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Archive for January, 2014
Frackers banned from New York for at least another year
Posted by Grist: John Upton on January 30th, 2014
Grist: Good news, New Yorkers. Your state has staved off the creepy advances of environment-trashing frackers for at least another year.
While neighboring states have allowed oil and gas companies to frack freely in their Marcellus shale deposits, the Empire State declared a statewide moratorium in 2008, saying it needed time to study the impacts to water supplies and human health. The ban has attracted lawsuits from the energy industry, but fracking is so unpopular in New York that dozens of local governments...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Frackers banned from New York for at least another yearFlooding experts say Britain will have to adapt to climate change – and fast
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2014
Guardian: "You are looking at retreat," says Prof Colin Thorne, a flooding expert at the University of Nottingham. "It is the only sensible policy – it makes no sense to defend the indefensible." This assessment of how the UK will have to adapt to its increasing flood risk is stark, but is shared by virtually all those who work on the issue.
Centuries of draining wetlands, reclaiming salt marshes and walling in rivers is being put into reverse by climate change, which is bringing fiercer storms, more intense...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Flooding experts say Britain will have to adapt to climate change – and fastNew Study Shows Proximity to Fracking Sites Increases Risk of Birth Defects
Posted by EcoWatch: Brandon Baker on January 30th, 2014
EcoWatch: The dangers of fracking are no secret, but a study released this week shows the devastating impact the process can have on babies before they even have a chance to live their lives.
The unborn children of pregnant women who live within a 10-mile radius of fracking sites are far more susceptible to congenital heart defects (CHD), according to Birth Outcomes and Maternal Residential Proximity to Natural Gas Development in Rural Colorado, the latest study from the National Institute of Environmental...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on New Study Shows Proximity to Fracking Sites Increases Risk of Birth DefectsAl Gore, Alison Redford ‘agree to disagree’ on climate change
Posted by Calgary Herald: Darcy Henton on January 30th, 2014
Calgary Herald: Premier Alison Redford said she faced down former U.S. vice-president Al Gore in Switzerland over his views on the impact of the oilsands on climate change, and they agreed to disagree.
Redford told reporters Wednesday in her first public appearance since returning from the World Economic Forum in Davos that she used her encounter with Gore at a private session last week to correct myths about the oilsands — and to tell the climate change crusader and other participants about the steps Alberta...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Al Gore, Alison Redford ‘agree to disagree’ on climate changeUnited Kingdom: Flooding: Army arrive in Somerset to aid flood relief effort
Posted by Telegraph: Edward Malnick on January 30th, 2014
Telegraph: Military planners and engineers have arrived in villages left stricken by floods as part of emergency relief efforts initiated by the Government.
The Ministry of Defence said up to 100 military personnel from the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and Army were on standby to provide assistance, amid fears of further storms during Thursday.
The announcement came after the Government agreed to draw up plans for specialist amphibious equipment to be deployed to the Somerset Levels after Somerset County...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Flooding: Army arrive in Somerset to aid flood relief effortUnited Kingdom: January rainfall breaks records
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2014
BBC: Early figures suggest parts of England have had their wettest January since records began more than 100 years ago.
The Met Office said much of southern England and parts of the Midlands had already seen twice the average rainfall for January by midnight on Tuesday - with three days left in the month.
And it is warning of more rain, as well as snow and high winds, for much of the UK in the coming days.
In Somerset, the military is preparing to help flooded areas.
Up to and including January...
Parts of England see wettest January since records began
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2014
Guardian: Large parts of England have endured the wettest January since records began, according to new figures released by the Met Office, as troops headed to the Somerset Levels to help deliver assistance to flood-hit communities.
A large area from east Devon to Kent and inland across parts of the Midlands has already seen twice the average rainfall for the month.
Two days before the end of the month, the figures show that south-east and central southern England have already recorded twice their average...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Parts of England see wettest January since records beganUnited Kingdom: A flooded village waits for the high tides
Posted by Telegraph: Joe Shute on January 30th, 2014
Telegraph: From Burrow Mump, an 80ft high Triassic--age hill that looms over the Somerset Levels, water stretches as far as the eye can see. Miles of field and salt marsh have simply been swallowed up in the deluge. Bruised grey juggernaut clouds glide through the skies above; yet more rain falls on this sodden land.
At the top of the Mump is the ruin of St Michael's Church, built by the monks of Athelney Abbey, one of several monasteries that used to dot the Somerset Levels. It was these monks who, in centuries...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: A flooded village waits for the high tidesAntarctic ice shelves could disappear
Posted by New Zealand Herald: Jamie Morton on January 30th, 2014
New Zealand Herald: A number of floating ice shelves in Antarctica are at risk of disappearing entirely in the next 200 years, as global warming reduces their snow cover, a new study has found.
Their collapse would enhance the discharge of ice into the oceans and increase the rate at which sea-level rises.
Scientists have been observing ice-shelf retreat around the Antarctic Peninsula since the early 1990s, but a new model provides for the first time a strong basis for the prediction of future changes - a major...
Much North Dakota’s Natural Gas Is Going Up In Flames
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 30th, 2014
National Public Radio: A remarkable transformation is underway in western North Dakota, where an oil boom is changing the state's fortunes and leaving once-sleepy towns bursting at the seams. In a series of stories, NPR is exploring the economic, social and environmental demands of this modern-day gold rush.
North Dakota's oil boom isn't just about oil; a lot of natural gas is being produced, too. But there's a problem with that: The state doesn't have the pipelines needed to transport all that gas to market. There's...