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Archive for September, 2014
Court stand-off over illegal Indian coal projects
Posted by BusinessGreen: None Given on September 2nd, 2014
BusinessGreen: The legal battle over the governance of India's coal industry has taken another twist as the government urged the Supreme Court not to revoke all of the 218 coal mining licences that it last week deemed illegal.
The court had ruled all coal mining licences awarded between 1993 and 2010 had been allocated illegally, raising the prospect of a raft of licences being revoked and mining activity suspended at key mines.
The ruling had been seen as being in line with the newly-elected Modi administration's...
Great Barrier Reef dredge dumping plan could be shelved
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 2nd, 2014
Agence France-Presse: An India-backed mining consortium could shelve controversial plans to dump dredging waste in the Great Barrier Reef, with alternative sites on land being considered amid growing environmental concerns, Australia said Tuesday. Environment Minister Greg Hunt said there was an "emerging option" that could see the consortium -- India's Adani Group and Australia's North Queensland Bulk Ports and GVK Hancock -- submit a proposal suggesting onshore dumping locations. "There is an emerging option which...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Great Barrier Reef dredge dumping plan could be shelvedCool summer doesn’t invalidate climate change
Posted by Boston Globe: Tom Keane on September 2nd, 2014
Boston Globe: Labor Day has come and gone. Autumn looms. But how can summer be over when it never really began?
If you feel cheated -- where were the scorchers and leaden humid nights? -- it's not your imagination. July and August really did feel more like an extension of spring than a separate season. The Boston area had but four days over 90 degrees; usually it has 10. Average temperatures for the summer were well below normal too. This, of course, followed on the heels of a cold and snowy winter that felt...
Antarctic sea level rising faster than global rate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 2nd, 2014
ScienceDaily: A new study of satellite data from the last 19 years reveals that fresh water from melting glaciers has caused the sea-level around the coast of Antarctica to rise by 2cm more than the global average of 6cm.
Researchers at the University of Southampton detected the rapid rise in sea-level by studying satellite scans of a region that spans more than a million square kilometres.
The melting of the Antarctic ice sheet and the thinning of floating ice shelves has contributed an excess of around...
What the Wilderness Act has taught us
Posted by LA Times: Gary Ferguson on September 2nd, 2014
LA Times: Ffty years ago Wednesday, Lyndon Johnson strolled out to the Rose Garden, pressed a fountain pen between the fingers of his hefty right hand and signed into law the highest level of protection ever afforded the American landscape. "If future generations are to remember us with gratitude rather than contempt," President Johnson said later, "we must leave them something more than the miracles of technology. We must leave them a glimpse of the world as it was in the beginning." On that day, America...
U.N. Climate Chief Says ‘Door Closing’ Warming Fix
Posted by Naharnet: None Given on September 2nd, 2014
Naharnet: U.N. climate change chief Christiana Figueres on Tuesday warned time was running out for meaningful action on global warming, citing the plight of low-lying Pacific nations facing ever rising seas.
Figueres, in Samoa for a U.N. conference on small island states, said the impact of climate change was greatest on Pacific nations, even though they had contributed little to the problem.
"Climate change is the greatest threat these islands face and they are recognized as the bellwether of global...
Fracking Faces Global Water Shortages: World Resources Institute
Posted by Business Times: Sean Martin on September 2nd, 2014
Business Times: The World Resources Institute (WRI) has said that global water shortages could hobble ambitious plans to develop shale gas exploration across the planet.
In a newly published report, the WRI says that 38% of the world's shale resources were found in areas that were water barren or that were "under high to extremely high levels of water stress".
Almost a fifth of shale resources are in areas of high or extremely high seasonal variability and 15% are in areas that are highly susceptible to drought....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Fracking Faces Global Water Shortages: World Resources InstituteWisc: Mining company, allies spent freely get bill approved
Posted by Journal-Sentinel: None Given on September 2nd, 2014
Journal-Sentinel: The recent disclosure that Gogebic Taconite donated $700,000 to a Wisconsin political group is the latest example of how the mining company and its supporters used money, influence and the allure of jobs to persuade lawmakers to relax state environmental regulations.
Gogebic zoomed into Wisconsin politics in 2011. The company had plans for a massive open pit iron ore mine, but it demanded changes in mining laws before starting a multimillion-dollar regulatory review.
The $1.5 billion project...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Wisc: Mining company, allies spent freely get bill approvedCalifornia Warms, Greener Mountains Will Mean Less Water for People
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 1st, 2014
National Geographic: Scientists have more bad news for drought-stricken California: The climate warming expected in this century is likely to result in even less water flow from the mountains, as trees and plants growing higher on the slopes soak up more of the available precipitation.
This finding should be "of great interest to water managers in California," says Roger C. Bales, a professor of hydrology and environmental engineering at the University of California, Merced, who co-authored the study published Monday...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California Warms, Greener Mountains Will Mean Less Water for PeopleMountain Forest Changes Threaten Water Supplies
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 1st, 2014
Climate Central: Hike high enough up California's Sierra Nevada and the forest morphs around you. At around 6,000 feet, the dazzling diversity of the lower montane forest, replete with California black oak, ponderosa pine, and incense cedars gives way to more monotonous landscapes of red fir and lodgepole pine. Hike further still and trees eventually disappear altogether, replaced with rocky topographies reminiscent of Mars.
The forestry changes underway threaten to slash the amount of water that flows down the...