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Archive for June, 2015
Mining towns worry frac sand gifts will dry up with oil price slump
Posted by EnergyWire: Pamela King on June 3rd, 2015
EnergyWire: Since the arrival of a mine that supplies sand to hydraulic fracturing sites in distant shale fields, this tiny township has gained a new dump, recycling center, snowplow and salt shed. Plans for a community garden are underway in a neighborhood across the street from the plant.
Perched atop a pair of railroad underpasses, Unimin Corp.'s Tunnel City silica extraction center last year began sending carloads of fine, white sand to energy producers in Pennsylvania, North Dakota and Texas. Under the...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Mining towns worry frac sand gifts will dry up with oil price slumpDrought saps $2.7 billion from California economy, report says
Posted by LA Times: Geoffrey Mohan on June 3rd, 2015
LA Times: The drought is on track to dry up $2.7 billion in revenue and erase more than 18,600 jobs from the California economy this year, according to a preliminary report. But that blow has been hard to detect because the agriculture sector is just 2% of the overall state economy and because farm employment has grown steadily in the last decade, a panel of experts told the state Board of Food and Agriculture. Despite the drought, in fact, statewide agricultural employment grew by 3,100 jobs last year,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Drought saps $2.7 billion from California economy, report saysL.A. County supervisors to vote controversial water conservation plan
Posted by LA Times: Abby Sewel on June 3rd, 2015
LA Times: Los Angeles County supervisors are slated to vote Tuesday on a conservation plan aimed at sharply reducing water use in the Antelope Valley, Malibu and Topanga areas to comply with state drought mandates.
Under the proposal, most commercial water users and multifamily residential units in the Antelope Valley that are served by the county waterworks district would be required to cut back by 32% from their 2013 usage. In the Malibu and Topanga areas, the reductions would be 36%. Those who go over...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on L.A. County supervisors to vote controversial water conservation planCalifornia water use declines 13.5 percent, state board reports
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 3rd, 2015
LA Times: After lagging during the first part of the year, water conservation in California improved significantly in April following Gov. Jerry Brown`s historic order requiring big cuts in water use amid the worsening drought.
Water use in April dropped 13.5%, compared with the same month in 2013, a sign that residents and urban water suppliers were taking Brown`s dire conservation calls seriously.
Despite the improvement, the state has a long way to go to meet the 25% cut Brown ordered on April 1....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California water use declines 13.5 percent, state board reportsVirginia panel recommends new fracking regulations
Posted by Associated Press: Steve Szkotak on June 3rd, 2015
Associated Press: A Virginia advisory panel is recommending that energy companies disclose the chemical ingredients they use in horizontal fracking, a type of natural gas drilling that has raised environmental concerns.
The recommendation, among 14 proposed by the panel, would also require drilling companies to provide the state with closely guarded industry “recipes” for the fracking fluids.
The proposals have been submitted to Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s administration for review and a new round of public review....
3 Arrested in Denton As Oklahoma Joins Texas in Banning Fracking Bans
Posted by EcoWatch: Anastasia Pantsios on June 2nd, 2015
EcoWatch: The movement by states to block local citizen input into fracking operations in their backyards has spread from Texas to Oklahoma. With concerns rising after a dramatic increase in earthquakes tied to fracking injection wells, Gov. Mary Fallin signed into law Monday a bill that would block cities and counties from enacting any restrictions on drilling, fracking, pipeline construction or the disposal of the wastewater byproduct of drilling--the injection wells that have been linked to the Oklahoma...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on 3 Arrested in Denton As Oklahoma Joins Texas in Banning Fracking BansPanel mull opportunities addressing Western water shortage
Posted by ClimateWire: Annie Snider on June 2nd, 2015
ClimateWire: With California gripped by a record drought and broad swaths of the rest of the West dry and getting drier, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will this week take a deep dive into the issue.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) has been locked in negotiations with her upper and lower chamber colleagues, as well as the state government and federal agencies, for more than a year in search of ways to legislatively deliver more water to the desperate central and southern portions of her...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Panel mull opportunities addressing Western water shortageAustralia given more $4 billion foreign subsidies for coal projects: Report
Posted by Morning Herald: None Given on June 2nd, 2015
Morning Herald: Australia has received more than $4 billion in money from foreign governments to fund coal projects since 2007, according to a new report highlighting the extent to which wealthy countries are still financing fossil fuels.
And Australian taxpayers have subsidised coal mines and power plants around the world to the tune of $1.4 billion through the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation, a government bank that helps finance Australian projects in other countries.
Government-owned finance institutions...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Australia given more $4 billion foreign subsidies for coal projects: ReportAs California drought worsens, experts urge water reforms
Posted by LA Times: Monte Morin on June 2nd, 2015
LA Times: As mandatory water restrictions took effect Monday across California, a panel of experts called upon the drought-plagued state to upgrade its water infrastructure and reform its antiquated water rights system.
"The reservoirs we built in California over the 20th century were designed for a climate with extensive snowpack, and frequent wet periods," said Juliet Christian-Smith, a climate scientist with the California office of the Union of Concerned Scientists.
"We know that this drought is...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on As California drought worsens, experts urge water reformsSubtle — but very real — link between global warming & extreme weather events
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 2nd, 2015
Washington Post: Last week, some people got really mad at Bill Nye the Science Guy. How come? Because he had the gall to say this on Twitter:
Billion$$ in damage in Texas & Oklahoma. Still no weather-caster may utter the phrase Climate Change.
Nye’s comments, and the reaction to them, raise a perennial issue: How do we accurately parse the relationship between climate change and extreme weather events, as they occur in real time?
It’s a particularly pressing question of late, following not only catastrophic...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Subtle — but very real — link between global warming & extreme weather events