188 rhinos have been poached in South Africa, 135 in Kruger alone, according to government figures released this week.
"Our rangers were on patrol and they came across these suspected poachers. Shooting ensued and the three were...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Three suspected rhino poachers shot dead in South Africa’s Kruger ParkAfrica: Climate Change Could Be Double-Edged Sword for Farmers
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on March 28th, 2013
SciDevNet: On a global level, climate change could slash crop yields and increase reliance on irrigation in the 2030s, but in some regions, including Southern Africa, agricultural output could increase and farming become less dependent on water, according to a study published last month (27 February). The researchers, based in Canada, China and Switzerland, set out to predict the combined impact of climate change on food production and water levels globally, regionally and locally. "Such a study not only...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Africa: Climate Change Could Be Double-Edged Sword for FarmersWith Drought Season Off to a Bad Start, Scientists Forecast Another Bleak Year
Posted by InsideClimate: Katherine Bagley on March 28th, 2013
InsideClimate: Drought conditions in more than half of the United States have slipped into a pattern that climatologists say is uncomfortably similar to the most severe droughts in recent U.S. history, including the 1930s Dust Bowl and the widespread 1950s drought.
The 2013 drought season is already off to a worse start than in 2012 or 2011—a trend that scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) say is a good indicator, based on historical records, that the entire year will be drier...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on With Drought Season Off to a Bad Start, Scientists Forecast Another Bleak YearWells Fargo Beats Rivals to Oil-Boom Deposits, Study Says
Posted by Bloomberg: Elizabeth Dexheimer and Donal Griffin on March 28th, 2013
Bloomberg: Wells Fargo & Co. (WFC), the bank with the stage coach logo, is the only U.S. lender among the four largest to gain deposits in some Northern Plains states as customers flood banks with cash from an energy boom.
North Dakota, Iowa, Montana, South Dakota and Nebraska were among the 10 states that saw federally insured deposits grow the fastest in the five years through 2012, according to research by Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. Deposits at Wells Fargo branches across those states increased more than...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Wells Fargo Beats Rivals to Oil-Boom Deposits, Study SaysTrain Hauling Canadian Oil Derails in Minnesota, Spilling 30,000 Gallons of Crude
Posted by Reuters: David Sheppard and Jeffrey Jones on March 28th, 2013
Reuters: A mile-long train hauling oil from Canada derailed and leaked 30,000 gallons of crude in western Minnesota on Wednesday, as debate rages over the environmental risks of transporting tar sands across the border. The leak - the first major spill of the modern North American crude-by-rail transit boom - came when 14 cars on a 94-car Canadian Pacific train left the tracks about 150 miles north west of Minneapolis near the town of Parkers Prairie, the Otter Tail Sheriff's Department said. Canadian Pacific...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Train Hauling Canadian Oil Derails in Minnesota, Spilling 30,000 Gallons of CrudeCanada defends leaving UN convention on droughts
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 28th, 2013
Associated Press: Canada defended its decision to pull out of a United Nations convention that fights the spread of droughts just a month before a major gathering would have forced the country to confront scientific analysis on the effects of climate change.
Canada is the only country in the world outside the agreement. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's government has been vilified an as outlier on climate change policy in past international meetings.
Harper said Thursday that the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification...
Train hauling Canadian oil derails in Minnesota
Posted by Reuters: David Sheppard and Jeffrey Jones on March 28th, 2013
Reuters: A mile-long train hauling oil from Canada derailed, spilling 30,000 gallons of crude in western Minnesota on Wednesday, as debate rages over the environmental risks of transporting tar sands across the border.
The major spill, the first since the start of a boom in North American crude-by-rail transport three years ago, came when 14 cars on a 94-car Canadian Pacific train left the tracks about 150 miles northwest of Minneapolis near the town of Parkers Prairie, the Otter Tail Sheriff's Department...