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Archive for July 17th, 2014
Colorado finds link between quakes and wastewater wells
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 17th, 2014
Reuters: Colorado regulators said on Thursday that the disposal of oil and gas wastewater at a well in Weld County likely caused a series of small earthquakes this year, in another sign that a U.S. drilling boom is contributing to higher seismic activity.
The issue of wastewater disposal disturbing underground faultlines has become a national issue in the United States where drilling and wastewater disposal have increased sharply in recent years.
The Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC)...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Colorado finds link between quakes and wastewater wellsCalifornia’s water conservation could weaken utilities’ credit
Posted by Reuters: Robin Respaut on July 17th, 2014
Reuters: California's strict new regulations for water conservation could have the unintended consequence of hurting the credit quality of water utilities in the drought-stricken state. Regulators on Tuesday passed new measures to limit outdoor water use in an increasingly desperate effort to conserve. On Thursday, Moody's Investor Service warned that a significant drop in water sales could weaken the credit quality of some water utilities, many of them public districts. Increasing rates to offset the loss...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California’s water conservation could weaken utilities’ creditCalif. couple conserves amid drought, could face fine for brown lawn
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 17th, 2014
Reuters: A Southern California couple who scaled back watering their lawn amid the state's drought received a warning from the suburb where they live that they might be fined for creating an eyesore - despite emergency statewide orders to conserve.
Michael Korte and Laura Whitney, who live near Los Angeles in Glendora, said on Thursday they received a letter from the city warning they had 60 days to green up their partially brown lawn or pay a fine ranging from $100 to $500.
"I don't think it's right...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Calif. couple conserves amid drought, could face fine for brown lawnWashington state wildfire grows, more evacuations urged
Posted by Reuters: Victoria Cavaliere on July 17th, 2014
Reuters: A fast-moving Washington state wildfire raging in the Cascade Mountains grew in size to threaten roughly 1,700 dwellings on Thursday near the Bavarian-style village of Leavenworth, officials said.
The Chiwaukum Creek fire continued to rage out of control through timber in the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest and on private land, two days after it was triggered by a lightning strike, according to the Chelan County Emergency Management office.
Evacuation orders were issued for about 900 homes...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Washington state wildfire grows, more evacuations urgedFix farms in a few countries and feed 3 billion people
Posted by New Scientist: Azeen Ghorayshi on July 17th, 2014
New Scientist: Give us the right levers and we shall feed the world. The lion's share of the world's food production problems stem from just a handful of countries. If we could concentrate on these problem areas, we could potentially feed 3 billion more people and massively reduce the environmental damage from farming.
"The way we're growing agriculture right now is totally not sustainable," says Paul West of the University of Minnesota in St Paul.
West and his colleagues looked for "leverage points": areas...
Australia Becomes First Nation Repeal Carbon Tax
Posted by EcoWatch: Brandon Baker on July 17th, 2014
EcoWatch: With Australia`s standing as the world`s highest per-capita emitter of carbon dioxide, one would think the country would be the last to repeal a pollution tax.
Think again.
The country defied the odds Thursday with a 39 to 32 Senate vote to repeal laws requiring companies to pay for their emissions. The law had been in place less than three years.
The country`s big emitters were paying up to $23.45 per metric ton of carbon dioxide as of this month, the New York Times reported.
“Today’s...
Australia repeals carbon tax, scientists freak out
Posted by Grist: None Given on July 17th, 2014
Grist: The cartoonish stereotype of Australia of yesteryear featured a rough-headed bloke in an Akubra hat wrangling crocodiles. That image has finally been scrubbed from our collective memories -- only to be replaced with something worse. Today, when we read news dispatches from Australia, we`re seeing a dunderheaded prime minister cartoonishly wrangling commonsense, becoming the first leader in the warming world to repeal a price on carbon.
It`s like George W. Bush, Crocodile Dundee-style.
Conservative...
California drought: San Jose’s new high-tech water purification plant recycled water use
Posted by Mercury News: Paul Rogers on July 17th, 2014
Mercury News: When the San Francisco 49ers' stadium opens next month in Santa Clara, almost all of it will be new except for one thing: the water used to irrigate the field and flush the toilets.
Like hundreds of other places around Silicon Valley -- golf courses, power plants, San Jose's airport -- Levi's Stadium will use recycled water, which is essentially sewage that has been filtered, cleaned and disinfected.
Valley water officials on Friday will take a big step toward expanding the use of recycled...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California drought: San Jose’s new high-tech water purification plant recycled water useArctic climate researchers zoom in on plankton
Posted by Alaska Public Media: Lauren Rosenthal on July 17th, 2014
Alaska Public Media: They’re not recognizable like polar bears or whales. But phytoplankton are a key part of life in the Arctic – and now, they’re at the center of a new research effort to predict how the region will respond to climate change.
Almost every animal in the Arctic eats - or eats something that consumes - phytoplankton. They’re tiny specks of algae that usually blossom into big clouds out in the ocean in the springtime.
But that’s not what Kevin Arrigo saw a few years back. He was in the Chukchi Sea...
In North Dakota oil bonanza, natural gas goes up in flames
Posted by LA Times: Paresh Dave on July 17th, 2014
LA Times: Frank and Wanda Leppell once lived on a quiet cattle ranch in the middle of a rolling prairie, the lowing of cattle and the chirping of sparrows forming a pleasant soundtrack to their mornings. No more.
Not since the pasture they began leasing in 2009 became part of one of the nation's most productive new oil fields. Not since a well barely 200 yards from their front porch began shooting a torch of burning gas skyward, 24 hours a day, with a force as loud as a jet engine.
"My bedroom's like...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on In North Dakota oil bonanza, natural gas goes up in flames