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Archive for September, 2013
Effort to ship Bakken oil through Great Lakes hits wall
Posted by Grist: John Upton on September 24th, 2013
Grist: The Great Lakes have been spared the ignominy of becoming a conveyor for crude oil fracked at North Dakota`s Bakken fields.
At least for now.
Plans to build a crude shipping terminal at Duluth, Minn., on the western shore of Lake Superior, have been shelved because of a lack of refining capacity on the East Coast. From Wisconsin Public Radio:
The oil terminal would have shipped crude from the ever-expanding Bakken oil fields in North Dakota, where production has tripled over the past five...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Effort to ship Bakken oil through Great Lakes hits wallCanadian Natural told to drain Alberta lake due to oil sands leak
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 24th, 2013
Reuters: Canadian Natural Resources Ltd has been ordered to drain a lake on the site of its northern Alberta oil sands project so that contamination on the lake's bottom, from a leak that has been spilling tar-like bitumen for months, can be cleaned up.
The province of Alberta's environment department issued an environmental protection order on Tuesday that compels the company to drain a two-thirds of the 53-hectare (131-acre) lake on its Primrose East thermal oil sands site before the onset of winter...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canadian Natural told to drain Alberta lake due to oil sands leakFracking and Flooding in Colorado: The More We Know the Worse It Gets
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on September 24th, 2013
EcoWatch: The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) reported three new spills today from damaged oil and gas wells caused by the torrential rains and subsequent flooding that continues to batter the state of Colorado.
Oil workers try to lift a storage tank for condensate that was knocked over by floodwaters from the Platte River at an oil well site near LaSalle, CO, on Friday, Sept. 20. Condensate is the mix of oil and water that is pumped out of the ground. The tank was intact and had not...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Fracking and Flooding in Colorado: The More We Know the Worse It GetsGlobal Warming to Cause Increase in US Severe Storms, Researchers Report
Posted by Nature World News: James A. Foley on September 24th, 2013
Nature World News: A new climate analysis led by scientists at Stanford University suggests that severe thunderstorms in the United States are likely to increase over the next century as a result of global warming.
According the the researchers, severe thunderstorms are one of the primary causes of catastrophic losses in the US, with damage from destructive rainfall, hail and tornadoes resulting in billions of dollars in damages. Last year alone, 11 weather-related events in the US exceeded the $1 billion threshold...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Global Warming to Cause Increase in US Severe Storms, Researchers ReportCourt to EPA on Gulf dead-zone rules: Make up your freakin’ mind
Posted by Grist: John Upton on September 24th, 2013
Grist: Is it time for the federal government to drop the hammer on the farmers whose fertilizer gushes into the Mississippi River, fueling sweeping dead zones in the Gulf of Mexico? The Environmental Protection Agency now has six months to decide.
The deadline comes via a federal judge in New Orleans in response to a lawsuit from the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental groups. The enviros argue that states aren`t doing enough to tackle the problem, and have petitioned the feds to...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Court to EPA on Gulf dead-zone rules: Make up your freakin’ mindToxic Algae Plagues U.S
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on September 24th, 2013
EcoWatch: Summer should be a time for fishing, boating and swimming with family on our nation’s lakes. Yet instead of fresh clear waters, many are encountering mats of thick blue-green harmful algal blooms (HABs)--also known as toxic algae.
A new, first-of-its-kind national online map by the communications firm Resource Media shows that 21 states across the U.S. have issued health advisories and warnings related to harmful algal blooms at 147 different locations on lakes, rivers and ponds this summer. ...
Report Exposes Social Costs of Fracking on Rural America
Posted by EcoWatch: Sharon Kelly on September 24th, 2013
EcoWatch: What’s it like living in a small town that’s gone from rust belt farmland to fracking boomtown?
First, residents often say, there’s the traffic. Communities have been unexpectedly flooded with heavy tractor trailers that locals say turn 10 minute commutes into hour-long ordeals, choke back roads and decimate pavement so badly that in some areas, drilling companies are barred from entering until they agree to pay for road repairs. “The traffic here is horrendous,” Towanda, PA, resident Joe Benjamin...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Report Exposes Social Costs of Fracking on Rural AmericaTwo more oil spills caused by flooding in Colorado
Posted by Associated Press: Colleen Slevin on September 24th, 2013
Associated Press: A total of 27,000 gallons of oil - the equivalent of about two storage tanks - have been spilled into the South Platte River from flood-damaged tanks as of Monday.
The latest spills are a 36 barrel release at a Noble Energy location between Evans and LaSalle and a 26 barrel spill at an Anadarko Petroleum site near Johnstown, the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission said.
About 1,300 wells remained shut down because of the flooding, down from 1,900 last week.
In its update, the commission...
Rising methane ‘due to mining and wetlands’
Posted by Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Anna Salleh on September 24th, 2013
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Methane rise A rise in atmospheric methane emissions after 2006 is likely due to expanding wetlands and an increase in emissions from mining of fossil fuels, say researchers.
An international team report their findings today in the journal Nature Geoscience.
"We think that the two reasons - fossil fuels and methane from wetlands - are the best explanations given the data," says Australian author Dr Pep Canadell, from CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research.
Methane is a powerful greenhouse...
Heavy rains, landslides kill 20 in Philippines
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 24th, 2013
Associated Press: Torrential monsoon rains hit the northwestern Philippines on Monday, triggering landslides and killing 20 people in areas already weakened by a powerful typhoon, and raising the death toll to 47 from storms across Asia.
Philippine officials said soldiers and villagers were also searching for at least seven people missing in mountainside villages hit by the landslides Monday in the province of Zambales.
In China, where Typhoon Usagi struck after passing by the Philippines, officials said the...