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Archive for December, 2014
How Congress snuck changes to US environmental policy into new budget bill
Posted by Scientific American: Joshua A. Krisch and Josh Fischman on December 19th, 2014
Scientific American: It took 1,603 pages of legalese to keep the U.S. government running for another year. That is the length of the 2015 Fiscal Year Omnibus Appropriations Bill, which was approved by the Senate on Saturday to appropriate $1.01 trillion dollars for most federal agencies and departments through September 2015. The bill is on Pres. Obama's desk waiting for his signature. It is not all about dollars. Congress also loaded the bill with special instructions, called policy riders, which dictate how government...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on How Congress snuck changes to US environmental policy into new budget billTipping Point Nears for ‘Emerging Flooding Crisis’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 19th, 2014
Climate Central: Soggy times are coming for cities along both U.S. coasts and they'll be here much quicker than previously thought. By mid-century, sea level rise is set to make floods a monthly occurrence in more than two dozen major cities, and in some of those cities, it could become a daily occurrence by the 2070s.
The watery findings come from a new study published Thursday and presented at the American Geophysical Union meeting. It builds on findings earlier this year from National Oceanic and Atmospheric...
State Senators Launch Effort to Block Pilgrim Oil Pipeline Through 7 New Jersey Counties
Posted by NJ: None Given on December 19th, 2014
NJ: State Senate Republican leader Tom Kean Jr. and state Sen. Richard Codey today announced they have introduced a resolution opposing the planned Pilgrim Pipeline, which would carry volatile oil through seven New Jersey counties over 178 miles from Linden to Albany, N.Y.
The move was expected, as NJ Advance Media previously reported earlier this week. The Senate resolution follows a similar measure introduced in the Assembly last week. Gov. Chris Christie has declined to comment on what he thinks...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on State Senators Launch Effort to Block Pilgrim Oil Pipeline Through 7 New Jersey CountiesCalifornia Drought Weakens, Forecasters ‘Cautious Optimism’ for Future
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 19th, 2014
LA Times: About 32% of California, however -- most of it in the Central Valley -- remains under the exceptional drought category. Last week the total was at more than 55%.
"The wet weather finally allowed ample runoff (while producing stream and river flooding) that raised major reservoir levels...in most of northern and central California," the report said.
"`Cautious optimism, but still a long way to go` would be the very short summary for this week`s California drought picture," the report said. ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California Drought Weakens, Forecasters ‘Cautious Optimism’ for FutureReport Suggests Forest-Cutting Can Have an Immediate Effect on Climate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 19th, 2014
Washington Post: The critical role that vast tropical forests such as Brazil’s Amazon play in suppressing climate change is well known: They store huge quantities of carbon, acting as “carbon sinks.”
But as a report out this week argues, scientists are making the case that cutting down these forests does more than simply release carbon into the atmosphere -- it has a direct and more immediate effect on the climate, from changes in rainfall patterns to increases in temperatures. The amount of water that forests...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Report Suggests Forest-Cutting Can Have an Immediate Effect on ClimateNo Fracking In New York? That’s OK With Pennsylvania
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 18th, 2014
National Public Radio: Pennsylvania's fracking boom has led to record-breaking natural gas production, but its neighbor, New York, announced Wednesday it was banning the practice. Industry and environmental groups say New York's decision could be good for Pennsylvania.
New York's ban comes six years after the state placed a temporary moratorium on fracking to study the gas drilling technique. Now, officials question fracking's economic benefits and cite environmental risks.
"There are many red flags because scientific...
EPA expected issue new regulations for disposal of coal ash
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 18th, 2014
Guardian: Six years after a catastrophic coal ash spill took out part of a Tennessee town, 10 months after a cascade of toxic grey sludge fouled a North Carolina river, the Obama administration is poised to unveil the first rules for the disposal of coal ash on Friday.
The new rules from the Environmental Protection Agency – issued in response to a lawsuit brought by Earthjustice and other campaign groups - will provide the first controls for the handling and storage of coal ash, the toxic waste left behind...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on EPA expected issue new regulations for disposal of coal ashCould New York’s Fracking Ban Have Domino Effect?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 18th, 2014
National Geographic: New York's decision to ban fracking for health reasons could reverberate beyond the state, bolstering other efforts to limit the controversial method of drilling for oil and natural gas.
While two dozen U.S. municipalities and at least two countries, Bulgaria and France, have also adopted bans, states have been slower to act. Fracking opponents say New York, which surprised them Wednesday with the boldest move of any state so far, will change that.
"It definitely has a national political impact...
Impacts of deforestation on Amazonian river ecosystems could be far-reaching
Posted by Mongabay: Mike Gaworecki on December 18th, 2014
Mongabay: Vast areas of the Amazon forest are being destroyed for agricultural uses, mainly industrial-scale soybean crops, and turned into pasture land for livestock. The riparian forests surrounding streams have not been exempt from this trend. And though headwater streams in the Brazilian Amazon are valuable aquatic ecosystems, little research has been done to determine how deforestation is impacting the streams’ environmental integrity and ability to function as natural habitats.
That is, until now....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Impacts of deforestation on Amazonian river ecosystems could be far-reachingMount Kenya’s Vanishing Glaciers
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 18th, 2014
New York Times: In 1941, an Italian civil servant named Felice Benuzzi was captured by Allied forces and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp in East Africa. The camp faced Mount Kenya, 17,000 feet high, and Benuzzi found himself staring longingly at that larger, snow-blanketed world from the smallness of his own. Eventually he couldn’t help himself; he decided to climb the mountain. Continue reading the main story Related Coverage Indian children carrying coal to a crushing machine in the state of Meghalaya. India...