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Archive for April, 2013
Keystone XL State Department Hearing In Nebraska Features Passionate Pleas
Posted by Huffington Post: Lynne Peeples on April 18th, 2013
Huffington Post: When Evan Vokes stepped to the microphone during a public hearing on the proposed Keystone XL pipeline on Thursday afternoon, one might have guessed he supported the plan to send Canadian tar sands oil to the U.S. Gulf Coast.
Like most of the pipeline supporters at the hearing, Vokes wore a polished suit. But the engineer informed those gathered in the Heartland Event Center in Grand Island, Neb., that he's actually a former employee of TransCanada, the pipeline operator, who has since turned...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Keystone XL State Department Hearing In Nebraska Features Passionate PleasGroups Sue Interior Secretary to Protect California Public Lands From Fracking
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on April 18th, 2013
EcoWatch: In the wake of a landmark legal victory against fracking on public lands last week, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Sierra Club filed a new lawsuit today challenging the Obama Administration’s auction of an additional 17,000 acres in Monterey, San Benito and Fresno counties for drilling and fracking. The suit against newly appointed Interior Secretary Sally Jewell and the Bureau of Land Management says the government did not fully consider the dangers fracking poses to watersheds, endangered...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Groups Sue Interior Secretary to Protect California Public Lands From FrackingU.S. drought falls below 50 percent for first time in 10 months
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 18th, 2013
ScienceDaily: The area of the contiguous United States in moderate drought or worse fell below 50 percent for the first time since June 19, 2012, according to the latest edition of the U.S. Drought Monitor released Thursday.
Heavy precipitation across the Plains and the upper Midwest continued to ease drought. The area of the lower 48 states in moderate drought or worse declined to 47.82 percent, from 50.82 percent a week ago.
"We've been on a steady but slow recovery path from drought since the peak in...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.S. drought falls below 50 percent for first time in 10 monthsAnti-Fracking Activist Sandra Steingraber’s Pursuit of a Healthy Environment
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on April 18th, 2013
EcoWatch: Sandra Steingraber PhD, the acclaimed author and ecologist, is determined to stop natural gas companies from ever conducting hydraulic fracturing in her upstate New York community. She was raised in a family whose members did not close their eyes to the horrors around them. Steingraber, who was adopted as an infant, said part of the game plan of those who carry out atrocities is to make them seem unstoppable and inevitable. In her role as a public health biologist, she is witnessing atrocities being...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Anti-Fracking Activist Sandra Steingraber’s Pursuit of a Healthy EnvironmentClimate change models fail to accurately simulate droughts
Posted by Scientific American: Ashutosh Jogalekar on April 18th, 2013
Scientific American: Most of my day job involves simulating the behavior of molecules like drugs and proteins using computer models. The field is more an art than a science, partially because the systems that are being modeled are too complex and ill-understood to succumb to exact solutions. Success often depends on experience and intuition gained by working on similar systems. That does not mean there are no correct predictions, but it does mean that surprises are more common than we think and that many phenomena are...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change models fail to accurately simulate droughtsWastewater released into Lake Michigan
Posted by Chicago Tribune: Michael Hawthorne on April 18th, 2013
Chicago Tribune: After several days of rain, an overnight deluge overwhelmed Chicago's underground labyrinth of aging sewers and giant tunnels Thursday, forcing a noxious mix of sewage and stormwater into local waterways and Lake Michigan.
The surge of murky, debris-strewn water so overloaded the system that sewage began to back up in basements and geysers of wastewater shot out of several sewer manholes - stomach-churning sights captured by smartphones and posted online.
To relieve the pressure, engineers...
Another Reason to Ban Fracking
Posted by EcoWatch: Wenonah Hauter on April 18th, 2013
EcoWatch: When it comes to exposure to radioactive materials, how much is too much? If you’re like most people, or scientists, the answer is probably “any amount.” But the Obama administration apparently didn’t get the memo because this week, it finalized new guidelines for the amount of radioactivity to which the public can safely be exposed following a nuclear incident. Now, local authorities will be given more leeway than ever to determine acceptable levels of radioactive exposure next time a reactor melts...
Is Haiti condemned to dirty air, denuded hills, blackouts and dangerous flooding?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 18th, 2013
ClimateWire: Robert Naylor walks the perimeter of an electricity substation high above the earthquake-battered capital of Port-au-Prince, pointing out new batteries, switches and transformers that his construction company, Perini Management Corp., installed here as part of a $12.7 million U.S. Agency for International Development project to strengthen Haiti's energy infrastructure.
This substation and others were damaged in the 2010 quake, and the United States is investing in repairs to the transmission and...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Is Haiti condemned to dirty air, denuded hills, blackouts and dangerous flooding?How celebrities helped rattle New York politics – and launch a new movement
Posted by EnergyWire: Colin Sullivan on April 18th, 2013
EnergyWire: Sighting a celebrity here is such a common event, it borders on the mundane. It's why so many live here, after all: New Yorkers have honed their ability to ignore everyone to such an extent that movie stars tend to become more obstacles on the sidewalk -- recognizable, yes, but able to go about their days without much hassle.
But with respect to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, an A-list group of actors and musicians who call the state home have managed to stand out in the political arena as...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on How celebrities helped rattle New York politics – and launch a new movementNebraska opposition muted ahead of Keystone XL hearing
Posted by Associated Press: Grant Schulte on April 18th, 2013
Associated Press: A proposed Canada-to-Texas oil pipeline would run just 1,000 feet from Terri Funk's doorstep, but the Nebraska farmer and her husband don't plan to protest or even attend the U.S. State Department's lone public hearing on the contentious proposal Thursday.
That's because the company building the pipeline has pledged to restore any of their land it digs up. So her opinion is this: Build away.
Just months after intense opposition in Nebraska helped delay and reroute the Keystone XL pipeline,...