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Archive for December, 2013
Keystone XL Pipeline Loses Support From U.S. Customer, Says Not Needed
Posted by Reuters: Cezary Podkul on December 14th, 2013
Reuters: Continental Resources, one of the companies that has committed to ship crude on TransCanada Corp's proposed Keystone XL pipeline, now says the controversial pipeline is no longer needed.
Continental has signed on to ship some 35,000 barrels of its own oil from the Bakken field of North Dakota on the 1,179-mile, $5.4-billion Keystone XL line. But construction of the pipeline has been delayed for years as TransCanada has sought regulatory approvals, and Continental has since turned to railroads...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Keystone XL Pipeline Loses Support From U.S. Customer, Says Not NeededIs Bakken oil safe enough for the GTA?
Posted by Toronto Star: Jessica McDiarmid on December 14th, 2013
Toronto Star: The fires burned for four days after the explosions.
A train carrying 72 cars of crude oil had barreled into the sleepy Quebec town of Lac-Mégantic and derailed. And the oil did what crude oil isn’t supposed to do: it blew up, killing 47 people, leaving the downtown core in ruin.
The crude oil on that train came from North Dakota, where it was pulled from the shale of the Bakken formation, which stretches from western North Dakota into southern Saskatchewan and eastern Montana.
It’s the...
Ethanol blends carry hidden risk
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 14th, 2013
ScienceDaily: Blending more ethanol into fuel to cut air pollution from vehicles carries a hidden risk that toxic or even explosive gases may find their way into buildings, according to researchers at Rice University.
Those problems would likely occur in buildings with cracked foundations that happen to be in the vicinity of fuel spills. Vapors that rise from contaminated groundwater can be sucked inside, according to Rice environmental engineer Pedro Alvarez. Once there, trapped pools of methane could ignite...
California Plans Tighter Control of Fracking, but Not Enough for Some
Posted by New York Times: KATE GALBRAITH on December 14th, 2013
New York Times: California drillers eager to use hydraulic fracturing to tap the nation’s largest oil shale formation will face comprehensive regulation for the first time next year under rules issued this week. The rules take effect on Jan. 1, though they will be replaced a year later by permanent regulations that are still being developed but are expected to be similar. In September, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law that established the outlines for the regulations. The new rules require drillers to alert neighboring...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California Plans Tighter Control of Fracking, but Not Enough for SomeIn South American Highlands, Disease is Killing Frogs While Climate Change Threats Loom
Posted by Nature World: None Given on December 13th, 2013
Nature World: A study of declining frog populations in the Andes Mountains reveals that disease is accelerating their death.
A deadly fungus is striking the mountain frogs, which San Francisco State University professor Vance Vredenburg said is notable because it's not the cause of death many had suspected. Increasing temperatures, even at the high altitudes of the Andes, were initially believed to play a role in the frogs' death.
Vredenburg and his colleagues found that frogs living at higher elevations...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on In South American Highlands, Disease is Killing Frogs While Climate Change Threats Loom11 Arrested Protesting Tar Sands and Fracking
Posted by EcoWatch: None Given on December 13th, 2013
EcoWatch: On Friday, two activists with Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance and Cross Timbers Earth First! locked themselves inside a revolving door at the Devon Tower in Oklahoma City, OK in protest of Devon’s involvement in tar sands extraction and plans to increase fracking in Eagle Ford Shale.
Two activists locked themselves in a revolving door in protest of tar sands extraction and fracking. Photo credit: Great Plains Tar Sands Resistance
Simultaneously, a banner displaying a Mockingjay from the popular...
Is West’s Dry Spell Really a Megadrought?
Posted by Climate Central: Bobby Magill on December 13th, 2013
Climate Central: The drought that has been afflicting most of the Western states for the past 13 years may be a "megadrought,' and the likelihood is high that this century could see a multi-decade dry spell like nothing else seen over the past 1,000 years, according to research presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting on Wednesday and Thursday.
Today, drought or abnormally dry conditions are affecting every state west of the Mississippi River and many on the East Coast, with much of the Southwest...
Climate change is moving the North pole and affecting Earth’s rotation
Posted by Gizmodo: None Given on December 13th, 2013
Gizmodo: I thought I knew all the dreadful effects of climate change, but this new discovery has truly surprised me: "Climate change is causing the North Pole's location to drift, owing to subtle changes in Earth's rotation that result from the melting of glaciers and ice sheets." The entire Earth is tilting because this change.
One example:
The influx of fresh water from shrinking ice sheets also causes the planet to pitch over. Landerer and colleagues estimate that the melting of Greenland's ice is...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change is moving the North pole and affecting Earth’s rotationLand Use Decisions Impact Forest Benefits
Posted by Environmental News Network: ecoRI News on December 13th, 2013
Environmental News Network: A new study by Harvard University's Harvard Forest and the Smithsonian Institution reveals that, if left unchecked, recent trends in the loss of forests to development will undermine significant land conservation gains in Massachusetts, jeopardize water quality and limit the natural landscape's ability to protect against climate change. cientists researched and analyzed four plausible scenarios for what Massachusetts could look like in the future. The scenarios were developed by a group of forestry...
United Kingdom: Anti-fracking protesters clash with police at drilling site near Manchester
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 13th, 2013
Guardian: Anti-fracking protesters clashed with police on Friday in demonstrations against shale gas drilling in Greater Manchester and against an application made for the first new well site since the South Downs national park was established.
There were scuffles between police and protesters at the IGas Barton Moss exploratory drilling site near Manchester. IGas, an independent oil and gas company, insisted the wider public was beginning to understand the benefits of shale.
"We support a right to protest...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Anti-fracking protesters clash with police at drilling site near Manchester