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Archive for August, 2013
Majority of China’s Proposed Coal-Fired Power Plants Located in Water-Stressed Regions
Posted by World Resources Institute: Tianyi Luo, Betsy Otto and Andrew Maddocks on August 26th, 2013
World Resources Institute: To maintain its economic growth and provide for its massive population, China must reconcile two powerful, converging trends: energy demand and resource scarcity. One prime example of this tension is the country’s coal use and water supply.
According to a new WRI analysis, more than half of China’s proposed coal-fired power plants are slated to be built in areas of high or extremely high water stress. If these plants are built, they could further strain already-scarce resources, threatening water...
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Comments Off on Majority of China’s Proposed Coal-Fired Power Plants Located in Water-Stressed RegionsAnother Delay for Keystone XL Decision
Posted by Globe and Mail: Carrie Tait AND Jeffrey Jones on August 26th, 2013
Globe and Mail: A decision on the controversial and much-delayed oil sands pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast could be pushed into 2014 as a U.S. watchdog examines whether contracts tied to the Keystone XL review process were wrongfully awarded and regulatory safeguards fully adopted.
The U.S. State Department's Office of Inspector General (OIG) is holding an inquiry into whether it was appropriate for the government to hire Environmental Resources Management, a private contractor selected to conduct an environmental...
Canadian Documents Suggest Shift on Keystone XL
Posted by New York Times: Ian Austen on August 26th, 2013
New York Times: Ever since President Obama said in June that a litmus test for the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada was whether it would “significantly” worsen global warming, Canadian government officials have insisted it would not. They reasoned that because the pipeline would not have any major effect on rate of development of Canada’s oil sands, as a State Department environmental review concluded in March, it would not significantly raise the amount of carbon emitted. But documents obtained by...
Flanagan South Oil Sands Pipeline Avoids Keystone XL Scrutiny
Posted by St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Jeffrey Tomich on August 26th, 2013
St. Louis Post-Dispatch: The most valuable piece of farmland in Shelby County this summer isn’t growing soybeans or corn. It’s holding a hardier crop -- steel pipe.
On a field just north of this tiny farm town along Missouri Highway 15, about 60 miles of pipe is stacked neatly in four rows that stretch almost as far as the eye can see.
In the coming months, the hundreds of pieces will be strung together as part of Enbridge Energy Co.’s Flanagan South Pipeline, a new 589-mile artery that will transport heavy Canadian...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Flanagan South Oil Sands Pipeline Avoids Keystone XL ScrutinyU.S. Chemical Safety Data Wrong About 90 Percent of the Time
Posted by Dallas Morning News: JON McCLURE, DANIEL LATHROP and MATT JACOB on August 26th, 2013
Dallas Morning News: Even the best national data on chemical accidents is wrong nine times out of 10.
A Dallas Morning News analysis of more than 750,000 federal records found pervasive inaccuracies and holes in data on chemical accidents, such as the one in West that killed 15 people and injured more than 300.
In fact, no one at any level of government knows how often serious chemical accidents occur each year in the United States. And there is no plan in place for federal agencies to gather more accurate information....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.S. Chemical Safety Data Wrong About 90 Percent of the TimeUnited Kingdom: The battle of Balcombe: West Sussex town is new front line in fracking debate
Posted by Independent: Peter Popham on August 25th, 2013
Independent: The people of Balcombe in West Sussex have plenty to thank Britain’s archaic land-owning system for. Sitting in the garden of Colette Randall, an anti-fracking protester who lives a few hundred yards from the drill site, there is nothing to see but trees, nothing to hear but birdsong.
The owner of the Balcombe Estate boasts of the “magnificent, airy wildlife habitat with beautiful, mature specimens of trees” which his family’s management of local forests has produced over the past 60 years, and...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: The battle of Balcombe: West Sussex town is new front line in fracking debateUnited Kingdom: Green belt housing ‘doubles in a year’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 25th, 2013
Guardian: The number of houses planned for green belt land has nearly doubled over the past year, according to the Campaign to Protect Rural England.
The charity found that 150,000 homes, mines and commercial premises covering 1,000 hectares (2,470 acres) are proposed. Previous analysis suggested just 81,000 homes were planned, in August 2012.
The CPRE said the figures raised serious concerns about whether ministers were keeping their promises to safeguard the green belt. Spokesman Paul Miner said: "The...
Yosemite wildfire could worsen as firefighters brace for strong winds
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 25th, 2013
Guardian: Firefighters braced for strong winds that could push a raging wildfire further into the north-west edge of Yosemite national park, threatening thousands of rural homes.
The massive blaze was also burning Sunday in the vicinity of two groves of giant sequoias that are unique the region, prompting park employees to take extra precautions of clearing brush and setting sprinklers.
The towering trees, which grow only on the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada and are among the largest and oldest...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Yosemite wildfire could worsen as firefighters brace for strong windsHigh-level radioactive tritium found in seawater at Fukushima plant port
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 25th, 2013
Asahi Shimbun: Concentrations of radioactive tritium in seawater from the port of the stricken Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant have risen between eight and 18 times in one week, Tokyo Electric Power Co. said Aug. 23.
It seems highly likely that the contaminated water is spreading into the sea beyond the port.
The latest levels are the highest since June, when TEPCO, the plant operator, strengthened its monitoring after discovering that groundwater contaminated with radioactive materials around the No....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on High-level radioactive tritium found in seawater at Fukushima plant portIndia: How climate change worries have affected mental health of Sunderbans residents
Posted by First Post: None Given on August 25th, 2013
First Post: A number of environmental threats including that of climate change and man-animal conflict are driving villagers in Sunderbans islands towards madness and even suicide. Putting stress on the mental health of the villagers, the ill-effects of abject poverty and deprivation in the remote islands of the UNESCO World Heritage site are compounded by acute struggle against ecological hazards, experts say. Psychiatrist Arabinda N Chowdhury, who worked with the Institute of Psychiatry in Kolkata, studied...
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