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Archive for February 23rd, 2014
Can California Avoid a ‘Shock to Trance’ Approach to Water Policy?
Posted by New York Times: Andrew C. Revkin on February 23rd, 2014
New York Times: Forecasters predict heavy rains will sweep in from the Pacific Ocean over much of California late next week. The state’s extreme drought will be far from over, but the shift from parched days to downpours illustrates on a short time scale one factor explaining why it’s hard to change deeply ingrained and wasteful approaches to water policy. The West is a region where droughts come and go, but development pressure is a constant. Years ago, President Obama spoke of the nation’s “shock to trance” approach...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Can California Avoid a ‘Shock to Trance’ Approach to Water Policy?United Kingdom: HS2 may increase risk homes being flooded, senior Conservatives fear
Posted by Guardian: Rowena Mason on February 23rd, 2014
Guardian: Senior Conservatives have raised concerns that HS2 will increase the risk of homes being flooded, as the high-speed train line passes through areas affected by the recent extreme weather, runs over miles of high-risk floodplains and will require the diversion of seven rivers.
The Liberal Democrat flooding minister, Dan Rogerson, has admitted the scale of the flood risk associated with HS2 has not been fully assessed for the first phase of the route from London to Birmingham.
The HS2 route crosses...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: HS2 may increase risk homes being flooded, senior Conservatives fearStudy suggests clearcutting and ‘snow farming’ as global warming mitigation
Posted by Summit County: Bob Berwyn on February 23rd, 2014
Summit County: Snow farming is nothing new for ski area operators, who have long been cultivating the white stuff to help keep their slopes covered. Now, a recent study by researchers at Darthmouth College suggests that snow farming could also make sense on a larger scale, in the context of climate-change mitigation.
In a novel look at forests and snow, their report says that replacing forests with snow-covered meadows may provide greater climatic and economic benefits than if slow-growing trees are left standing...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Study suggests clearcutting and ‘snow farming’ as global warming mitigationNew ethanol industry blooms in Iowa, but it could soon be uprooted
Posted by Des Moines Register: None Given on February 23rd, 2014
Des Moines Register: The line of headlights begins close to 6 a.m. as trucks and other vehicles file into the $250 million construction project south of this northwest Iowa town of 3,900.
Some of the 300 construction workers come from Iowa. But most — with license plates from Nebraska, Texas and Minnesota — fill about every apartment, hotel and trailer in a 30-mile radius. The workers pack the local Casey’s for breakfast pizza, line up at Fareway’s meat counter and drop by Don Jose’s for dinner.
“I’m pretty sure...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on New ethanol industry blooms in Iowa, but it could soon be uprootedUnited Kingdom: Risk of nuclear leak sparks call installation of flood defences
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 23rd, 2014
Independent: Managers of a nuclear waste dump on the Cumbria coast have been ordered to start preparations to defend the site against floods and erosion, amid fears that radioactive material could one day leak into the sea.
Much of the waste buried in vaults and concrete trenches at the Low Level Waste Repository (LLWR) near the village of Drigg originates from one of the world's most contaminated nuclear sites, Sellafield, a few miles away. The waste dump is expected ultimately to require protective flood...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Risk of nuclear leak sparks call installation of flood defencesDrought Could Drain More Than Brazil’s Coffee Crop
Posted by National Public Radio: Lourdes Garcia-Navarro on February 23rd, 2014
National Public Radio: Brazil, a country usually known for its rainforests, has been facing a severe drought in its breadbasket region, leaving people in the cities without water and farmers in the countryside with dying crops. Global prices for coffee, in particular, have been affected.
Scientists in Brazil say the worst is yet to come - yet no one in the government, it seems, is listening.
On a recent day, farmer Juliano Jose Polidor walks through the desiccated remains of his cornfields.
What's happened to...
Small Nebraska agency might further complicate Keystone fight
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 23rd, 2014
Reuters: A small Nebraska state commission that has never considered a major oil pipeline route could soon play a pivotal role in deciding the fate of the Keystone XL pipeline, a project brimming with political risk for both the U.S. and Canadian governments.
A court ruling this week reinstating the Nebraska Public Service Commission's authority over TransCanada Corp's $5.4 billion project from the Alberta oil sands has raised new questions about a long-delayed project that Canada considers crucial to...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Small Nebraska agency might further complicate Keystone fightWildlife casualties of floods grow amid fears over ‘polluted’ wetlands
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 23rd, 2014
Guardian: Seals, moles, hedgehogs, badgers, mice, earthworms and a host of insects and seabirds are among the unseen casualties of the floods, storms and torrential rains of the last few weeks, say wildlife groups.
As the waters started to subside across England, conservationists reported that about 600 guillemots, puffins, razorbills, kittiwakes and gulls have been washed up on the south coast and 250 seals drowned in Norfolk, Cornwall and the Channel Islands. A further 11,000 seabirds are reported to...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Wildlife casualties of floods grow amid fears over ‘polluted’ wetlands