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Archive for August, 2015
EPA methane crackdown wins endorsement from oil icon Texas foundation
Posted by Fuel Fix: Jennifer A. Dlouhy on August 20th, 2015
Fuel Fix: The Obama administration just won an unlikely ally in its push to slash methane emissions from oil wells and gas processing facilities.
The philanthropic organization that is a legacy of George Mitchell, the “father of fracking,” endorsed the proposal as a “prudent regulatory strategy.”
The Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation’s move breaks with oil and gas industry leaders who say the rules would hike costs and throttle domestic energy development.
The Environmental Protection Agency...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on EPA methane crackdown wins endorsement from oil icon Texas foundationLongmont fracking ban appeal Supreme Court crossroad
Posted by Daily Times-Call: Karen Antonacci on August 20th, 2015
Daily Times-Call: When it comes to whether the city of Longmont can ban hydraulic fracturing, the ball is in the state`s highest court.
On Monday the Colorado Court of Appeals said the matter of whether Longmont`s voter-approved ban on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, interfered with the state`s interest in the oil and gas industry was better left up to the Colorado Supreme Court.
Now, the state Supreme Court must decide if they want to take on Longmont`s case and a similar case of a 5-year fracking moratorium...
To ease climate change, US should end drilling federal land: study
Posted by Reuters: Chris Arsenault on August 20th, 2015
Reuters: Up to 450 billion tonnes of greenhouse gases would be kept out of the atmosphere if the U.S. government stopped leasing federal lands to fossil fuel companies, according to a study released on Wednesday.
The government currently allows energy companies to lease federal lands for drilling, and environmental groups say if the practice is not halted, the United States will be unable to meet its obligations to combat climate change.
The oil, coal and gas under lands owned by the federal government...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on To ease climate change, US should end drilling federal land: studyOil and Gas Methane Emissions Slashed by U.S. EPA
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on August 19th, 2015
Environment News Service: New standards to reduce emissions of the greenhouse gas methane, volatile organic compounds and air toxics from the oil and gas industry were issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday.
The proposal is a part of the administration's strategy under President Barack Obama's Climate Action Plan to cut methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40 to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025.
But the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group, says the new standards are...
Haze chokehold spurring efforts to save Indonesia’s forests
Posted by Mongabay: None Given on August 19th, 2015
Mongabay: This is the first part in a two-part series on fires in Indonesia and what`s being done to stop them.
The annual burning of Indonesian rainforests represents an example of the increasing clouding of regional-global divides when it comes to environmental problems.
Many Southeast Asians are wondering if they will have to withstand another blanket of haze from rainforest fires as Indonesia enters its annual dry season. Signs of an impending El Nino weather pattern mean the country’s traditional...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Haze chokehold spurring efforts to save Indonesia’s forestsJuly 2015 was very likely Earth’s hottest month on record
Posted by Mashable: None Given on August 19th, 2015
Mashable: The warmest year on record so far may have claimed another milestone, and this time it's a big one.
According to preliminary data from NASA along with information from the Japan Meteorological Administration, July 2015 was the warmest month on record since instrument temperature records began in the late 1800s.
Research using other data, such as tree rings, ice cores and coral formations in the ocean, have shown that the Earth is now the warmest it has been since at least 4,000 years ago. ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on July 2015 was very likely Earth’s hottest month on recordReport: Drought to Cost California $2.74 Billion This Year
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 19th, 2015
Reuters: Agricultural economists at the University of California, Davis, said the drought, entering its fourth year, would impact the state more in 2015 than in 2014, when the total cost to the economy was estimated to be $2.2 billion.
"If a drought of this intensity persists beyond 2015, California's agricultural production and employment will continue to erode," said co-author Josue Medellin-Azuara, a water economist with the UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences.
The report, released on Tuesday,...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Report: Drought to Cost California $2.74 Billion This YearWhat the wildfires are costing us
Posted by CNBC: Mark Fahey, Nicholas Wells on August 19th, 2015
CNBC: Wildfires are getting worse: Is your home at risk?
It's getting harder and harder to fight forest fires. CNBC's Eric Chemi takes a serious look at the costs and numbers plaguing the fire-fighting industry.
It's not your imagination--forest fires really are getting worse.
As of this week, more than seven million acres of American land have been scorched by wildfires this year. That's about the size of Massachusetts, and more than any other year at this point of the season, in at least the...
California Is on Fire. This Map Shows Where
Posted by Mother Jones: Luke Whelan on August 18th, 2015
Mother Jones: On August 17, 2013--two years ago today--a deer hunter near California's Yosemite National Park ignored a campfire ban and burned trash from his dinner. The embers blew into dry brush, starting the third worst wildfire in the state's history. All told, the Rim Fire, as it came to be called, burned 257,314 acres in and around Yosemite.
No wildfires of that scale have occurred since, but, thanks to drought and climate change, California is far from out of the woods. In fact, in 2015, 4,382 wildfires...
National methane rule call for 45% reduction
Posted by Durango Herald: Peter Marcus on August 18th, 2015
Durango Herald: Federal regulators Tuesday announced the first-ever national methane regulations aimed at significantly cutting the greenhouse gas.
The expected announcement was met by cheers from the environmental world, while the energy sector suggested it amounts to additional red tape.
The proposal calls for a reduction in methane emissions from the oil-and-gas industry by as much as 45 percent in the next 10 years from 2012 levels. In addition to cutting greenhouse gases, it also would reduce volatile...