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Archive for February 6th, 2016
New York investigates radioactive leak groundwater near city
Posted by Guardian: Sam Thielman and Alan Yuhas on February 6th, 2016
Guardian: Radioactive material has leaked into the groundwater below a nuclear power plant north of New York City, prompting a state investigation on Saturday and condemnation from governor Andrew Cuomo.
Cuomo ordered an investigation into “alarming levels of radioactivity” found at three monitoring wells at the Indian Point energy center in Buchanan, New York, about 40 miles north of Manhattan.
“Our first concern is for the health and safety of the residents close to the facility and ensuring the groundwater...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on New York investigates radioactive leak groundwater near cityNew science helps put spotlight on unseen global impacts
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 6th, 2016
ScienceDaily: As the world grows more connected, "out of sight, out of mind" looms as a perilous consequence of globalization. A sustainability scholar presents an integrated way to track the many footprints that are made in global transactions in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment this month. Jianguo "Jack" Liu, the Rachel Carson Chair in Sustainability at Michigan State University, has been putting the award-winning telecoupling framework to the test to examine the often unseen and unaccounted...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on New science helps put spotlight on unseen global impactsTotal Conducting Seismic Testing on Congo Oil Block
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 6th, 2016
Reuters: French oil major Total is conducting seismic testing on a block it operates in northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, a company spokeswoman confirmed on Thursday, making it the first oil major to conduct such testing in the country.
Congo produces just 25,000 barrels of oil per day along its Atlantic coast in the west but hopes that further exploration offshore and near Lake Albert, which straddles the eastern border with Uganda, will boost that figure significantly in coming years.
Total...
Geospatial data for the people, by the people
Posted by Mongabay: Sue Palminteri on February 6th, 2016
Mongabay: How do you motivate people to learn and care about their environments? Researchers in various scientific fields have begun involving interested people in collecting data on the ground, verifying data online, and contacting authorities and each other to act on existing data. Connecting those data to human health impacts may engage the public even more. The goal of SkyTruth is to motivate people to use satellite imagery, geospatial data, and digital mapping tools to personally investigate what’s happening—good...
High Arctic temperatures drive sea ice to record low
Posted by Discover: None Given on February 6th, 2016
Discover: The plot above shows how Arctic region air temperatures at about 3,000 feet above the surface varied from average in January 2016. The North Pole is at the center of map. The air temperature for the region at this height was about 13 degrees F above the 1981-2010 mean -- a record. At the surface, January saw an average temperature that was 11 degrees above normal, also a record. (National Snow and Ice Data Center, courtesy NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory Physical Sciences Division)
In my...
Fracking bad for Florida
Posted by Tampa Bay Times: Editorial on February 6th, 2016
Tampa Bay Times: Florida lawmakers are pushing to expand fracking, an aggressive form of oil drilling that could threaten the drinking water supply, damage private property and threaten Florida`s tourist economy.
Florida lawmakers wanted to send a positive message last month by passing a huge water bill during the first week of the legislative session, committing tens of millions of dollars to clean up the natural springs and generate new supplies of drinking water for the state's most crowded areas. But now they...
Fall in number of oil rigs drilling in US speeds up
Posted by Financial Times: None Given on February 6th, 2016
Financial Times: The decline in the number of rigs drilling for oil in the US accelerated sharply this week, as companies adjusted to the latest slump in the price of crude.
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Baker...
T-shirt weather in the Arctic
Posted by New York Times: Mark Urban and Linda Deegan on February 6th, 2016
New York Times: WE crested the northern rim of Alaska's Brooks Range, and from the windows of our truck looked out across the undulating foothills toward the Arctic Ocean. Instead of seeing snow as we had in years past, we were greeted by a landscape already green with spring.
We flew by helicopter to our remote camp and shed our heavy parkas. The fish we had come to study had already disappeared downstream to spawn.
We now realize that what we saw last May was historic - the hottest May for Alaska's North...
How melting Arctic ice may have set off era vicious East Coast snow storms
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 6th, 2016
Washington Post: Does shrinking ice in the Arctic lead to more crushing snow storms along the East Coast? Through a complex chain of events, it’s very possible says leading Arctic researcher and seasonal forecaster Judah Cohen.
Since 1990, as sea ice has rapidly melted away in the Arctic, crippling snow storms have increasingly buried the Northeast’s big cities.
[Is global warming behind D.C.’s new era of great snow storms?]
In Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston, at least five...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on How melting Arctic ice may have set off era vicious East Coast snow stormsBeyond Flint: In The South, Another Water Crisis Has Been Unfolding For Years
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on February 6th, 2016
National Public Radio: It's not simply Flint that has bad water. The Michigan city, which has grabbed headlines recently for its rampant water contamination, is joined in that dubious distinction by another town, much farther south: St. Joseph, La.
"It's just a given fact that at some point during the week, you're going to have brown or yellow water," says resident Garrett Boyte.
@maddow Flint isn't alone! Current water crisis in St. Joseph, LA. https://t.co/JcjiuGXy4H #justicelikewater pic.twitter.com/sl1GosrgL3...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Beyond Flint: In The South, Another Water Crisis Has Been Unfolding For Years