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Archive for September 14th, 2013
Amid Drought, Explaining Colorado’s Extreme Floods
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 14th, 2013
National Geographic: University of Colorado, Boulder law school professor Brad Udall has long written and lectured about water issues in the American West, but this week’s Colorado floods have brought the subject to his doorstep.
Four people have lost their lives in flooding this week that has engulfed swaths of Colorado and that has forced thousands to evacuate their homes.
Udall, director of the University of Colorado, Boulder’s Getches-Wilkinson Center for Natural Resources, Energy and the Environment says that...
Goal to cap temperature rise will still leave hundreds of millions thirsty – study
Posted by ClimateWire: Elizabeth Harball on September 14th, 2013
ClimateWire: A new study projects that hundreds of millions of people will soon live in regions at an increased risk of water scarcity, even if the average global temperature rise is limited to 2 degrees Celsius, the cap cited in several U.N. agreements.
Published today in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the paper predicts that an additional 8 percent of the world's current population, or 486 million people, will be forced to cope with new or exacerbated water scarcity even if international agreements...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Goal to cap temperature rise will still leave hundreds of millions thirsty – studyKeystone XL: As senators promote symbolic vote, Canadian ambassador touts nation’s climate record
Posted by ClimateWire: Elana Schor on September 14th, 2013
ClimateWire: As the Senate weighs a symbolic vote on the oil sands crude pipeline that has rallied green opposition to a degree rivaled only by proposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Canada's ambassador to the United States yesterday walked a line increasingly familiar to his government -- committing to stronger climate change action but refusing to link those moves to approval of Keystone XL. Ambassador Gary Doer spoke alongside American Petroleum Institute CEO Jack Gerard at an anniversary...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Keystone XL: As senators promote symbolic vote, Canadian ambassador touts nation’s climate recordAfter coal, W.Va. push for natural gas trust fund
Posted by Associated Press: Bruce Schreiner on September 14th, 2013
Associated Press: For decades, coal from West Virginia's vast deposits was mined, loaded on rail cars and hauled off without leaving behind a lasting trust fund financed by the state's best-known commodity. Big coal's days are waning, but now a new bonanza in the natural gas fields has state leaders working to ensure history doesn't repeat itself.
West Virginia's Senate president, Jeff Kessler, is pushing to create an oil and natural gas trust fund to support core government functions decades from now. His goal:...
Can anyone break Russia’s hold on Europe’s gas?
Posted by Christian Science Monitor: David J. Unger on September 14th, 2013
Christian Science Monitor: In Europe, they want cheaper natural gas to jumpstart an economy crippled by high energy costs. They aren't getting what they want from their current suppliers – namely Russia, which provides Europe with almost a third of its gas. But the global energy landscape is shifting, loosening Russia's tight grip on European markets.
"The European gas market at this moment is somewhat depressed due to its economy," David Goldwyn, former special envoy for international energy affairs under Secretary of...
Colorado Flooding: Did Climate Change Play A Role In Recent Disaster?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 14th, 2013
Climate Central: The Boulder, Colo. area is reeling after being inundated by record rainfall, with more than half a year’s worth of rain falling over the past three days. During those three days, 24-hour rainfall totals of between 8 and 10 inches across much of the Boulder area were enough to qualify this storm as a 1 in 1,000 year event, meaning that it has a 0.1 percent chance of occurring in a given year.
At least four people have been confirmed dead so far, and thousands have been evacuated from their homes...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Colorado Flooding: Did Climate Change Play A Role In Recent Disaster?United States: 234 remain ‘unaccounted for’, rescuers slowly gain ground
Posted by Daily Camera: Mitchell Byars on September 14th, 2013
Daily Camera: Search and rescue teams on Saturday took full advantage of a break in the torrential rain that has been hammering Boulder County as more than 1,200 people have been evacuated so far in the wake of a 100-year flood in what officials said may be the largest aerial rescue since Hurricane Katrina.
With weather conditions improving , rescue teams were able to send helicopters into the mountain towns of western Boulder County as well as high-clearance vehicles into the town of Lyons to evacuate stranded...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United States: 234 remain ‘unaccounted for’, rescuers slowly gain groundClimate change prompts new concerns about Delta tunnels, Sacramento water supply
Posted by Sacramento Bee: Matt Weiser on September 14th, 2013
Sacramento Bee: The Sacramento City Council this week stepped up its critique of a plan to build two giant water diversion tunnels in the Delta, warning that it may harm the city's ability to access drinking water in the decades ahead.
The Bay Delta Conservation Plan, as the tunnel project is formally known, is being pushed by Gov. Jerry Brown and a contingent of major water suppliers, mostly in Southern California and the San Joaquin Valley. The goal is to improve water delivery to farms and cities south of...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change prompts new concerns about Delta tunnels, Sacramento water supplyFour dead in Colorado floods amid rescues, scenes of devastation
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 14th, 2013
Reuters: National Guard troops plucked stranded residents out of danger by helicopter and hauled them out of an inundated community in military trucks on Friday as the death toll from the worst floods to hit Colorado in decades rose to four with 80 people still unaccounted for.
Taking advantage of a break in torrential rains that have unleashed floodwaters up and down the state, Guard members rumbled into the hard-hit town of Lyons through waist-high water and went door to door to pull out up to 2,000...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Four dead in Colorado floods amid rescues, scenes of devastationColorado’s “Biblical” Flood in Line with Climate Trends
Posted by Climate Central: Andrew Freedman on September 14th, 2013
Climate Central: The Boulder, Colo. area is reeling after being inundated by record rainfall, with more than half a year's worth of rain falling over the past three days. During those three days, 24-hour rainfall totals of between 8 and 10 inches across much of the Boulder area were enough to qualify this storm as a 1 in 1,000 year event, meaning that it has a 0.1 percent chance of occurring in a given year.
At least three people have been confirmed dead so far, and thousands have been evacuated from their homes...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Colorado’s “Biblical” Flood in Line with Climate Trends