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Archive for June, 2015
Can Calif create enduring drought relief?
Posted by LA Times: Cathleen Decker on June 8th, 2015
LA Times: Gov. Jerry Brown responds to a question after a meeting to discuss the drought's effect on business. A recent poll shows widespread support for Brown's order to cut water consumption.
Gov. Jerry Brown responds to a question after a meeting to discuss the drought's effect on business. A recent poll shows widespread support for Brown's order to cut water consumption.
On the perennially vexing subjects of water and the drought, Gov. Jerry Brown has been on something of a roll.
In November,...
Drought hastens decline of the Joshua tree, California’s desert symbol
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 8th, 2015
LA Times: Under canopies of dead angular branches and drooping fronds, UC Riverside ecologist Cameron Barrows made his way across a forest of skeletal Joshua trees that have not reproduced in decades.
As Barrows explained, it's a tough time to be a Joshua tree. Climate change is taking an enormous toll, and the current drought has hastened the decline of a species that is regarded as the symbol of California deserts.
"For Joshua trees, hotter, drier conditions are a problem - but a bigger problem is...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Drought hastens decline of the Joshua tree, California’s desert symbolGlobal citizens ‘very concerned’ about climate
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 8th, 2015
Agence France-Presse: The widest global effort yet to gauge citizens' views on climate change showed 79 percent to be "very concerned" about its effects, but less than half support a carbon tax to curb ...more emissions, organisers said less
The widest global effort yet to gauge citizens' views on climate change showed 79 percent to be "very concerned" about its effects, but less than half support a carbon tax to curb emissions, organisers said Sunday.
Results of the day-long consultation held in 75 countries on...
Oil Drilling in Montana Taps Out
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 8th, 2015
Billings Gazette: Oil drilling in Montana has all but tapped out, according to state records showing that the state has been without a major drilling rig since April.
Observers said the inactivity is due to low oil prices, which have also slowed drilling activity in North Dakota’s much more active Bakken formation, though crews are still drilling there.
Montana drilling has been very limited during the Bakken oil boom, but it’s been decades since the state was without a single drilling rig. State Board of Oil...
Keystone protesters tracked at border after FBI spied on ‘extremists’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 8th, 2015
Guardian: An activist was placed on a US government watchlist for domestic flights after being swept up in an FBI investigation into protests of the Keystone XL pipeline, linking a breach of intelligence protocol with accounts of continued tracking that environmentalists fear could follow them for life.
Twenty-five-year-old Bradley Stroot is one of several campaigners to go public, after the Guardian revealed an FBI investigation that labeled them “environmental extremists”, with new allegations of a continued...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Keystone protesters tracked at border after FBI spied on ‘extremists’Protesters, telescope proponents still impasse over construction atop Mauna Kea
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 8th, 2015
Associated Press: The standoff continues between Thirty Meter Telescope and those trying to stop construction atop the sacred Hawaiian mountain. The Hawaii Tribune-Herald reports (http://bit.ly/1BSXvjR ) that it's been more than 70 days since trailers loaded with heavy equipment ascended Mauna Kea to build one of the world's largest telescopes, an event that was shortly followed by protests that brought the $1.4 billion project to a halt. A small group of protesters maintains a presence outside the Mauna Kea visitor...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Protesters, telescope proponents still impasse over construction atop Mauna KeaKu Kia’i Mauna Statement On Subaru Telescope Damage
Posted by Big Island News: None Given on June 8th, 2015
Big Island News: The Mauna Kea protectors have issued a statement following news that a "bullet hole" was reported discovered on a door of Japan`s Subaru Telescope on the summit.
Kaho?okahi Kanuha says he received a phone call from Hilo Police Captain Richard Sherlock "to explain that there is an ongoing investigation about a bullet hole that was found in the door of the Subaru Telescope atop Mauna a Wakea."
Kanuha said police believe the bullet was shot anytime between Friday and Saturday night.
The protectors...
Fate TMT To Be Decided Shortly
Posted by Silver Ink: None Given on June 8th, 2015
Silver Ink: The legal issue of the Thirty Meter Telescope being built on the Mauna Kea Summit is nearing a conclusion, as the Hawaiian Supreme Court granted the case an application that will transfer the legal issue from the Intermediate Court of Appeals to the highest court in the state and settle the matter for good.
Both the opponents of the TMT as well as its supporters are delighted by the Supreme Court`s decision. The opponents of the TMT view the gesture as recognition of the fact that the placement...
Supreme Court In Hawaii Grants Application To Hear Telescope Case
Posted by Tech Times: Rhodi Lee on June 8th, 2015
Tech Times: The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT), an 18-story astronomical observatory planned to be built on top of Hawaii's Mauna Kea, could allow astronomers to better study and learn more about the universe.
If construction pushes through, the telescope would be one of the biggest telescopes in the world. Unfortunately, the promise of scientific breakthroughs clash with cultural heritage as people protest the $1.4 billion project because they want to protect what they consider as a sacred land from development....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Supreme Court In Hawaii Grants Application To Hear Telescope CaseG.O.P. Assault on Environmental Laws
Posted by New York Times: Editorial on June 8th, 2015
New York Times: President Obama has announced or will soon propose important protections for clean water, clean air, threatened species and threatened landscapes. Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, and other Republicans in Congress are trying hard not to let that happen — counterattacking with a legislative blitz not seen since Newt Gingrich and his “Contract With America” Republicans swept into office after the 1994 midterm elections bent on crippling many of the environmental statutes enacted under Presidents...