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Archive for September, 2013
Keystone opponents reject rumoured Canadian offer to cut emissions
Posted by Globe and Mail: Paul Koring on September 24th, 2013
Globe and Mail: Canada's purported offer to cut emissions as part of a deal to get President Barack Obama to approve the controversial Keystone XL pipeline has been denounced by a coalition of groups seeking to thwart the project. "We oppose any deal-making in return for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline," the groups said in a letter to President Obama - who is expected to decide the project's fate early next year. "Our rationale is simple. Building Keystone XL will expand production in the tar sands, and that...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Keystone opponents reject rumoured Canadian offer to cut emissionsSetting the Record Straight on Tar Sands and Water Use
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on September 24th, 2013
EcoWatch: Big Oil is spending millions of dollars to try to greenwash the tar sands, Canada’s fastest growing source of greenhouse gas pollution. A new report, Reality Check: Water and the Tar Sands, sets the record straight on industry claims that misrepresent the tar sands industry’s use of the Athabasca River.
The report counters claims by industry and industry-affiliated groups about the use of freshwater from the Athabasca River, the toxicity of tailings, the amount of tailings leaking into the watershed...
Environmentalists warn Obama against Keystone XL, even if Canada compromises on climate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 24th, 2013
Washington Post: Leaders of more than two dozen influential environmental groups are sending President Obama a letter Tuesday with a clear warning: Even if Canada agrees to reduce the oil and gas sector's climate impact, he should not approve a presidential permit for the Keystone XL pipeline.
The letter, obtained by The Washington Post, provides the strongest evidence yet that president will face a revolt from his political base should he sign off on the pipeline, which would transport heavy crude from Alberta...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Environmentalists warn Obama against Keystone XL, even if Canada compromises on climateMexico’s Double Storms Leave 115 Dead, 68 Missing
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on September 24th, 2013
Environment News Service: Two hurricanes which struck Mexico last week have claimed the lives of 115 people as rescuers continue to search for 68 others believed to have died in a massive landslide in a remote coffee-growing village.
A 16-person emergency response and rescue team from the Mexican army is leading the search for victims of the slide in the village of La Pintada two hours drive north of Acapulco. Five bodies were found on Sunday.
Hurricanes Ingrid and Manuel made landfall on opposite coasts within a day...
Scientists should be up on the ramparts
Posted by Guardian: David Suzuki on September 23rd, 2013
Guardian: Despite the enormous success of the environmental movement in the 1960s and 1970s, we have fundamentally failed to use each of those battles to broaden the public understanding of why we were battling. It wasn't just the power of environmentalists against developers, environmentalists against the oil industry. It was because we had a different way of looking at the world.
Environmentalism is a way of seeing our place within the biosphere. That's what the battles were fought over. But we have failed...
Alaska fracking rules would boost public notice, disclosure
Posted by Reuters: Yereth Rosen on September 23rd, 2013
Reuters: New regulations to oversee hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells in Alaska could be issued later this year by state regulators, officials said at a public hearing on Monday.
The regulations, proposed by the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, would require the approval of regulators before fracturing is conducted, notification of landowners and testing of water wells within a half-mile radius, and the full disclosure of chemicals in the hydraulic-fracturing liquids.
While "fracking"...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Alaska fracking rules would boost public notice, disclosureAustralia: NSW under pressure to water down rules on coal seam gas
Posted by Guardian: Lenore Taylor on September 23rd, 2013
Guardian: New South Wales is under intense pressure to water down tough coal seam gas regulations announced before the federal election as the Abbott government vows "anarchist" anti-CSG protesters who disrespect the law will not sway its determination to kick-start the industry.
As protests to proposed new coal seam gas wells escalated before the federal election, the NSW government, with the encouragement of the then federal Coalition resources spokesman, Ian Macfarlane, and to the dismay of the gas industry,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia: NSW under pressure to water down rules on coal seam gasUnited Kingdom: Fracking protests restart after Cuadrilla seeks new drilling rights
Posted by Guardian: Ben Quinn on September 23rd, 2013
Guardian: The company at the heart of the anti-fracking protests in West Sussex on Monday confirmed that its exploratory drilling outside a village had discovered the presence of hydrocarbons, which can be used for fuel, and said further testing would be needed to ascertain flow rates.
After more than two months of operations at Balcombe, Cuadrilla said that it would be clearing the site by the weekend and would be closing it off for the next few months while it applies for planning permission to measure...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Fracking protests restart after Cuadrilla seeks new drilling rightsRim fire’s effects likely to last for decades to come
Posted by LA Times: Bettina Boxall on September 23rd, 2013
LA Times: Tourists stopped at the Rim of the World overlook on California 120 earlier this month to take photos of the panoramic view — just as they always have.
But they stared in silence at the ashen hues of a landscape swept by the largest wildfire to burn in the Sierra Nevada in more than a century of recordkeeping. Steep canyon walls and mountain slopes that had been robed in chaparral and oak were now draped in black, spreading to the horizon in a funereal scene.
To the north, miles and miles of...
Chinese government sees its own reflection in water crisis
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 23rd, 2013
Reuters: For China, global warming has become something of a convenient truth.
Beijing blames climate change for wreaking havoc on scarce water resources, but critics say the country's headlong drive to build its industrial prowess and huge hydro projects are just as responsible.
On the eve of a global climate change conference in Stockholm, a U.N. climate body says shrinking glaciers in central Asia and the Himalayas would affect water resources in downstream river catchments, which include China....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Chinese government sees its own reflection in water crisis