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Archive for September, 2014
Report: Virginia needs someone to lead efforts to deal with rising seas and flooding
Posted by Richmond Times-Dispatch: Rex Springston on September 3rd, 2014
Richmond Times-Dispatch: The state should name a leader in preparing coastal Virginia for flooding linked to rising sea levels, a new report says. The recommendation is one of about two dozen in the draft report of a subpanel of the Secure Commonwealth Panel, which is advising Gov. Terry McAuliffe on emergency management issues. Rising seas and coastal flooding in Virginia pose threats to waterfront developments; historic areas like Jamestown; low-lying communities; and military bases like Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Report: Virginia needs someone to lead efforts to deal with rising seas and floodingCalifornia’s 100-year drought
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 3rd, 2014
USA Today: California is in the third year of one of the state's worst droughts in the past century, one that's led to fierce wildfires, water shortages and restrictions, and potentially staggering agricultural losses. The dryness in California is only part of a longer-term, 15-year drought across most of the Western USA, one that bioclimatologist Park Williams said is notable because "more area in the West has persistently been in drought during the past 15 years than in any other 15-year period since the...
Global warming: How rising alpine vegetation could hit California water supply
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 3rd, 2014
Christian Science Monitor: A warming-climate-induced march of alpine vegetation up a large river basin on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada could slash by one-fourth the annual flow of water the basin delivers to California’s thirsty Central Valley by the last two decades of this century, a new study says.
The results of the Kings River Basin study imply that the same type of risk holds for another 10 major river basins along the western Sierra, although to varying degrees, say the researchers involved in the study....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Global warming: How rising alpine vegetation could hit California water supplyFukushima workers sue Tepco over unpaid wages, reliance on contractors
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 3rd, 2014
Reuters: A group of Fukushima workers on Wednesday sued Tokyo Electric for unpaid wages in a potentially precedent-setting legal challenge to the utility and its reliance on contractors to shut down a nuclear plant destroyed by the industry's worst accident since Chernobyl.
The lawsuit, filed by two current and two former Fukushima workers, claims that Tokyo Electric Power Co Inc and its contractors failed to ensure workers are paid promised hazard allowances, a court filing showed.
The workers say...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Fukushima workers sue Tepco over unpaid wages, reliance on contractorsUnited Kingdom: Pro-fracking newspaper ad banned by Advertising Standards Authority
Posted by Guardian: Sean Farrell on September 2nd, 2014
Guardian: The Advertising Standards Authority has ruled that a US energy company misled the public when it made unsubstantiated claims about the benefits of fracking and claimed a gas shortage put the UK close to catastrophe.
Breitling Energy's advertisement in the Telegraph began: "Dear Citizens of the United Kingdom, do you know that your country is blessed with an incredible gift?" It said higher shale gas estimates in the British Geographical Survey were "fantastic news for the UK".
The ad, published...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Pro-fracking newspaper ad banned by Advertising Standards AuthorityHalliburton reaches $1.1bn settlement over Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 2nd, 2014
Guardian: Halliburton Co, North America’s top oilfield services provider, said it reached a $1.1bn settlement for a majority of claims related to its role in BP’s fatal oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010.
The settlement, which includes legal fees, is subject to approval by the US District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Halliburton said.
The amount, to be paid in three installments over the next two years, will be put into a trust until all appeals are resolved, the company said.
“We...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Halliburton reaches $1.1bn settlement over Deepwater Horizon oil spillAntarctic sea ice growth doesn’t negate climate change, scientists say
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 2nd, 2014
LA Times: In the blue half-light of the Antarctic autumn, a thin film spreads across the continent's coastal waters. It's an embryonic form of sea ice: a mush of microscopic crystals that floats on the dense, salty water of the Southern Ocean. As winter takes root, this proto-sea ice grows thicker and stronger until it encircles Antarctica in a vast frozen ring. The ice spans nearly 7 million square miles at its peak, an area roughly twice the size of the United States. This year, Antarctic sea ice has expanded...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Antarctic sea ice growth doesn’t negate climate change, scientists sayWhat is a ‘Megadrought’?
Posted by Science Recorder: None Given on September 2nd, 2014
Science Recorder: The drought currently plaguing the Western US shares characteristics of the last megadrought in the 1150s and 1160s.
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The Western United States is currently experiencing a drought that scientists have to go back over eight centuries to match. The fierce drought that has raged in California for the last three years has led to devastating wildfires and water shortages that may carry...
Salton Sea could benefit from California water bond
Posted by U-T San Diego: Chris Nichols on September 2nd, 2014
U-T San Diego: Talk with leaders from Imperial County and you’ll hear a clear message: Time is running out to save the Salton Sea, the accidental desert lake whose receding shores pose a growing hazard for the wildlife and people who live nearby.
This largest of inland lakes in California is expected to see even more rapid water loss by 2018 connected, in part, to water sales to the San Diego region.
The water loss threatens the biological diversity of the sea, which serves as a central stop for hundreds...
The ultimate limitation of big data for development
Posted by SciDevNet: None Given on September 2nd, 2014
SciDevNet: Big data can only capture the past -- without theory, they cannot predict into a changing future, says Martin Hilbert.
Recently, much has been written, talked, and done about the usefulness of big data for development. The UN Economic and Social Council recognises that "big data have the potential to produce more relevant and more timely statistics than traditional sources of official statistics, such as survey and administrative data sources', while the OECD is convinced that "big data now represents...