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Archive for August, 2013
Deaths of Manatees, Dolphins and Pelicans Point to Estuary at Risk
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 8th, 2013
New York Times: The first hint that something was amiss here, in the shallow lagoons and brackish streams that buffer inland Florida from the Atlantic’s salt water, came last summer in the Banana River, just south of Kennedy Space Center. Three manatees — the languid, plant-munching, over-upholstered mammals known as sea cows — died suddenly and inexplicably, one after another, in a spot where deaths were rare. A year later, the inquiry into those deaths has become a cross-species murder mystery, a trail of hundreds...
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Comments Off on Deaths of Manatees, Dolphins and Pelicans Point to Estuary at RiskEPA Wants To Allow Continued Wastewater Dumping In Wyoming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 7th, 2013
National Public Radio: The Environmental Protection Agency is proposing to let oil companies continue to dump polluted wastewater on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. This includes chemicals that companies add to the wells during hydraulic fracturing, an engineering practice that makes wells produce more oil. An NPR investigation last year discovered that the EPA was allowing oil companies to send so much of this contaminated water onto dry land that it was creating raging streams. At the time, there was a controversy...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on EPA Wants To Allow Continued Wastewater Dumping In WyomingGovt, Energy Industry Accused of Suppressing Fracking Dangers
Posted by Inter Press Service: Jared Metzker on August 7th, 2013
Inter Press Service: New signs have emerged in recent days which indicate that extreme measures are being taken in order to suppress evidence of the pernicious effects of the energy extraction method known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking”. At the beginning of this month, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette revealed that, in 2011, a Pennsylvania family reached an unprecedented settlement with an energy company fracking near their property. It included gag orders on the family’s two children, ages seven and 10 at the time...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Govt, Energy Industry Accused of Suppressing Fracking DangersJudge orders BP to pay $130 million fees to Gulf claims program
Posted by Reuters: Kathy Finn, Andrew Callus on August 7th, 2013
Reuters: BP Plc must pay $130 million to a court-appointed administrator overseeing payments to thousands of people who claimed they were hurt by the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday, in a fresh legal setback for the oil company. BP had balked at funding the third-quarter operating budget for the administrator, Louisiana lawyer Patrick Juneau, complaining that his bill contained "excessive costs." But U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally Shushan in New Orleans ruled that it was "unreasonable"...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Judge orders BP to pay $130 million fees to Gulf claims programJapan: Fukushima’s Radioactive Water Leak: What You Should Know
Posted by National Geographic: Patrick J. Kiger on August 7th, 2013
National Geographic: Tensions are rising in Japan over radioactive water leaking into the Pacific Ocean from Japan's crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, a breach that has defied the plant operator's effort to gain control. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday called the matter “an urgent issue” and ordered the government to step in and help in the clean-up, following an admission by Tokyo Electric Power Company that water is seeping past an underground barrier it attempted to create in the soil. The head of...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Japan: Fukushima’s Radioactive Water Leak: What You Should KnowFracking could accelerate global warming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 7th, 2013
New Scientist: THE row over fracking for natural gas has hit the UK, with protests over plans in the village of Balcombe. Could they have a point? Studies are suggesting fracking could accelerate climate change, rather than slow it. The case for fracking rests on its reputed ability to stem global warming. Burning gas emits half as much planet-warming carbon dioxide as an equivalent amount of coal. That is why, after embracing fracking, CO2 emissions have fallen in the US. But leading climate scientists are warning...
Shh! Settlement bans two kids from talking about fracking – for life
Posted by Mother Nature Network: John Platt on August 7th, 2013
Mother Nature Network: Two Pennsylvania children have been permanently banned from talking about fracking following a legal settlement with the companies exploring for natural gas around their family farm. The 2011 settlement, signed when the kids were just 7 and 10 years old, could theoretically follow them for the rest of their lives, according to reports from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. How did two pre-teens get wrapped up in this gag order? It all stems from a 2011 settlement signed by their parents after fracking...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Shh! Settlement bans two kids from talking about fracking – for lifeAdapting to climate change – one ecosystem at a time
Posted by Guardian: Richard Munang and Jessica Andrews on August 7th, 2013
Guardian: In Africa, food production will be hit by more frequent and more extreme heat waves and droughts if climatic changes continue at their current pace. The new report from the World Bank, Turn Down the Heat: Climate Extremes, Regional Impacts, and the Case for Resilience (pdf) suggests that the worst impacts can be avoided if the temperature rise is kept under 2° Celsius. But a 2°C rise will still see the median yield of all crops fall by 11%, destabilising efforts to alleviate hunger, poverty, and...
Fukushima plant operator cannot confirm volume of contaminated water into ocean
Posted by Reuters: Mari Saito and Antoni Slodkowski on August 7th, 2013
Reuters: Tokyo Electric Power Co, the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, said on Wednesday that it cannot confirm the exact volume of contaminated groundwater that is leaking into the ocean. The Japanese government believes radiation-contaminated water has been leaking into the Pacific Ocean at a rate of 300 tons a day, an industry ministry official told reporters on Wednesday. "We are not currently able to say clearly how much groundwater is actually flowing into the ocean," said Tokyo Electric...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Fukushima plant operator cannot confirm volume of contaminated water into oceanJapan government: Fukushima plant leaking 300 tons/day of contaminated water into sea
Posted by Reuters: Osamu Tsukimori and Kentaro Hamada on August 7th, 2013
Reuters: A Japanese government official said an estimated 300 tonnes of contaminated water is leaking into the ocean each day from the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged on Wednesday to step up government efforts to stem radioactive water leakage. Abe ordered the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry to urgently deal with the water situation and ensure the plant's operator, Tokyo Electric Power Co, takes appropriate action to deal with the cleanup, which is expected...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Japan government: Fukushima plant leaking 300 tons/day of contaminated water into sea