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Archive for September, 2015
US EPA hears widely different views on methane emission threat
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 24th, 2015
Associated Press: Over-regulating methane emissions could discourage the use of environment-friendly natural gas, an energy industry representative told the Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday. However, a former Colorado air quality official countered that such controls would be a cost-effective way to fight climate change. The EPA heard radically different views as it opened public hearings in Denver on its proposal to slash allowable methane emissions from oil and gas production. Sessions were also scheduled...
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Comments Off on US EPA hears widely different views on methane emission threatColorado Supreme Court to Make Historic Ruling on Fracking Bans
Posted by EcoWatch: Gary Wockner on September 24th, 2015
EcoWatch: Tensions are rising to a crescendo across Colorado as the Colorado Supreme Court has agreed to hear the extremely controversial issue of whether fracking bans and long-term moratoriums are allowed in the state. Back in 2012 and 2013, five Colorado cities—Boulder, Broomfield, Lafayette, Longmont and Fort Collins—all enacted long-term moratoriums or bans. Boulder County also enacted a long-term moratorium. So far: The City of Boulder’s long-term moratorium was not challenged and remains intact....
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Colorado Supreme Court to Make Historic Ruling on Fracking BansBrazil’s Environmental Agency Denies Operating License to Controversial Belo Monte Dam
Posted by Blue and Green: None Given on September 24th, 2015
Blue and Green: On Tuesday night, the Brazilian press reported that the country’s Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources (Ibama) had temporarily denied Norte Energia’s request for an operating license for Belo Monte Dam. The reports cited serious examples of non-compliance with legally required measures to mitigate and compensate project impacts. Without the license, Norte Energia can’t close floodgates and fill a reservoir that will flood large portions of the city of Altamira before it begins...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Brazil’s Environmental Agency Denies Operating License to Controversial Belo Monte DamFracking Firms Struggle to Survive
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 24th, 2015
Wall Street Journal: A series of bankruptcies and closures is sweeping across the oil industry as dozens of hydraulic-fracturing companies, many of which are small, privately owned and just a few years old, are at risk from low oil prices, Alison Sider reports. Small start-ups began to challenge the oil-service giants in 2008, as American wildcatters embraced fracking—the process of blasting a slurry of water, sand and chemicals down a well to break apart densely packed rock, unlocking trapped oil and natural gas. “There...
Hillary Clinton Breaks Keystone XL Silence, Announces Her Opposition to the Pipeline
Posted by EcoWatch: Jon Queally on September 23rd, 2015
EcoWatch: Joining political rival Bernie Sanders in his long-held opposition and distancing herself from the reluctance of the Obama administration to reject the project outright, Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton came out publicly against the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline for the first time on Tuesday. “I think it is imperative,” Clinton said during a campaign stop in Iowa, “that we look at the Keystone pipeline as what I believe it is—a distraction from important work we have to do on...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Hillary Clinton Breaks Keystone XL Silence, Announces Her Opposition to the PipelinePres. Obama Makes Disaster Declaration for Northern California Wildfire
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 23rd, 2015
Associated Press: President Barack Obama declared a major disaster Tuesday in a Northern California wildfire that has destroyed at least 1,200 homes and killed at least three people.
The declaration issued for the fire that broke out in Lake County 90 miles north of San Francisco releases federal money for recovery and cleanup, including grant money for temporary housing and home repairs.
The devastating wildfire that started Sept. 12 ranks among California's most destructive and stands at 79 percent contained...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Pres. Obama Makes Disaster Declaration for Northern California WildfireOrganic Food Sales Soar, Up 72 Percent From 2008
Posted by EcoWatch: Nadia Prupis on September 22nd, 2015
EcoWatch: Americans are increasingly hungry for naturally-grown and healthier foods and, according to a new U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) statistics, sales from organic farms in the U.S. skyrocketed in 2014 with consumer spending up 72 percent since 2008. The 2014 Organic Survey, released last week by the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), indicated that in addition to the $5.5 billion worth of organic products purchased by consumers last year, there is plenty of space for continued...
Rising Seas and More Intense Storms Likely to Cause Major Flooding Events
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 21st, 2015
Yale Environment 360: Rising seas and increasingly frequent and intense storms along the U.S. Atlantic and Gulf coasts could interact to produce alarming spikes in the extent and duration of floods, according to a study published in Nature Climate Change. The study projects that coastal flooding could possibly shoot up several hundred-fold by 2100, from the Northeast to Texas. Even the study's most conservative calculations, based on greatly reduced greenhouse gas emissions over the next 85 years, suggest a 4- to 75-fold...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Rising Seas and More Intense Storms Likely to Cause Major Flooding EventsTree of Life With 2.3 Million Species Open for Changes
Posted by Environment News Service: None Given on September 21st, 2015
Environment News Service: The relationships among living things, as they diverged from one another from the beginning of life on Earth more than 3.5 billion years ago, are shown for the first time in a comprehensive Tree of Life.
Tens of thousands of smaller trees of life have been published over the years for select branches of the tree, some containing more than 100,000 species, but this is the first time those results have been combined into a single tree that attempts to encompass all forms of life.
This circular...
Tim DeChristopher: We Need to End All New Fossil Fuel Leases on Public Lands
Posted by EcoWatch: Cole Mellino on September 18th, 2015
EcoWatch: Tim DeChristopher, co-founder of the new Climate Disobedience Center and outspoken climate justice activist, is calling for an end to all new fossil fuel leases on public lands and oceans.
He argues that declaring unleased oil, gas and coal on public lands as "unburnable" would accomplish more in the global fight against climate change than any other single action taken by the Obama administration. He argues that it could prevent 90 times more carbon emissions from being emitted than Obama`s Clean...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Tim DeChristopher: We Need to End All New Fossil Fuel Leases on Public Lands