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Archive for May, 2010
BP accused of cover-up
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 20th, 2010
Reuters: The U.S. government Thursday accused energy giant BP of falling short in the information it has provided about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, in a clear sign of Washington's growing frustration with BP's handling of the spiraling environmental disaster. "In responding to this oil spill, it is critical that all actions be conducted in a transparent manner, with all data and information related to the spill readily available to the United States government and the American people," ...
Limited biofuel land compatible with food: Industry
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 20th, 2010
Reuters: A large but limited amount of land can be used to provide plant-based fuel without cutting the world's food supply, environmentalists and consultants told a global biofuels gathering on Wednesday. Governments around the world have promoted biofuels in order to cut greenhouse emissions and their dependence on fossil fuels, as well as prevent pollution. "In climate change, in oil spills, the Earth is paying the price for providing us with all this easy, unsustainable oil," Margo ...
Scientists Fault U.S. Response in Assessing Gulf Oil Spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 20th, 2010
New York Times: Tensions between the Obama administration and the scientific community over the gulf oil spill are escalating, with prominent oceanographers accusing the government of failing to conduct an adequate scientific analysis of the damage and of allowing BP to obscure the spill's true scope. The scientists assert that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and other agencies have been slow to investigate the magnitude of the spill and the damage it is causing in the deep ocean. ...
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Comments Off on Scientists Fault U.S. Response in Assessing Gulf Oil SpillSome Oil From Spill Reaches Current
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 20th, 2010
New York Times: Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana said Wednesday that sheets of heavy crude oil from the offshore spill had seeped deep into the delicate marshes around the mouth of the Mississippi River. He called on the federal government to approve a plan to build sand berms to protect the bayou country. "These are not tar balls, this is not sheen, this is heavy oil,' Mr. Jindal told reporters on a pier here, holding up a plastic bag full of sticky brownish liquid, after taking a helicopter and boat ...
Oil Spill Has Florida Worried About Hit to Tourism
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 20th, 2010
New York Times: Off Florida's Gulf Coast, the seas are calm and the king mackerel are running. Capt. Joe Meadows's telephone should be ringing with bookings for his 42-foot sport-fishing boat for the summer season. Instead, the calls are from reservation holders wondering if they should cancel. In a state already reeling from foreclosures and unemployment, those whose livelihood depends on visitors lathered in sunscreen are trying to persuade tourists scared off by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico ...
Smallest waterlily in the world saved from extinction – by Kew Gardens
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 19th, 2010
Guardian: Plant experts at Kew Gardens have rescued the smallest waterlily in the world from the brink of extinction. The thermal waterlily has not grown in the wild since the last specimens vanished two years ago from its only known habitat, a hot spring in southwest Rwanda. After a year-long struggle, a Kew Gardens biologist worked out a way to grow the plants at the botanic gardens, paving the way for their reintroduction in the wild. Carlos Magdalena, the plant scientist who ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Smallest waterlily in the world saved from extinction – by Kew GardensAttorney seeks to combine 100-plus oil lawsuits
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 19th, 2010
Associate Press: An attorney wants more than 100 lawsuits filed against BP and other companies involved in the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill combined quickly in a single federal court to avoid what he called legal chaos that could delay potential payments of billions of dollars in damages. Louisiana lawyer Daniel Becnel on Wednesday asked a federal judicial panel in Washington state to order the lawsuits in five Gulf Coast states centralized in New Orleans or a federal court elsewhere in Louisiana, ...
Climate change will worsen lake pollution
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 19th, 2010
Vermont Public Radio: (Host) A new study warns that climate change will aggravate Lake Champlain's pollution problems. The report for The Nature Conservancy says the lake's levels are higher because of increased precipitation. And the researchers say the wetter weather may cause more phosphorus pollution to wash off the land and harm the big lake. VPR's John Dillon has more: (Dillon) The study for the Adirondack and Vermont chapters of The Nature Conservancy is one of the first to forecast ...
Wave power firms roll out next-generation devices
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 19th, 2010
Business Green: Scotland's dream of becoming the "Saudi Arabia of marine energy" took another step towards reality this week after two of the UK's leading wave energy firms unveiled full-scale demonstration devices. E.ON and Pelamis yesterday launched the first prototype of the 750kW Pelamis P2 marine hydropower device, which the two companies hailed as the first wave energy generator to be purchased by a commercial utility. The P2 will be towed from Edinburgh to the European Marine Energy ...
Google-funded hot rock ‘water’ drill could reduce cost of geothermal energy
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on May 19th, 2010
Guardian: A novel drill that is inspired by a jet engine and uses super-heated water to carve through rock could help harness to make clean energy from underground rocks more economically viable, according to its backers at Google. Potter Drilling is part-funded by Google.org - the internet search giant's philanthropic arm - and wants to use its technology to develop geothermal energy, which involves tapping the energy from hot rocks deep in the Earth. Geothermal energy is seen by ...
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