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Archive for January, 2015
Hillary Clinton to Speak in Canada Amid Debate over Keystone
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 22nd, 2015
Associated Press: Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has so far avoided taking a position on the Keystone XL pipeline, is sure to face the issue again on Wednesday in a return to Canada as Congress considers approving construction of the contentious project backed by the United States’ northern neighbor. The former U.S. secretary of state was to headline events in Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, in her first public speeches of 2015, a day after President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union address....
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Hillary Clinton to Speak in Canada Amid Debate over KeystoneSpain Mulls Fracking After Offshore Drilling Comes Up Dry
Posted by Christian Science Monitor: Nick Cunningham, on January 22nd, 2015
Christian Science Monitor: A highly controversial oil project that Spain’s national government had pinned its hopes on was just cancelled. Spanish oil giant Repsol has decided to call off drilling near the Canary Islands, a small chain of Spanish-controlled islands off the coast of Morocco. While oil companies across the globe are slashing capital expenditures and scrapping rigs because of low oil prices, Repsol’s divisive campaign to drill off the coast of Canary Islands suffered from a different problem. Despite what was...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Spain Mulls Fracking After Offshore Drilling Comes Up DryU.S. Geological Survey Increase Earthquake Risk Levels Texas
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 22nd, 2015
National Public Radio: A seismic hazard map is essentially what it sounds like – a map that shows the potential for earthquakes in certain areas. The maps give people a sense of the likelihood of earthquakes occurring, where they might occur, and how strong they might be. The maps can influence everything from public policy to building codes to insurance rates.
“They govern hundreds of billions of dollars in constructions and insurance cost every year,” says Mark Peterson, project chief of the USGS’s National Seismic...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on U.S. Geological Survey Increase Earthquake Risk Levels TexasObama Climate Change: “No Challenge Poses Greater Threat Future Generation”
Posted by Climate Desk: Tim McDonnell on January 21st, 2015
Climate Desk: In his State of the Union address tonight, President Obama issued a direct rebuke to climate change deniers and to members of Congress who seek to block action to slow global warming.
"I`ve heard some folks try to dodge the evidence by saying they`re not scientists; that we don`t have enough information to act," he said, referring to talking points that are popular among Republican politicians. "Well, I`m not a scientist, either. But…I know a lot of really good scientists at NASA, and NOAA, and...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Obama Climate Change: “No Challenge Poses Greater Threat Future Generation”Filtering Polluted Stormwater Through Soil Can Protect Salmon, Study Shows
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 21st, 2015
Yale Environment 360: Filtering polluted runoff from urban areas through a simple soil mixture dramatically reduced the water's toxic metal and hydrocarbon content and made it safe for coho salmon and the insects they eat, according to new research. Scientists collected polluted runoff from a four-lane highway in Seattle, then filtered part of the water through a mixture of sand, compost, and shredded bark. Coho salmon and aquatic insects thrived in the filtered stormwater, but they quickly died in the unfiltered water,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Filtering Polluted Stormwater Through Soil Can Protect Salmon, Study ShowsKeystone pipeline will be a disaster
Posted by Florida Times-Union: None Given on January 21st, 2015
Florida Times-Union: The news media have done little to help the American people understand how bad the safety record of Trans Canada has been. Rarely, if ever, has the mainstream press reported on the disastrous safety record of Trans Canada. The following is from The Hill website: “The pipeline would cross thousands of acres of farmland in the Great Plains; a spill could make this land unusable for years. In 2013, an oil pipeline spilled 840,000 gallons of crude near Tioga, North Dakota, and crews are still working...
TransCanada begins condemnation proceedings
Posted by Lincoln Journal Star: Nicholas Bergin on January 21st, 2015
Lincoln Journal Star: TransCanada, the company proposing to build the controversial $8 billion Keystone XL pipeline, filed court documents Tuesday in nine Nebraska counties to start eminent domain proceedings and get the 12 percent of easements it still needs here.
On the same day, Omaha Sen. Ernie Chambers filed legislation (LB473) that would wrest the power to take land from the Canadian pipeline company.
"The pipeline is like King Kong, and the people and farms are like ants and grasshoppers," Chambers said....
TransCanada makes moves for Keystone pipeline land
Posted by Associated Press: Grant Schulte on January 21st, 2015
Associated Press: The developer of the Keystone XL oil pipeline took its first steps in Nebraska on Tuesday since the state’s high court removed a major legal barrier for the planned route. Officials with TransCanada said they’ve filed paperwork in nine counties to acquire access to the remaining land that’s needed to construct, operate and maintain the pipeline. The two-year window for TransCanada to invoke eminent domain in Nebraska closes Thursday. The pathway could still face legal challenges in Nebraska. Opponents...
Report recommends fracking refusal
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 21st, 2015
BBC: Fracking should not go ahead at two sites in Lancashire, a key report said.
The Lancashire County Council report follows an application by energy firm Cuadrilla to explore Little Plumpton and Roseacre Wood for shale gas.
It comes a week before councillors are due to make a final decision on the company's planning application to extract the gas near Blackpool.
Cuadrilla chief executive Francis Egan told BBC Radio Lancashire the planners' recommendation was a "set-back".
In a statement,...
Obama: No ‘Greater Threat’ Climate Change
Posted by US News: Alan Neuhauser on January 21st, 2015
US News: In remarks that spanned economic growth to income inequality, the Sept. 11 attacks at the start of the century to new partnerships abroad, President Barack Obama declared global warming the most profound danger to the future of the union.
“No challenge – no challenge – poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change,” Obama said in his sixth State of the Union address Tuesday night. “2014 was the planet’s warmest year on record. Now, one year doesn’t make a trend, but this does:...