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Archive for December 26th, 2013
Road Salt Contaminates U.S. Waterways in Northern States Year Round
Posted by EcoWatch: Brian Bienkowski on December 26th, 2013
EcoWatch: As winter sets in across the northern U.S., the road salt that keeps people out of ditches is flowing into rivers at levels that could harm fish and other creatures.
With billions of pounds of salt spread on U.S. roads every year, waterways in the nation’s wintry cities are getting saltier. And, according to new research, the salt--or sodium chloride--in rivers remains toxic not just in winter, but throughout two-thirds of the year.
Road salt runoff can cause developmental abnormalities and...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Road Salt Contaminates U.S. Waterways in Northern States Year RoundSalford anti-fracking camp enjoys local support
Posted by Guardian: Helen Pidd on December 26th, 2013
Guardian: As the wind felled trees, flooded homes and cancelled ferries this week, much of the nation needed little excuse to stay indoors. But for a group of hardy anti-fracking protesters camped by the M62 on Barton Moss in Salford, near Manchester, going inside was not an option, explained Joe Boyd, a 40-year-old builder from Liverpool who was on not just his first demo but also his first real camping trip.
Before the storms hit the north, Boyd was already wrapped up warm: a coat, a fleece, two woolly...
Climate Change Threatens Peru’s Economic Progress As Amazon Becomes Net Emitter of CO2
Posted by Climate News Network: Alex Kirby on December 26th, 2013
Climate News Network: Peru is the country chosen to host the 2014 United Nations (UN) climate conference, a key meeting for trying to advance an ambitious plan to rein in greenhouse emissions which is planned for agreement in 2015.
Scientists think Peru`s role reversal from being a carbon sink to a net emitter of CO2 in 2012 is result of droughts in the western Amazon. Photo credit: tadd_debbie /Flickr
But the country has recently earned a rather more dubious distinction. In 2012, for the first time, the Peruvian...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate Change Threatens Peru’s Economic Progress As Amazon Becomes Net Emitter of CO2Five years after Tennessee coal-slurry disaster, EPA has produced no new rules
Posted by Grist: None Given on December 26th, 2013
Grist: Five years ago, in the dead of night, a torrent of more than a million gallons of slurry broke free from its holding place at a Tennessee Valley Authority power plant in Tennessee. The toxic stew of coal fly ash, which is produced when coal is burned, polluted waterways and 300 acres of land. The disaster triggered anger from residents and promises from the EPA to introduce new rules to prevent such accidents.
The anger is still there. But the government promises appear to have been broken. The...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Five years after Tennessee coal-slurry disaster, EPA has produced no new rulesWill Russia frack for oil?
Posted by Christian Science Monitor: Nick Grealy on December 26th, 2013
Christian Science Monitor: One of my stranger speaker invitations recently was earlier this month in Moscow to an Adam Smith conference on Russia EOR (enhanced oil recovery), where I found myself in the ironic position of giving a presentation to reassure the audience that fracking,for oil was safe.
Fracking is fracking and there is little or no difference between the methods used for gas or oil. Oil fracking in it’s modern form of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing using less chemicals than before was introduced...
Indian Leader Found in Reservoir
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 26th, 2013
New York Times: A Mapuche Indian leader who became the face of Chile’s environmental movement was found floating in a reservoir she spent a decade trying to prevent from being created, and the authorities said Wednesday that they were awaiting autopsy results although the death appeared accidental. The leader, Nicolesa Quintreman, 73, who was nearly blind, was found Tuesday, a day after she was reported missing. With her sister Berta, Ms. Quintreman became a national figure in Chile during protests against the construction...