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Archive for August, 2015
EPA Says It Doesn’t Monitor Abandoned Mines
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 21st, 2015
Guardian: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has said it has no system for monitoring hundreds of thousands of abandoned mines that pock the American landscape, or knowing which one could be the source of the next big toxic spill.
“EPA does not maintain records of the number of mines or tailings dams in the US,” a spokesman for the federal agency told the Guardian. In the western US, the EPA estimates there may be 161,000 abandoned “hard rock” mines, where metals such as gold, silver and copper were...
More Than Three-Quarters of Canada’s Oil Sands Being Produced At a Loss
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 21st, 2015
Reuters: Aug 20 More than three-quarters of Canada's daily output of 2.2 million barrels of crude from oil sands is being produced at a loss at current prices, research from analysts at TD Securities shows, although producers are unlikely to halt operations. Only two mining and upgrading projects - Canadian Natural Resources Ltd's Horizon project and Suncor Energy's Millennium mine - are producing synthetic crude for less than its current outright price around $36 a barrel, analyst Menno Hulshof said on...
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Comments Off on More Than Three-Quarters of Canada’s Oil Sands Being Produced At a LossSome permafrost might soak up methane as climate warms
Posted by ArsTechnica: None Given on August 21st, 2015
ArsTechnica: Talk of a warming planet often focuses on places that are cold. Glaciers shrink and raise sea level. Arctic sea ice dwindles, opening an actual northwest passage in the summer. And permafrost thaws, pulling vast amounts of organic matter out of the freezer to spoil and add to the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Lots of research has focused on organic-rich permafrost and the amount of carbon dioxide and methane it could produce as microbes break down all that food.
But that’s only a slice of...
Toxic Algae Invade Guatemala’s Treasured Lake Atitlan
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on August 21st, 2015
Environment News Service: A thick bloom of algae known as cyanobacteria appeared in Lake Atitlan on August 3, the first such occurrence since 2009. But help appears to be on the way in the form of funds to upgrade the waste water treatment system and water supply in the Atitlán basin.
Located in the Guatemalan Highlands of the Sierra Madre mountain range, Lake Atitlan is the deepest lake in Central America and one of the most beautiful. The surrounding area became a national park in 1955.
An infestation of microalgae...
Three Firefighters Die as Wildfires Scorch the West
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on August 21st, 2015
Environment News Service: Three U.S. Forest Service firefighters died Wednesday night when a wildfire near the small town of Twisp in southeastern Washington overtook their vehicle after it crashed. Four other firefighters in the same area were injured, one critically. Officials are investigating the exact cause of the deaths.
At a news conference, Washington Governor Jay Inslee said the wildfires have "burned a big hole in our state`s heart."
"These are three big heroes protecting small towns," Inslee said, urging...
California is sinking. Blame the drought
Posted by Grist: Katie Herzog on August 20th, 2015
Grist: California is sinking.
New data released by NASA reveals that parts of the the Central Valley are sinking faster than previously expected - over two inches a month in some places. Corcoran, home of the California State Prison (and Charles Manson), sank 13 inches in just eight months. The cause, according to officials, is the rapid pumping of groundwater in response to the drought plaguing the state.
From the Associated Press:
"We are pumping at historic levels," said Mark Cowin, head of...
Global Warming Has Worsened California Drought By Roughly 25 Percent, Study Says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2015
Yale Environment 360: Rising temperatures driven by climate change have measurably worsened the California drought by increasing evaporation rates and exacerbating the state's lack of rainfall by up to 27 percent, according to a study from Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory. While natural weather variations are largely thought to have caused the state's precipitation deficit, rising temperatures appear to be intensifying the situation by driving moisture from plants and soil into the air. The new study...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Global Warming Has Worsened California Drought By Roughly 25 Percent, Study SaysYour organic fruits and veggies might have been irrigated with fracking wastewater
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 20th, 2015
Mother Jones: The U.S. Department of Agriculture`s organics standards, written 15 years ago, strictly ban petroleum-derived fertilizers commonly used in conventional agriculture. But the same rules do not prohibit farmers from irrigating their crops with petroleum-laced wastewater obtained from oil and gas wells - a practice that is increasingly common in drought-stricken Southern California. As I reported last month, oil companies last year supplied half the water that went to the 45,000 acres of farmland in...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Your organic fruits and veggies might have been irrigated with fracking wastewaterOne of World’s Fastest Melting Glaciers May Have Lost Largest Chunk of Ice Recorded History
Posted by EcoWatch: Lorraine Chow on August 20th, 2015
EcoWatch: With the world`s glaciers melting at record rates, the Jakobshavn--Greenland's fastest-moving glacier and one of the fastest melting in the world--may have lost its largest chunk of ice in recorded history.
Massive calving event on Greenland`s fastest melting #glacier http://t.co/aRvxQcDOvf Images: http://t.co/fmoHfapp4o pic.twitter.com/VC4arPdVw0
-- The Ice Age (@Jamie_Woodward_) August 20, 2015
The Washington Post reported that members of the Arctic Sea Ice Forum examined satellite images...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on One of World’s Fastest Melting Glaciers May Have Lost Largest Chunk of Ice Recorded HistoryClimate change forcing boreal forest to a tipping point
Posted by Budapest Report: None Given on August 20th, 2015
Budapest Report: "Boreal forests have the potential to hit a tipping point this century," said IIASA Ecosystems Services and Management Program researcher Anatoly Shvidenko. "It is urgent that we place more focus on climate mitigation and adaptation with respect to these forests, and also take a more integrated and balanced view of forests around the world."
Boral forests are believed to be among the ecosystems that are most sensitive to climate change. These forests thrive in regions such as Canada, Russia and...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change forcing boreal forest to a tipping point