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Archive for March 14th, 2014
Drought-stricken California, court rules smelt fish get water
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 14th, 2014
Reuters: A California appeals court sided with environmentalists over growers on Thursday and upheld federal guidelines that limit water diversions to protect Delta smelt, in a battle over how the state will cope with its worst drought in a century.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that a lower court should not have overturned recommendations that the state reduce exports of water from north to south California. The plan leaves more water in the Sacramento Delta for the finger-sized fish and...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Drought-stricken California, court rules smelt fish get waterWarmer years linked to more malaria in tropical highlands
Posted by SciDevNet: Pablo Correa on March 14th, 2014
SciDevNet: People in densely populated highlands of Africa and South America — who have so far been protected from malaria by cooler temperatures — may be seeing more of the disease as the climate changes, according to a study in Science (6 March). Mountainous regions with relatively cold climates that are unsuitable for the malaria parasite and the mosquitoes that transmit — but there have been indications, for example from modelling studies, that with climate change this protection will wear off. Now scientists...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Warmer years linked to more malaria in tropical highlandsAfter North Carolina spill, coal ash ponds face extinction
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 14th, 2014
Reuters: Power producers' coal ash disposal ponds like the one that leaked toxic sludge into a North Carolina river in February may soon become a thing of the past.
After six years of deliberation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in May will decide on changes to the Clean Water Act that would direct power companies to remove dangerous impurities, including carcinogens, from coal ash wastewater before releasing it into rivers that supply drinking water.
While the new regulations will not prohibit...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on After North Carolina spill, coal ash ponds face extinctionAmerica’s dirtiest secret
Posted by Boulder Weekly: Jefferson Dodge and Joel Dyer on March 14th, 2014
Boulder Weekly: The oil and gas industry has a dirty little secret, make that a dirty big secret ... no, make that one of the biggest, dirtiest secrets in U.S. history.
What is no secret these days is that the potential for negative environmental and health impacts as a result of oil and gas exploration and production activity is very real.
Concern over fracking, with its toxic cocktail composed of some combination of between 300 and 750 chemicals, 70 percent of which are known to be harmful to humans because...
BP regains ability to bid on leases for US land, water
Posted by Washington Post: Steven Mufson on March 14th, 2014
Washington Post: The Environmental Protection Agency and BP have reached an agreement that lifts a ban on BP's ability to hold government contracts that has barred the company from bidding on oil and gas leases on federal lands and waters because of the massive oil spill triggered by a blowout on a BP well in April 2010.
BP, the largest lease-holder and one of the largest oil producers in the Gulf of Mexico, had been pressing for an end to its debarment in order to conduct business more freely and to reassure...
Three ways that green policy can reassure voters at 2015 UK election
Posted by Guardian: Matthew Spencer on March 14th, 2014
Guardian: After years of economic uncertainty and falling living standards, the 2015 election will have a defensive feel to it. The electorate will want reassurance, not big change. Whoever ends up in government will be pursuing small "c" conservative ends: stability and security.
The 2010 general election was not a cautious one. The banking crisis required national renewal and David Cameron, in optimistic mode, issued a manifesto invitation for the public to "join the government of Britain". All three...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Three ways that green policy can reassure voters at 2015 UK electionWhy maize for biogas should be banned
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 14th, 2014
Guardian: In principle it's a brilliant solution. Instead of leaving food waste and sewage and animal manure to decay in the open air, releasing methane which contributes to global warming, you can contain it, use micro-organisms to digest it, and capture the gas.
Biogas from anaerobic digestion could solve several problems at once. As well as a couple of million tonnes of sewage sludge, the UK produces between 16-18m tonnes of food waste, much of which still goes into landfill. Farms in this country generate...
Riverboats help get remote parts of Amazon online
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on March 14th, 2014
SciDevNet: The world's second largest river is home to some of the most remote communities in the world, but thanks to a recent connection drive they are now increasingly benefiting from internet access.
The Amazon Connection project has brought 3G (third generation) internet access -- which can be used for voice and internet services -- to rural communities living along the Tapajós River, a major tributary of the Amazon River.
The project is a partnership between Swedish communications company Ericsson,...
Emails Link Duke Energy and North Carolina
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on March 14th, 2014
New York Times: Environmental regulators in North Carolina consulted Duke Energy last year before seeking to exclude citizen activists from talks to settle charges that the utility’s coal ash ponds had polluted the state’s groundwater, newly released email exchanges among the regulators indicated on Thursday. Duke officials and the state later settled the charges by proposing a fine and a requirement that Duke study the potential for further pollution before offering solutions. That agreement collapsed in February...
More quakes reported near fracking well
Posted by Columbus Dispatch: Will Drabold on March 14th, 2014
Columbus Dispatch: Geologists say there were 12 earthquakes near an active fracking well in northeastern Ohio — four last week and eight this week.
The earthquakes all have similar wavelengths, said Won Young-Kim, a senior scientist who runs a regional earthquake monitoring network at Columbia University in New York.
He said last week’s epicenters appear to be within a mile of the largest — a magnitude 3.0 earthquake — that occurred on Monday morning near Lowellville in Mahoning County and not far from dozens...