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Archive for August, 2015
MIT analysis improves estimates of global mercury pollution
Posted by Environmental News Network: Mit News on August 23rd, 2015
Environmental News Network: Once mercury is emitted into the atmosphere from the smokestacks of power plants, the pollutant has a complicated trajectory; even after it settles onto land and sinks into oceans, mercury can be re-emitted back into the atmosphere repeatedly. This so-called “grasshopper effect” keeps the highly toxic substance circulating as “legacy emissions” that, combined with new smokestack emissions, can extend the environmental effects of mercury for decades. Now an international team led by MIT researchers...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on MIT analysis improves estimates of global mercury pollution1st US tar sands mine set open for business in Utah
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 23rd, 2015
Associated Press: On a remote Utah ridge covered in sagebrush, pines and wild grasses, a Canadian company is about to embark on something never before done commercially in the United States: digging sticky, black, tar-soaked sand from the ground and extracting the petroleum.
The impending opening of the nation's first tar sands mine has become another front in the battle across the West between preservationists and the energy industry.
U.S. Oil Sands has invested nearly $100 million over the last decade to acquire...
Iowa waterways are a disgrace
Posted by Des Moines Register: None Given on August 23rd, 2015
Des Moines Register: “Thank you for calling the Iowa Department of Natural Resources’ Beach Hotline… There are currently bacteria advisories at the following state park beaches: Backbone Lake, Brushy Creek Lake, Clear Lake, Lake Geode, Lake Ahquabi, Lake Darling, Lake Macbride, Lake of Three Fires, McIntosh Woods State Park … Thanks and have a fun and safe time at the beach!” Less than 48 hours after that Aug. 15 warning went out, hundreds of dead fish washed up on the shores of Swan Lake in the state park near Carroll....
Can California meet its ambitious greenhouse gas goals?
Posted by LA Times: Editorial on August 23rd, 2015
LA Times: When President Obama announced his controversial and ambitious Clean Power Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, Californians gave a collective yawn. The president's goal of generating 28% of the nation's electricity from renewable resources by 2030 paled next to California's push, which began nearly a decade ago, to fuel 33% of its electrical needs with solar, wind and other renewables by 2020.
The state's commitment to a serious climate change policy began in 2006 with the...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Can California meet its ambitious greenhouse gas goals?Jerry Brown says California’s groundwater management ‘not aggressive enough’
Posted by Sacramento Bee: David Siders on August 23rd, 2015
Sacramento Bee: Gov. Jerry Brown said in an interview aired Sunday that California is not aggressive enough policing use of the state’s groundwater, promising stepped-up oversight in future years.
Brown’s remarks on NBC’s “Meet the Press” followed the release of a study tying climate change to the worsening effects of California’s drought.
Asked he if was “about to police agriculture more,” the Democratic governor said, “Well, I think that’s good advice, but of course I don’t rule by decree. I work through...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Jerry Brown says California’s groundwater management ‘not aggressive enough’World’s fastest-melting glacier loses massive chunk in 2 days
Posted by Mashable: None Given on August 23rd, 2015
Mashable: One of the world's most rapidly flowing glaciers may have just set another record, and it's not one not that bodes well for low-lying coastal cities and nations around the world, which are vulnerable to sea level rise. During the past month, a NASA satellite captured images showing a sudden loss of ice, also known as a calving event (or in this case, possibly multiple events) from Greenland's Jakobshavn Isbrae Glacier between July 31 and August 16, 2015. Images posted on the Arctic sea ice blog,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on World’s fastest-melting glacier loses massive chunk in 2 daysSmoke blankets parts of Washington state as firefighters guard town from flames
Posted by Reuters: Alex Dobuzinskis on August 22nd, 2015
Reuters: Firefighters battling a group of fierce wildfires in central Washington state labored on Saturday to expand containment lines outside a lakeside resort town, as large blazes scorched dry land in other parts of the U.S. West.
The continuing fight against a complex of fires near the town of Chelan came a day after President Barack Obama signed a federal declaration of emergency for Washington state to coordinate relief efforts in 11 counties and several Indian reservations hard hit by wildfires....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Smoke blankets parts of Washington state as firefighters guard town from flamesCalifornia Dam Lets Water Shared by Farms Flow to Salmon
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 22nd, 2015
Associated Press: With water scarce in Northern California’s Klamath Basin, a federal agency is again releasing water into the Klamath River to prevent a repeat of the 2002 fish kill that left tens of thousands of adult salmon dead. That move could lead to a renewed fight about the Klamath River, which has long been subject to intense political battles over the sharing of scarce water between farms and fish. Three tribes depend on the river’s salmon for subsistence and ceremonial needs, and a fourth is looking forward...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on California Dam Lets Water Shared by Farms Flow to SalmonDrought gives new meaning to wildlife
Posted by Associated Press: Fenit Nirappil on August 22nd, 2015
Associated Press: The scarcity of food in the wild has been blamed for unusual animal activity during California’s drought, including a recent bear attack, mountain lion sightings and an uptick in orphaned animals.
But the devastating four-year drought that has dried up streams and vegetation isn’t the sole cause, state officials and experts say. Instead, they say the drought is exacerbating long-term trends and natural animal behaviors in a state that is becoming increasingly developed.
Pools and lush gardens...
Climate Change Shrinking Uganda’s Lakes and Fish
Posted by Inter Press Service: Wambi Michael on August 22nd, 2015
Inter Press Service: Climate change is reducing the size of several species of fish on lakes in Uganda and its neighbouring East African countries, with a negative impact on the livelihoods of millions people who depend on fishing for food and income. Studies conducted on inland lakes in Uganda, including Lake Victoria which is shared by three East African countries, indicate that indigenous fish species have shrunk in size due to an increase in temperatures in the water bodies. "What we are seeing in Lake Victoria...