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Archive for August, 2013
Exclusive: China approves first genetically modified Argentine cargo
Posted by Reuters: Hugh Bronstein, Sam Nelson on August 7th, 2013
Reuters: China has approved its first major shipment of genetically modified Argentine corn, Buenos Aires officials said on Tuesday, signaling an increase in competition for a market long dominated by U.S. exporters.
Argentine Agriculture Minister Norberto Yauhar said Chinese health authorities cleared 60,000-tonnes of genetically modified (GMO) Argentine corn. The cargo was already headed inland to be used as hog and chicken feed.
Benchmark Chicago corn futures fell briefly after Reuters reported on...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Exclusive: China approves first genetically modified Argentine cargoThousand to join Balcombe ‘occupy’ camp
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 7th, 2013
Telegraph: Outside the site, in Balcombe, West Sussex, about 40 tents were erected as protests continued against the operation. More than 30 people have been arrested so far for obstructing trucks entering the site. The protesters fear that Cuadrilla may want to frack to access oil and gas. Kathryn McWhirter, a Balcombe resident, was in tears as the drilling started. “We are horrified,” she said. “The village is gobsmacked. We feel bullied by the oil and gas industry, and government at all levels from parish...
Japan PM orders proactive government role to clean up Fukushima
Posted by Reuters: Osamu Tsukimori, Aaron Sheldrick on August 7th, 2013
Reuters: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told the industry ministry on Wednesday to take appropriate measures to tackle the "urgent issue" of radioactive water building up at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant. The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry needed to be more proactive role in dealing with the problems at Tokyo Electric Power Co's Fukushima Daiichi plant, Abe told reporters after attending a meeting of the government's task force on the nuclear disaster. He stopped short of committing...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Japan PM orders proactive government role to clean up FukushimaChesapeake Drops 2-Year Legal Fight for Drilling Leases in Fracking-Shy New York
Posted by Reuters: Edward McAllister on August 7th, 2013
Reuters: Chesapeake Energy has given up a two-year legal fight to retain thousands of acres of natural gas drilling leases in New York state, landowner and legal sources told Reuters. Landowners in Broome and Tioga counties, who had leased acreage to Chesapeake over the past decade, had battled the pioneering oil driller in court to prevent it from extending the leases under their original terms, many of which were agreed to long before a boom in hydraulic fracturing swept the United States. But Chesapeake...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Chesapeake Drops 2-Year Legal Fight for Drilling Leases in Fracking-Shy New YorkTribal Activists Arrested Trying to Block Tar Sands ‘Megaload’ on Idaho Highway
Posted by Reuters: Laura Zuckerman on August 7th, 2013
Reuters: Police arrested 19 members of the Nez Perce Tribe on Tuesday on suspicion of disorderly conduct for refusing to break a human chain blocking a highway in Idaho in protest against a 322-ton load of equipment bound for the tar sands of Alberta, Canada. The blockade by more than 250 mostly Native American protesters halted travel of a so-called megaload for two hours on a scenic roadway at the front lines of an ideological struggle over North American oil and gas development and its impact on the environment,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Tribal Activists Arrested Trying to Block Tar Sands ‘Megaload’ on Idaho HighwayJapan must support Tepco in containing Fukushima water problem: Suga
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 7th, 2013
Reuters: Japan's government must support the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant in its efforts to contain buildups and leaks of radioactive water at the facility, the top government spokesman said on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will order the government later in the day to strengthen its response on water containment, said Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, indicating the government will get directly involved in combating the worsening problem.
"It is necessary for the country...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Japan must support Tepco in containing Fukushima water problem: SugaJapan government joining efforts to contain Fukushima toxic water
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 7th, 2013
Reuters: The Japanese government is joining efforts to contain a buildup of radioactive water at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, as operator Tokyo Electric Power Co struggles to contain the problem, government officials said on Wednesday.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the buildup of radioactive water at the plant was a very serious issue and that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe would order the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, which regulates Tepco and other power utilities, to significantly...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Japan government joining efforts to contain Fukushima toxic waterJapan government considering support for Tepco on Fukushima water problem: METI official
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 7th, 2013
Reuters: The Japanese government is considering whether to support Tokyo Electric Power Co Ltd, the operator of the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, in dealing with the growing toxic water problem on the site, an official at the economy and trade ministry said on Wednesday.
The ministry takes the water problem "very seriously" and is mulling ways to assist the beleaguered utility, said the government official, who declined to be named. The official did not confirm whether government support would be paid...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Japan government considering support for Tepco on Fukushima water problem: METI officialFears of quakes and flammable tap water hit Britain as fracking looms
Posted by CNN: Dan Rivers and Ben Brumfield on August 6th, 2013
CNN: The fear of fracking has come to Britain, replete with worries about potential earthquakes and tap water tainted with natural gas that bursts into flames at the strike of a match.. Since a ban on the method of extracting natural gas was lifted in May, a company has begun exploratory drilling in the southern town of Balcombe to see what reserves may lie locked up in rock strata far beneath its rolling hills and green meadows. Read more: 'Fracking' protesters say drilling jobs not worth environmental...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Fears of quakes and flammable tap water hit Britain as fracking loomsIn Kansas, Water Is ‘More Precious Than Gold’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 6th, 2013
National Public Radio: Imagine enough water to fill a couple of Great Lakes, but spread under some of the driest parts of eight Western states. That was the High Plains Aquifer 60 years ago.
But now, Nate Pike, whose been riding the dry rolling ranch lands south of Dodge City, Kan., for most of his 80 years, can't even go fishing at his favorite spring called St. Jacob's Well.
"And that thing had a lot of water in it. It never went down, never changed," he says. "But as you can see now, I can't believe I can't see...