Archive for June, 2010

Biking the Danube for biodiversity

Guardian: It was when we were swimming in the tranquil waters of a Romanian lake this month that it really sank in. Surrounded by willows filled with birds sunning their wings and electric blue dragonflies zipping past, this was the delta of the Danube and we'd cycled nearly 3,000 km to get there. It was over a year ago that we first had the rash idea to cycle the length of "Europe's answer to the Amazon", the longest river in the EU, which passes through 10 countries from its source in ...

Oil Spill Provokes Questions On Human Health

National Public Radio: Medical researchers are meeting this week in New Orleans to discuss the health effects of the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But most of the discussion is about what's NOT known. The workshop was pulled together in a matter of days by the Institute of Medicine, a prestigious independent body chartered by Congress. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asked for the review. Even though oil spills are fairly common, scientists at the two-day workshop say ...

Q-and-A: Woody Biomass, Pros and Cons

New York Times: As I wrote in an article over the weekend, electricity derived from burning organic matter, particularly wood, has long enjoyed a reputation as a green alternative to coal-fired power -- and why not? Trees and plants, renewable by definition, release planet-warming gases into the atmosphere when they burn, and absorb it again when they are growing. It`s sustainable and climate-friendly to boot -- or so the logic has long held. Associated Press A pellet made with wood waste and ...

Judge who overturned drilling moratorium holds stock in drilling companies

Yahoo!: The federal judge who overturned Barack Obama's offshore drilling moratorium reported owning stock in numerous companies involved in the offshore oil industry -- including Transocean, which leased the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig to BP prior to its April 20 explosion in the Gulf of Mexico -- according to 2008 financial disclosure reports. U.S. District Judge Martin Feldman issued a preliminary injunction today barring the enforcement of the president's proposed six-month moratorium ...

United Kingdom: Sunday Times apologises to RK Pachauri on Amazon statement

NDTV: Britain's leading newspaper The Sunday Times has apologised to IPCC chairman Rajendra Pachauri for an article it published in January asserting that the UN panel's Amazon statement was "bogus". The newspaper not only published a correction but also an apology, which is considered a "giant climb down." The newspaper said "the article 'UN climate panel shamed by bogus rainforest claim' stated that the 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report had included an ...

Neb. N-plant declares low-level emergency state

Associated Press: A nuclear power plant near Brownville in southeast Nebraska notified public and federal regulators early Tuesday that it was in a low-level emergency state because of flooding from the rising Missouri River nearby. The Cooper Nuclear Station declared a "Notification of Unusual Event" at 2:06 a.m. CDT. The plant said in a statement that there was no threat to plant employees or the public. The plant owner, Nebraska Public Power District, said the plant was operating ...

Vt. nuke plant says flaw led to radioactive leak

Associated Press: Officials at Vermont's only nuclear power plant say a design flaw that kept engineers from inspecting underground pipes helped cause a leak of radioactive water into the ground. In a report released Tuesday, Entergy Vermont Yankee says a pipe tunnel was blocked with construction material left over from the plant's construction in 1972 and prevented water contaminated with tritium (TRIHT'-ee-um) from passing through the drain line and into a tank. A separate pipe installed in ...

White House to appeal ruling against drilling ban

Associated Press: The White House said Tuesday it will immediately appeal a federal judge's ruling against the Obama administration's moratorium on new deepwater drilling. A New Orleans judge on Tuesday blocked the six-month ban imposed in the wake of the Gulf oil spill, saying the Interior Department had failed to provide adequate reasons for it. Robert Gibbs, the White House press secretary, defended the moratorium and promised an immediate appeal to the 5th Circuit Court of ...

Judge Blocks Moratorium On Gulf Offshore Drilling

Associated Press: A federal judge struck down the Obama administration's six-month ban on deepwater oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico as rash and heavy-handed Tuesday, saying the government simply assumed that because one rig exploded, the others pose an imminent danger, too. The White House promised an immediate appeal. The Interior Department had imposed the moratorium last month in the wake of the BP disaster, halting approval of any new permits for deepwater projects and suspending drilling on 33 ...

Belarus turns off flow of Russian gas to Europe

Guardian: The president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, today halted the flow of Russian gas across his territory to Europe and lambasted Moscow for suggesting that he had tried to pay his country's gas bill using "pies, butter and cheese". A furious Lukashenko instructed his government to turn off the tap as part of an escalating quarrel with the Kremlin over unpaid bills. On Monday Russia's gas giant Gazprom cut its deliveries of gas to Belarus by 15%, effecting a further 15% cut ...