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Archive for May, 2014
Climate Change Denial: A Costly, Politically Dangerous Gamble
Posted by MintPress: Frederick Reese on May 27th, 2014
MintPress: Half of the United States is suffering through drought conditions - including all of California, which saw huge swathes of the San Diego area swept by raging wildfires this month. In the Midwest, major rainstorms and tornadoes inundated the Mississippi floodplain for days, causing millions of dollars in damage. In Baltimore, hurricane-intensity rain contributed to the collapse of a city street.
It is the consensus of the scientific community that the Earth is sick. According to the National Climate...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Climate Change Denial: A Costly, Politically Dangerous GambleSold Up The River? Hydro Power Threatens Okavango Delta
Posted by National Geographic: Steve Boyes on May 27th, 2014
National Geographic: Experts agree that the Popa Falls Hydro Power Project on the Okavango River in Namibia will a catastrophic impact on Africa`s soon-to-be newest UNESCO World Heritage Site, Botswana`s Okavango Delta, the world`s largest, wildest inland delta. Namibia is signatory to the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (1971). This intergovernmental treaty provides for national action and international co-operation in support of the conservation and sustainable-use of wetlands around the world. The Okavango Delta is...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Sold Up The River? Hydro Power Threatens Okavango DeltaIllinois House panel approves rules for fracking
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 27th, 2014
Associated Press: A House committee has approved a plan to speed up hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas in Illinois.
The Executive Committee voted 7-4 Monday to advance the plan by Rep. John Bradley despite protests from environmentalists.
Bradley's legislation would take away the power of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources to adopt rules for the extraction method known as "fracking."
The Marion Democrat is frustrated because lawmakers approved fracking a year ago. IDNR still hasn't produced rules...
New safety requirements set for Keystone pipeline
Posted by Associated Press: Joan Lowy on May 27th, 2014
Associated Press: Safety regulators have quietly placed two extra conditions on construction of TransCanada Corp.'s Keystone XL oil pipeline after learning of potentially dangerous construction defects involving the southern leg of the Canada-to-Texas project.
The defects - high rates of bad welds, dented pipe and damaged pipeline coating - have been fixed. But the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration wants to make sure similar problems don't occur during construction of the pipeline's...
A Conversation With Darrel R. Frost: An Amphibian’s Best Friend
Posted by New York Times: Glenn Collins on May 26th, 2014
New York Times: Darrel R. Frost, the chief herpetology curator at the American Museum of Natural History, has done fieldwork in Ethiopia, Guatemala, Mexico, Namibia, Peru, South Africa and Vietnam. He is also a sort of gatekeeper for amphibians.
Dr. Frost, 62, oversees the museum's catalog of the class Amphibia - more than 7,200 species, comprising frogs, salamanders and limbless, soil-dwelling caecilians. Its web page attracts more than a million views a year.
An avuncular conversationalist who enjoys a laugh...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on A Conversation With Darrel R. Frost: An Amphibian’s Best FriendShakeout Threatens Shale Patch as Frackers Go for Broke
Posted by Bloomberg: Asjylyn Loder on May 26th, 2014
Bloomberg: The U.S. shale patch is facing a shakeout as drillers struggle to keep pace with the relentless spending needed to get oil and gas out of the ground.
Shale debt has almost doubled over the last four years while revenue has gained just 5.6 percent, according to a Bloomberg News analysis of 61 shale drillers. A dozen of those wildcatters are spending at least 10 percent of their sales on interest compared with Exxon Mobil Corp.’s 0.1 percent.
“The list of companies that are financially stressed...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Shakeout Threatens Shale Patch as Frackers Go for BrokeEl Nino Blows Hot and Cold
Posted by Truthdig: None Given on May 26th, 2014
Truthdig: El Niño, the mysterious meteorological phenomenon that periodically upsets global weather patterns, bringing catastrophic flooding to the arid lands of North and South America, and forest fires to South-east Asia, turns out to be more complicated than anyone had thought.
Sandra Banholzer and Simon Donner, environmental scientists at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, report in Geophysical Research Letters that some El Niño events don’t turn up the planetary thermostat, and...
United Kingdom: Grudgingly, UKIP has a point on saving our shale gas wealth
Posted by Energy Live: None Given on May 26th, 2014
Energy Live: It’s probably the only UKIP policy I can ever agree with.
And it was presented in an otherwise mud-slinging speech by MEP Roger Helmer -- the party’s energy lead who re-elected in last week`s EU elections -- at UKIP’s annual conference last year.
It goes something like this: if Britain plunges on with a shale gas bonanza, why don’t we put the proceeds into a Norwegian-style savings pot for future generations?
Actually UKIP’s showstopper idea could have been borrowed from the Lib Dems – they...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Grudgingly, UKIP has a point on saving our shale gas wealthAsia readies food security defences against El Nino threat
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 26th, 2014
Reuters: Asia's governments are scrambling to head off the potential impact of a weather phenomenon that in the past has driven food prices to levels that sparked social unrest.
With lessons learned, Indonesia's government is handing out calendars to farmers setting out early planting dates. Malaysia and the Philippines are working to manage water supplies and India has bolstered its food stockpiles.
They are aiming to reduce the impact of the so-called El Nino, a weather pattern that can bring drought...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Asia readies food security defences against El Nino threatUS Oil Sands gears up to build Utah project
Posted by Calgary Herald: Dan Healing on May 26th, 2014
Calgary Herald: The first equipment, a used horizontal rotary slurry mixer formerly employed in a California cement plant, has been purchased as US Oil Sands Inc. moves ahead with its plan to mine for bitumen in Utah.
The Calgary-based company announced its final investment decision for the PR Spring Project in the arid state earlier this month, approving a 2,000-barrel-a-day mine and processing centre that is expected to cost $60 million -- about $10 million more than previously estimated.
Chief executive...