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Archive for April, 2013
United Kingdom: ‘Get on and drill’ for shale gas say MPs
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 26th, 2013
Telegraph: The controversial process of blasting water into rock to extract shale gas, or fracking, has caused earth tremors in the UK in the past and leaks can contaminate water.
But the Energy and Climate Change Committee said companies should get on with building drills to explore for the fossil fuel across the UK.
Although the cross party group made clear that fracking will not be an energy "revolution", MPs said it could stop the rise in energy prices.
Tim Yeo, head of the committee, said shale...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on United Kingdom: ‘Get on and drill’ for shale gas say MPsUnited Kingdom: MPs say cash-for-locals scheme would overcome shale gas fracking opposition
Posted by Guardian: Fiona Harvey, on April 26th, 2013
Guardian: Companies fracking for shale gas in the UK should be made to offer substantial financial incentives to people living near their sites, an influential committee of MPs has said.
The energy and climate change committee said on Friday that measures such as cash payments or rebates on energy bills would be needed to overcome local opposition to shale gas drilling, which has been associated with water, ground and air pollution in the US, and which green groups say is incompatible with moving to a low-carbon...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: MPs say cash-for-locals scheme would overcome shale gas fracking oppositionRepublicans Target Fracking Oversight
Posted by FuelFix: None Given on April 26th, 2013
FuelFix: While championing the benefits of new energy extraction methods, Republican House members accused energy oversight agencies of research that misled the public on environmental and health risks.
The accusations came at a joint Energy and Environment subcommittee hearing focus on hydraulic fracturing--often called “fracking”--an extraction technique pioneered in Texas in the 90s, which taps deep ground reserves of natural gas and oil.
Rep. Ralph Hall of Rockwall slammed the Environmental Protection...
Consultants’ Role in NY Gas Drilling Study Questioned
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 26th, 2013
Associated Press: Government watchdog Common Cause and 11 environmental groups raised more questions about the role of gas industry-associated consultants in the state’s environmental impact study of shale gas drilling and fracking. A review of Department of Environmental Conservation documents obtained by Common Cause through Freedom of Information Law requests shows two more firms with memberships in the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York were contracted for the state’s review. The review, still incomplete...
U.K. Fracking May Not Reduce Domestic Gas Prices, Report Shows
Posted by Bloomberg: Nidaa Bakhsh on April 26th, 2013
Bloomberg: Developing U.K. shale gas may fail to follow U.S. precedent and cut local prices due to differences in geography, population density and environmental controls and as world fuel demand grows, according to a parliamentary report.
On the flipside, shale would benefit the U.K. by reducing reliance on gas imports and adding to tax revenue, the House of Commons Energy and Climate Change Committee said in the report.
“Ministers should be careful not to base energy policy on an assumption that gas...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.K. Fracking May Not Reduce Domestic Gas Prices, Report ShowsCanada: More intrigue on Keystone, but approval still likely, U.S. energy expert says
Posted by Edmonton Journal: Dave Cooper on April 26th, 2013
Edmonton Journal: The northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline from Alberta to Nebraska will still likely be approved, but criticism this week from the Environmental Protection Agency may mean the green light won’t be given until fall, says a U.S. energy expert.
“The tortuously slow approval process for the pipeline” moved ahead this week when the U.S. State Department did not extend the comment period, although “opponents of Keystone XL were subsequently emboldened by the release of critical comments from the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canada: More intrigue on Keystone, but approval still likely, U.S. energy expert saysDrought to Floods For Some; Dryness Holds On To West
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on April 26th, 2013
Climate Central: As the Midwest has lurched from severe drought conditions in late 2012 to record flooding during the past two weeks, the focus of the drought has shifted west, with drought conditions continuing to intensify in the West and Southwest, where many states are facing long-term rainfall deficits from up to three years of unusually dry conditions.
According to the latest edition of the U.S. Drought Monitor, released on Thursday, an unusually cold and stormy weather pattern across the U.S. has helped...
Obama Administration Announces 21M-Acre Oil and Gas Lease Sale Offshore Texas
Posted by Green Car Congress: None Given on April 26th, 2013
Green Car Congress: The US Department of the Interior will offer more than 21 million acres offshore Texas for oil and gas exploration and development in a lease sale that will include all available unleased areas in the Western Gulf of Mexico Planning Area.
Proposed Lease Sale 233, scheduled to take place in New Orleans in August, will be the third offshore auction under the Administration’s Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program for 2012-2017 (Five Year Program). The sale builds on the first two auctions...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Obama Administration Announces 21M-Acre Oil and Gas Lease Sale Offshore TexasSome Worry Australia’s Great Artesian Basin, Outback Water Supply, Being Drawn Too Fast
Posted by Public Radio International: None Given on April 26th, 2013
Public Radio International: Australia's Outback communities rely on the water in the Great Artesian Basin, deep underground, for their water supply. But some now worry the aquifer is being drawn down too quickly. If it ever went dry, it would leave a whole host of Outback communities without a nearby water supply.
Winton, population 954, sits in the heart of Queensland.
There is not much to the town -- just a crisscross of about a dozen streets in the vast Australian bush. But, in a way, Winton should not exist at all....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Some Worry Australia’s Great Artesian Basin, Outback Water Supply, Being Drawn Too FastSmall farmers hold the key to tackling climate change
Posted by AlterNet: Frank Rijsberman on April 26th, 2013
AlterNet: As a lifelong scientist I have attended climate change meetings for over 30 years. Our aim was to convince scientists and policymakers to take climate change seriously. The message was: 'Take action now, to leave a better world for your grandchildren.' In the past, many of my colleagues working in development were not convinced - poor and hungry people cannot afford to worry about climate change. Such was the conventional wisdom. The conference on "Hunger-Nutrition-Climate Justice' that I attended...