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Archive for January, 2016
Why Big Blizzards In Winter Don’t Disprove Global Warming
Posted by ThinkProgress: None Given on January 22nd, 2016
ThinkProgress: Another epic blizzard threatens 50 million people on the East Coast, with a bulls-eye on Washington DC. And leading climatologists again explain how human-induced climate change, especially warming-fueled ocean temperatures, are super-charging the amount of moisture in the atmosphere the storm will dump on us.
First, though, I think the name, Winter Storm Jonas, doesn`t do justice to this blizzard, especially since the Jonas brothers are a pretty harmless pop rock band. I`m suggesting the name,...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on Why Big Blizzards In Winter Don’t Disprove Global WarmingCourt refuses to block Obama climate-change initiative
Posted by Ars Technica: None Given on January 22nd, 2016
Ars Technica: A federal appeals court is refusing to block the Obama administration's climate change initiative. Two dozen states and other energy companies sued (PDF) the Environmental Protection Agency in October on the day the carbon-emissions cutting plan became law.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said that the plan, which impacts hundreds of power plants across the nation and is one of the president's centerpiece accomplishments, can proceed even as the legal challenge is...
Capping the Porter Ranch gas leak isn’t enough
Posted by LA Times: Editorial on January 22nd, 2016
LA Times: While the Southern California Gas Co. continues its work on a relief well that will, hopefully, stop the three-month-long gas leak near Porter Ranch, lawmakers are beginning on the next essential step: developing regulations to reduce the risk of another massive leak from an underground natural gas storage facility that will once again sicken people and wreak havoc on the environment.
The human and financial impact from the current leak has been tremendous. Some 2,600 families have temporarily...
The Coal Miner `On Everybody’s List’ as Next Bankruptcy Victim
Posted by Bloomberg: Jodi Xu Klein andTim Loh on January 22nd, 2016
Bloomberg: Plummeting coal prices have pushed almost half the debt issued by U.S. coal companies into default, and for miners and their investors there’s no end in sight.
Patriot Coal Corp., Walter Energy Inc. and Alpha Natural Resources Inc. have all filed for bankruptcy in the past year. Now that Arch Coal Inc., the second largest coal miner in the U.S., has joined their ranks, investors are wondering if the biggest, Peabody Energy Corp., could be next.
Peabody’s shares have been sliced roughly in half...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on The Coal Miner `On Everybody’s List’ as Next Bankruptcy VictimUS proposes rule to limit gas ‘flaring’ at drilling sites
Posted by Sun Times: None Given on January 22nd, 2016
Sun Times: The effort is part of President Barack Obama's broader climate change strategy based on executive actions, which includes a goal to reduce oil and gas sector methane emissions by up to 45 percent from 2012 levels by 2025. They would require oil and gas producers to limit the amount of gas they vent or burn off - known as flaring - as well as replace aging equipment, periodically inspect their oil and gas sites for leaks, which they are not now required to do.
"I think most people would agree that...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on US proposes rule to limit gas ‘flaring’ at drilling sitesClimate change raises a troubling question: Who gets to eat?
Posted by InsideClimate: David Hasemyer on January 22nd, 2016
InsideClimate: Policymakers on Capitol Hill got a dire warning that climate change threatens food production, safety and affordability.
That stark message came in a briefing by the American Meteorological Society to congressional staff members, climate scientists and federal regulators that linked climate change to a host of troubling scenarios involving worldwide food availability.
Wednesday's briefing drew on a peer-reviewed study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture released during the Paris Climate Conference...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Climate change raises a troubling question: Who gets to eat?Obama Administration to Propose New Rules to Halt Methane Leaks
Posted by Reuters: Valerie Volcovici on January 22nd, 2016
Reuters: The Obama administration is expected to propose new rules as soon as Friday to curb methane leaks from oil and natural gas production, its latest attempt to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from energy production under its control, sources familiar with the plan said. The Interior Department's Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wants to limit venting and flaring natural gas at wells on public land, practices that let methane into the atmosphere. Methane is the second most prevalent greenhouse gas after...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Obama Administration to Propose New Rules to Halt Methane LeaksJudge in climate suit tells feds to re-examine coal mine
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on January 22nd, 2016
Associated Press: Federal officials must re-examine a 117 million-ton expansion of an eastern Montana coal mine after a judge sided with environmentalists who sued over the project's potential to make climate change worse and cause other environmental damage. U.S. District Judge Susan Watters gave the Interior Department nine months to look again at the proposal for the Cloud Peak Energy's Spring Creek mine near Decker, Montana, along the Wyoming border. In its prior review, the agency "failed to take a hard look"...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Judge in climate suit tells feds to re-examine coal mineWhy Everyone Should Be Worried About Calif Gas Leak Disaster
Posted by Huffington Post: Matt Ferner and Lydia O'Connor on January 21st, 2016
Huffington Post: Call it a canary in a natural gas storage zone. The enormous volume of natural gas spewing from a broken well here should serve as a wake-up call that more catastrophes are waiting to happen at similar facilities nationwide, conservationists warn. Aging infrastructure, industry negligence and scant state regulations are all factors that led to the enormous Aliso Canyon methane leak now plaguing the affluent Porter Ranch community, and they are common problems across California and the nation, according...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Why Everyone Should Be Worried About Calif Gas Leak Disaster2015 Was The Hottest Year On Record, This Year Is Likely To Be Even Hotter
Posted by International Business: None Given on January 21st, 2016
International Business: It’s official. 2015 was the planet’s hottest year on historical records dating back to 1880, shattering the previous mark set in 2014 by 0.13 Celsius (0.23 degrees Fahrenheit), scientists at NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) confirmed Wednesday.
The latest data provides further evidence that most of the warming due to climate change -- driven largely by human-made greenhouse gas emissions -- has occurred in the past 35 years, with 15 of the 16 warmest years on...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on 2015 Was The Hottest Year On Record, This Year Is Likely To Be Even Hotter