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Archive for June, 2010
BP well cap collecting more leaking oil-Coast Guard
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 5th, 2010
Reuters: BP's containment cap over its ruptured Gulf of Mexico oil well collected 6,000 barrels of oil over a 24-hour period, signaling progress in efforts to control the leak, the U.S. national oil spill response commander said on Saturday. Asked whether the welltop containment device was working, Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen told a briefing: "Yes -- with caveats". "In the first full 24-hour cycle yesterday ... they were able to bring up ... 6,000 barrels of oil from the well," Allen ...
United States: Record warmth, lack of snow give wildlife a jump
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 5th, 2010
LaCrosse Tribune: National Weather Service radar captured a hatch of mayflies May 29 along the Mississippi River. Flowers bloomed in a month better known for showers. Sap stopped flowing in March, and mayflies hatched in May. It was the second-warmest meteorological spring on record for La Crosse and the driest since 1996, according to the National Weather Service. It also was the first spring without snow in 127 years of modern observation. "It's been a very strange spring," said Karl ...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on United States: Record warmth, lack of snow give wildlife a jumpWildfires Increasing Despite Efforts to Slow Deforestation
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 4th, 2010
Inter Press Service: An agreement reached at an international conference last week pledged over four billion dollars to the U.N.'s effort to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that come from deforestation and forest degradation. But a study published Friday questions what impact that effort, called REDD, can have. The study, in Friday's issue of the journal Science, finds the carbon emissions eliminated through reducing the deforestation of some Amazonian forests may be partially cancelled out by the ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Wildfires Increasing Despite Efforts to Slow DeforestationNYPA reviews N.Y. Great Lakes wind power proposals
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 4th, 2010
Reuters: The New York Power Authority on Friday said it has started reviewing five proposals for wind power projects in state waters on Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. NYPA, the state-owned power company, did not name the developers of the proposals or discuss potential costs or sizes, in its release. Industry sources estimated offshore wind power would cost about $4,000 per kilowatt, versus $2,000 for onshore wind, $4,000 for nuclear, $2,200 for coal, $1,000 for combined-cycle natural gas ...
How to help the Gulf Coast hurt by the oil spill
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 4th, 2010
Yahoo Green: It's been over a month since the BP oil drilling platform exploded in the Gulf of Mexico. In the past few weeks, we've seen devastating photos of wildlife affected by this disaster. The oil poses a serious threat to fishermen's livelihoods, marine habitats, beaches, wildlife, and human health. Although BP has publicly stated the company will pay for all damages from the oil spill, many organizations still rely on donations and volunteers to protect wildlife from this type of ...
Calm no more, Obama lashes out at BP on Gulf visit
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 4th, 2010
Associated Press: Dogged for being too calm in crisis, President Barack Obama unleashed frustration for all to see Friday, warning BP it had better do right by the people whose lives it has wrecked. The president's third trek to the Gulf of Mexico was about the workers with no government titles, the shrimpers and the shopkeepers, the fishermen whose lives have been upended and are running out of people to blame. Yet Obama's trip was also about him. He says it serves little substantive ...
BP establishes escrow fund for La. sand berms
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 4th, 2010
Associated Press: BP is establishing a $360 million escrow account to fund a project to build six sand berms that Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal hopes will protect the state's wetlands from the growing Gulf of Mexico slick. The company said late Thursday it approved the accounts. The announcement came hours after Jindal urged the British oil giant to start doling out the payments immediately. The governor appeared at a Grand Isle government center with a demand for BP: "Sign your own contract and ...
United Kingdom: Get down off your Dark Mountain: you’re making matters worse
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 4th, 2010
Ecologist: <figure> <figcaption>The Pontcysyllte aqueduct in Llangollen, where the Dark Mountain festival was held. Photograph: Don McPhee/Guardian</figcaption> </figure> 'The End of the Universe is very popular', said Zaphod... 'People like to dress up for it...gives it a sense of occasion.' In Douglas Adams' The Restaurant at the End of the Universe diners enjoyed watching the obliteration of life, the universe and everything, whilst enjoying a nice steak. When I first discovered The ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Get down off your Dark Mountain: you’re making matters worseUnited States: To Avoid Oil, Mississippi Opens Shrimp Season Early
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 4th, 2010
National Public Radio: With the drifting oil from the spill in the Gulf of Mexico closing in, Mississippi opened its shrimping season 10 days early to get as big a catch as possible. Fishermen headed out at first light Thursday and stayed out to maximize their catch before the waters are closed.
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United States: To Avoid Oil, Mississippi Opens Shrimp Season EarlyFires in Amazon challenge emission reduction program
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on June 3rd, 2010
Science Codex: Fire occurrence rates in the Amazon have increased in 59% of areas with reduced deforestation and risks cancelling part of the carbon savings achieved by UN measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from deforestation and degradation. New research led by the University of Exeter, published on Friday 4 June, in Science, analysed satellite deforestation and fire data from the Brazilian Amazon to understand the influence of United Nation's REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation ...