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Archive for February 26th, 2014
No Conflict of Interest Found in Favorable Review of Keystone Pipeline
Posted by New York Times: Coral Davenport on February 26th, 2014
New York Times: A State Department contractor who prepared an environmental analysis of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline did not violate conflict of interest rules, even though the contractor had previously done work for TransCanada, the company seeking to build pipeline, a State Department inspector general’s investigation concluded on Wednesday. The results of the investigation could further pave the way for the Obama administration to approve the 1,700-mile, $5.4 billion pipeline, which would move heavily...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on No Conflict of Interest Found in Favorable Review of Keystone PipelineDuke Raked Over the Coals for 35 Million Gallon Ash Spill
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on February 26th, 2014
Environment News Service: An estimated 35 million gallons of arsenic-contaminated water and ash has spilled into the Dan River since February 2, when a stormwater pipe broke beneath an unlined coal ash storage pond at Duke Energy`s retired power plant in Eden, near the North Carolina-Virginia border.
Wake Forest University researchers, using a 3D model created with aerial images taken by a camera on their unmanned aircraft, estimate that up to 20 million gallons of ash and water spilled out of the pond on February 2, with...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Duke Raked Over the Coals for 35 Million Gallon Ash SpillThe Search For Drinking Water In California Has Led To Ocean
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2014
National Public Radio: California is getting some much needed rain this week, but more than two-thirds of the state is still in extreme drought conditions, and that has the state thinking about alternative ways of getting water.
On the coast in Carlsbad, Calif., construction workers are building what will be the largest seawater desalination plant in the Western Hemisphere. When finished in early 2016, it is expected to provide up to 50 million gallons of fresh drinkable water every day.
"That's enough water for...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on The Search For Drinking Water In California Has Led To OceanPortable Potables: How To Fight Drought By Reusing Water
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2014
National Public Radio: David Sedlak, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, explains the many methods of capturing and reusing drinking water.
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Portable Potables: How To Fight Drought By Reusing WaterNowhere to hide from extreme weather
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2014
USA Today: In 1887, the prospectus for a new, private, residential resort off the Georgia coast offered the nation's elite ("men of means, taste and culture") what they'd been searching for: the promise of perfect weather. "The climate is mild and even, with no extremes,'' it reported. "No destructive storms or cyclones have ever been experienced.'' Sold! J.P. Morgan, William K. Vanderbilt and Joseph Pulitzer all became charter members of the Jekyll Island Club. Eleven years later, a club superintendent wrote...
South America glacier decline linked with global warming
Posted by Summit Voice: Bob Berwyn on February 26th, 2014
Summit Voice: Geologists are getting better at unraveling the mysteries of historic glacial episodes, as technology helps understand how the ice sheets respond to climate change.
One recent research project led by scientists from Dartmouth University suggests that temperature is the driving factor in shaping the size of Peru`s Quelccaya Ice Cap. The 17-square mile glacier in the Andes has been shrinking dramatically in the past few decades, making it a global warming symbol.
The findings support the idea...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on South America glacier decline linked with global warmingWhy we need an outright ban on fracking in UK
Posted by Guardian: Natalie Hynde on February 26th, 2014
Guardian: Getting arrested for taking part in direct action at Balcombe was the most liberating experience I've ever had. Nothing I've ever done in my life has made me feel so empowered and alive.
Anyone can Google the "List of the Harmed" or look at the Shalefield Stories detailing what's happened to people in the US as a result of fracking – the nosebleeds, the cancers, the spontaneous abortions in livestock, the seizures and silicosis in the worker's lungs. Not to mention the farming revenue lost from...
Climate engineering: Minor potential, major risk of side-effects?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 26th, 2014
ScienceDaily: With global greenhouse gas emissions continuing to increase proposals to limit the effects of climate change through the large-scale manipulation of Earth system are increasingly being discussed. Researchers at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Centre for Ocean Research Kiel have now studied with computer simulations the long-term global consequences of several "climate engineering" methods. They show that all the proposed methods would either be unable to significantly reduce global warming if CO2 emissions...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate engineering: Minor potential, major risk of side-effects?Singapore and Malaysia hit by extreme dry spell
Posted by Guardian: Reuters on February 26th, 2014
Guardian: Singapore and Malaysia are grappling with some of the driest weather they have ever seen, forcing the tiny city-state to ramp up supplies of recycled water while its neighbour rations reserves amid disruptions to farming and fisheries.
Singapore, which experiences tropical downpours on most days, suffered its longest dry spell on record between Jan 13 and Feb 8 and has had little rain since.
Shares in Hyflux Ltd, which operates desalination and water recycling operations there, have risen 3.5%...
Climate change may be causing a global coffee shortage
Posted by Slate: Eric Holthaus on February 26th, 2014
Slate: An epic drought -- Brazil's worst in decades -- is threatening exports from the world's largest coffee exporter and driving up wholesale prices worldwide. We've officially entered the realm of bloggers' worst-case scenario.
Now, let's not get too hasty. The world is not going to run out of coffee next week. Analysts still estimate an increasingly tight global coffee surplus of less than 1 percent of total production through the remainder of the year. But the Brazilian drought is causing a significant...