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Archive for February 3rd, 2014
Aboriginals Flex Muscle in Canada, Blocking Oil & Gas Projects
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 3rd, 2014
Washington Post: Back in spring 2012, while walking in the deep woods of northern Ontario, Sonny Gagnon stumbled across a collection of surveying equipment among the towering spruce trees. Gagnon is chief of the Aroland aboriginal tribe, a band of 450 people living in a village of ramshackle houses by swampy muskeg. He tracks everything that goes on in his community. And the surveying tools weren't supposed to be there.
"I was ticked off,' he says, after learning that the equipment belonged to a subcontractor...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Aboriginals Flex Muscle in Canada, Blocking Oil & Gas ProjectsAnother Spill Reported West Virginia’s Freedom Industries
Posted by Al Jazeera: None Given on February 3rd, 2014
Al Jazeera: A subsequent MCHM chemical spill has been reported at Freedom Industries in West Virginia, local media sources said Friday, but state officials have said that the leak was contained before reaching the Elk River, sparing the already weary downstream residents. Test results from water samples taken from area schools, however, showed the continued presence of the chemical in five schools.
A spokesman for a West Virginia environmental agency said cleanup crews at the site of the previous chemical...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Another Spill Reported West Virginia’s Freedom IndustriesAnti-Keystone Protest Vigils Planned
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 3rd, 2014
United Press International: A consortium of U.S. environmental groups said a chorus of voices will let President Obama know the Keystone XL oil pipeline "fails his climate test." The Sierra Club, anti-Keystone group Bold Nebraska, the Natural Resources Defense Council and more than a dozen other environmental groups scheduled "protest vigils" across the country Monday to oppose the Keystone XL oil pipeline. "This is an all-hands-on-deck moment to send the message to President Obama that Keystone XL fails his climate test...
California May Have Hit Its Driest Point in 500 Years, and the Effects Are Frightening
Posted by Huffington Post: Kathleen Miles on February 3rd, 2014
Huffington Post: California is dry as a bone, and the effects are like something out of an apocalyptic film. Cities are running out of water. Communities are fighting over what little water there is. Local governments are imposing rationing coupled with steep fines. Fires are ravaging the state. Entire species and industries are threatened. For California, 2013 was the driest year since the state started measuring rainfall in 1849. Paleoclimatologist B. Lynn Ingram says that, according to the width of old tree...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California May Have Hit Its Driest Point in 500 Years, and the Effects Are FrighteningEarthquakes Can’t Shake Railroad Commissioner Candidates’ Stances on Fracking in Texas
Posted by Dallas Morning News: David Barer on February 3rd, 2014
Dallas Morning News: Republican candidates for a post on Texas’ oil and gas regulation board are reluctant to pin earthquakes rocking parts of North Texas on industry practices related to “fracking.”
Residents who have felt dozens of quakes where they used to be rare have raised concerns and criticized the Railroad Commission for responding slowly and sharing little information.
Scientists generally agree humans can cause noticeable earthquakes with deep wells such as those used to dispose of waste from hydraulic...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Earthquakes Can’t Shake Railroad Commissioner Candidates’ Stances on Fracking in TexasEnbridge Pipeline Protesters Found Guilty in Michigan
Posted by Lansing State Journal: Ken Palmer on February 3rd, 2014
Lansing State Journal: Three protesters who attached themselves to excavators last summer at an Enbridge Inc. pipeline construction site were convicted Friday on obstruction and trespassing charges.
An Ingham County Circuit Court jury deliberated about nine hours over two days before finding Lisa Leggio, Barbara Carter and Vicci Hamlin guilty of misdemeanor trespassing and resisting and obstructing police, a maximum two-year felony.
Ingham County Circuit Judge William Collette canceled bond for all three and remanded...
Fracking in George Washington National Forest Could Threaten D.C. Area Drinking Water
Posted by Washington Post: Robert McCartney on February 3rd, 2014
Washington Post: The future cleanliness of the Washington region’s drinking water has unexpectedly become a central concern in the national debate over the controversial natural-gas drilling method known as “fracking.” The gas industry is pushing to allow fracking in the George Washington National Forest, despite fears that it could threaten the cleanliness of the Potomac River. It’s the sole source of drinking water for more than 4 million people in our area. t’s no surprise that environmental groups are pushing...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Fracking in George Washington National Forest Could Threaten D.C. Area Drinking WaterKeystone Ardor Cools Among Producers with More Options
Posted by Bloomberg: Jeremy van Loon and Rebecca Penty on February 3rd, 2014
Bloomberg: Now that the U.S. government has cleared the Keystone XL project of any dire environmental impact, attention is returning to why the pipeline was needed in the first place: to get more Canadian oil to U.S. refineries. TransCanada Corp. (TRP)’s Keystone promises to ease a bottleneck that’s limited how much Canadian crude can flow south. The lack of transportation has created a glut that deflated prices for producers in the country. After five years waiting for U.S. approval, though, the need for...
Why not get tough on water use, California?
Posted by LA Times: Editorial on February 3rd, 2014
LA Times: To hear Gov. Jerry Brown tell it, California is in a "mega drought" -- perhaps the worst dry spell it's ever known. So why does he keep calling for voluntary water conservation?
The governor met with Southern California water officials Thursday morning and, again, they bemoaned the seriousness of the drought. Yet the general manager of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California -- the wholesaler that delivers most of the region's water supply -- reiterated the governor's call for voluntary...