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Archive for December, 2013
Fracking opponents win big in Pennsylvania
Posted by Grist: John Upton on December 23rd, 2013
Grist: Robinson Township in western Pennsylvania is home to a couple thousand residents and about 20 fracked wells. In a resounding victory for common sense and for local governments throughout the state, residents there and in six other towns won an epic court battle last week that will give them back the right to regulate or even evict the fracking operations in their midst.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Thursday struck down elements of a state law that had prevented local governments from regulating...
Enbridge Dilbit Spill Still Not Cleaned Up as 2013 Closes, Irritating the EPA
Posted by InsideClimate: David Hasemyer on December 23rd, 2013
InsideClimate: Little evidence remains of the chaotic scramble to stop the massive oil spill that fouled Michigan's Kalamazoo River in the summer of 2010, yet the full effects of the calamitous accident will likely remain unknown for years. State environmental officials says it could be 2018 before they are ready to issue a final verdict on the damage done to the Kalamazoo after more than a million gallons of heavy crude oil poured into the river from a pipeline owned by Enbridge Inc [3]. At the same time, the...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Enbridge Dilbit Spill Still Not Cleaned Up as 2013 Closes, Irritating the EPAGreenland’s Snow Hides 100 Billion Tons of Water
Posted by LiveScience: Becky Oskin on December 23rd, 2013
LiveScience: Big surprises still hide beneath the frozen surface of snowy Greenland. Despite decades of poking and prodding by scientists, only now has the massive ice island revealed a hidden aquifer.
In southeast Greenland, more than 100 billion tons of liquid water soaks a slushy snow layer buried anywhere from 15 to 160 feet (5 to 50 meters) below the surface. This snow aquifer covers more than 27,000 square miles (70,000 square kilometers) -- an area bigger than West Virginia -- researchers report today...
TransCanada CEO Girling: U.S. President Obama Will Approve Keystone Project
Posted by Hill: None Given on December 23rd, 2013
Hill: TransCanada CEO Russ Girling said he is "very confident" the proposed Keystone XL pipeline would be approved by President Obama.
Girling said he expects the final environmental review of the pipeline, which would carry crude from oil sands in Alberta to Gulf Coast refineries, to be released by the State Department in the coming weeks.
In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Girling said that he "remain[s] very confident" Obama will approve the pipeline.
"I remain 100 percent confident that this...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on TransCanada CEO Girling: U.S. President Obama Will Approve Keystone ProjectAlberta Premier Redford Says Keystone XL Pipeline Prospects Improving
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 23rd, 2013
Globe and Mail: Alberta Premier Alison Redford says that heading into 2014, she sees encouraging political signs in relation to approval of the Keystone XL pipeline in the United States, and North Americans are realizing that pipelines are a better means of shipping crude than rail.
In a year-end interview at her Calgary office, the Premier cited a broader recognition of the safety and environmental risks of rail, which has become the key transport alternative as Alberta oil sands and U.S. light oil production...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Alberta Premier Redford Says Keystone XL Pipeline Prospects ImprovingCanada: Northern Gateway Pipeline Opposition Groups Threaten ‘Direct Action’
Posted by CBC: None Given on December 23rd, 2013
CBC: Opponents of Northern Gateway said Friday that the war against the pipeline will now be waged against the federal government, which will decide the project's fate after a federal review panel recommended approval.
A coalition of environmental groups gathered in Vancouver the day after the National Energy Board released its report and recommendations, to say that Calgary-based Enbridge may have had the support of the panel, but not the public.
Gerald Amos, chairman of the Friends of Wild Salmon...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Canada: Northern Gateway Pipeline Opposition Groups Threaten ‘Direct Action’Focus Ocean’s Health as Dolphin Deaths Soar
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 23rd, 2013
New York Times: Like a macabre marine mystery, the carcasses — many badly deteriorated and tossing about in the surf — first turned up along the coast of New Jersey in June. Soon, droves of them washed up in Virginia, the Carolinas, Georgia and most recently Florida, their winter home.
So far this year, nearly 1,000 bottlenose dolphins — eight times the historical average — have washed up dead along the Eastern Seaboard from New York to Florida, a vast majority of them victims of morbillivirus. Many more are...
‘Massive’ reservoir melt water found under Greenland ice
Posted by BBC: Matt McGrath on December 22nd, 2013
BBC: Researchers say they have discovered a large reservoir of melt water that sits under the Greenland ice sheet all year round.
The scientists say the water is stored in the air space between particles of ice, similar to the way that fruit juice stays liquid in a slush drink.
The aquifer, which covers an area the size of Ireland, could yield important clues to sea level rise.
The research is published in the journal, Nature Geoscience.
The melting of the Greenland ice sheet has been a significant...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on ‘Massive’ reservoir melt water found under Greenland iceFracking Pipeline Stirs Controversy in Bluegrass State
Posted by EcoWatch: Natasha Khan on December 22nd, 2013
EcoWatch: The land agent first came knocking on Vivian and Dean House’s door in July. They sat on the patio of the retired couple’s 85-acre farm in this Central Kentucky town and chatted.
The guy was friendly, the kind of guy Dean could talk to about fishing.
He put the couple at ease and told them his company was interested in running a pipeline through their land. They were later offered more than $165,000 to sign easements.
This map shows the proposed route through Pennsylvania, West Virginia,...
Australia: 2013 Australia’s hottest year on record
Posted by Sydney Morning Herald: Peter Hannam on December 22nd, 2013
Sydney Morning Herald: 2013 is the year Australia marked its hottest day, month, season, 12-month period and, by December 31, hottest calendar year.
"We're smashing the records," said Andy Pitman, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Climate System Science at the University of NSW. "We're not tinkering away at them, they're being absolutely blitzed."
Global interest in Australia's weather flared early. In January, when models predicted heat that was literally off the charts, the Bureau of Meteorology added...