RSS Feed
Archive for May, 2015
New U.S. Clean Water Rule Clarifies Stream Protections
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on May 29th, 2015
Environment News Service: One in three Americans, about 117 million people, get their drinking water from streams that lacked clear protection before a new Clean Water Rule issued Wednesday by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Protection for many U.S. streams and wetlands has been confusing, complex, and time-consuming as the result of two Supreme Court decisions in 2001 and in 2006.
The new rule is intended to provide clarity on protections for these smaller water bodies...
Hundreds seek safety from Texas floods, severe weather kills 16
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 29th, 2015
Reuters: Hundreds of people fled areas near Texas rivers that overflowed their banks on Thursday as the state reeled from severe storms this week that killed at least 17 people, flooded cities and set a record for the wettest month.
The National Weather Service issued a flash flood watch stretching from south of San Antonio to Dallas, through Oklahoma, where severe weather this week killed an additional six people, and into Kansas. Thunderstorms pelted large parts of the affected region.
The city of...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Hundreds seek safety from Texas floods, severe weather kills 16Increasing stream shading good for trout
Posted by Environmental News Network: Oregon State University on May 29th, 2015
Environmental News Network: As snowpack levels decline with the warming climate, many streams will experience less water flow, especially during summer months, potentially exposing more fish to predation by birds and other animals. A new study has found that providing adequate shade and cover in small streams may reduce predation on trout by as much as 12 percent, from just one species of bird – the kingfisher. The findings, based on a study at the Oregon Hatchery Research Center in the Alsea River basin, are being published...
Wastewater treatment may be creating new antibiotics
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 29th, 2015
ScienceDaily: For years scientists have been aware of the potential problems of antibiotics being present in wastewater, and the research of engineering professor Olya Keen is showing that treatments to clean wastewater may actually be creating new antibiotics and further contributing to the development of antibiotic resistance in the environment. An assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at UNC Charlotte, Keen began her current research into the behavior of antibiotics in wastewater in summer...
Dozens of Canada’s tar sands projects on hold as prices fall, analysis shows
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 28th, 2015
Guardian: Oil companies have frozen dozens of projects in Canada’s tar sands, amid falling prices and a rising tide of protest against one of the world’s most polluting fossil fuels.
Some 39 projects containing 13bn barrels of oil are currently delayed or on hold, according to analysis by the campaign group Oil Change International published on Friday. The projects – a combination of open-cast mines and drilling – would pump 7.8bn tonnes of CO2 into the atmosphere if they went ahead, the equivalent emissions...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Dozens of Canada’s tar sands projects on hold as prices fall, analysis showsGreat Barrier Reef: Unesco to release draft ruling ‘in danger’ listing
Posted by Guardian: Joshua Robertson on May 28th, 2015
Guardian: Unesco will release a draft ruling on whether to list the Great Barrier Reef as in danger early on Saturday morning in a critical moment for Australia’s stewardship of the world’s largest coral reef.
The recommendations will inform a final decision by the UN’s world heritage committee next month, which, if in favour of declaring the reef in danger, would herald a new era of outside scrutiny of its care.
Federal and state ministers are reportedly confident that the scale of their investments...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Great Barrier Reef: Unesco to release draft ruling ‘in danger’ listingObama tweets it up on climate change and Arctic drilling
Posted by Grist: Nathanael Johnson on May 28th, 2015
Grist: President Obama recently joined Twitter (presumably so that racists can speak to him directly from the comfort of anonymity. Now that’s serving the constituents!) His first significant act as @POTUS was to hold a chat on climate change. This looks like considerably more preparation and manpower than the rest of us devote to tweeting, but it`s nice to see that, in the end, he hunches over the laptop like the rest of us.
Ready to answer your questions on climate change. Let's do this! #AskPOTUS...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Obama tweets it up on climate change and Arctic drillingTexas floods reveal climate change irony
Posted by Town Talk: Michael Shank on May 28th, 2015
Town Talk: From devastating droughts to flash floods, it seems that Texas can't get a break from extreme weather associated with climate change. Emerging recently from a multiyear record-breaking drought, with reservoirs at near record lows, now the state is suffering from flooding and record precipitation. We are entering a new normal. Texas is definitely being messed with. Texas is witnessing an increase in extreme high temperatures. That means more hot days and heat waves, which make illness, death and...
Rules aim to protect imperiled bird’s habitat in 10 states
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 28th, 2015
Associated Press: Interior Secretary Sally Jewell revealed plans Thursday to preserve habitat in 10 Western states for an imperiled ground-dwelling bird, the federal government's biggest land-planning effort to date for conservation of a single species.
The proposal would affect energy development. The regulations would require oil and gas wells to be clustered in groups of a half-dozen or more to avoid scattering them across habitat of the greater sage grouse. Drilling near breeding areas would be prohibited during...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Rules aim to protect imperiled bird’s habitat in 10 statesPrehistoric climate changes still detectable deep underground
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 28th, 2015
Environmental News Network: It turns out that the steady dripping of water deep underground can reveal a surprising amount of information about the constantly changing cycles of heat and cold, precipitation and drought in the turbulent atmosphere above.
As water seeps down through the ground it picks up minerals, most commonly calcium carbonate. When this mineral-rich water drips into caves, it leaves mineral deposits behind that form layers which grow during wet periods and form dusty skins when the water dries up.
Today,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Prehistoric climate changes still detectable deep underground