Archive for July 9th, 2010

Gulf oil spill panel to look at root causes

Associated Press: The leaders of the new presidential oil spill commission say they will focus on how safety, government oversight and the ability to clean up spills haven't kept up with drilling technology. Panel members hold their first meetings Monday and Tuesday in New Orleans. Co-chairman William Reilly says existing clean-up technology and response plans are primitive. He and co-chair Bob Graham say they also will examine the root causes of the April 20 oil rig explosion in the Gulf of ...

Farming kicked up dust in West Africa

Science Now: Dust from the Sahara desert can warm the atmosphere, increase the production of clouds, and prolong drought conditions. Now, researchers have found evidence that intensive farming is responsible for a significant portion of that dust. Experts are cautious, but the connection suggests that factoring in dust production could lead to better global climate models. The world's biggest sandbox is also its biggest source of airborne dust. The Sahara region's famous sandstorms also carry ...

Navy blimp arrives in New Orleans for Gulf duty

Associated Press: A blimp that will fly over the Gulf of Mexico so observers can spot oil slicks and ailing wildlife has arrived in the region. After being delayed by bad weather, the 178-foot long airship landed Thursday in New Orleans, where it will be based for the next several days. Coast Guard Cmdr. Howard Wright says the blimp is better suited for observation than a helicopter or plane, because it can move slowly over the sea at low elevations for up to 12 hours at a stretch. It is ...

Washington residents urged to water sun-baked city trees

Agence France-Presse: Residents of the leafy US capital were delivered an unusual request Friday as the city sweltered under a prolonged heatwave: please water our trees. A statement from the forestry administration said it was "launching an effort to engage as many residents as possible in watering street trees so they survive this hot summer." Temperatures have soared along the East Coast in the past days, creeping above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37 degrees Celsius) and cloaking the city's ...

Paradise found: Iraq’s marshes reborn

Guardian: Saddam Hussein's draining of the Mesopotamian marshes of Iraq – recorded as the Garden of Eden in the Bible - was one of the most infamous outrages of his regime, leaving a vast area of once-teeming river delta a dry, salt-encrusted desert, emptied of insects, birds and the people who lived on them. But nearly two decades later the area is buzzing and twittering with life again after local people and a new breed of Iraqi conservationists have restored much of what was once the world's ...

US could experience many more heat waves in next 30 years

USA Today: Killer heat waves caused by climate change could become much more common in the United States over the next 30 years, a two-year study by scientists at Purdue University finds. Heat waves could become five times as likely between 2020 and 2029 in the western and central United States as they were from 1951-1999. The 2030s would be even hotter -- most of Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico might experience at least seven summer seasons as intense as the hottest summers ever recorded ...

Water: Act now to conserve the new oil

Fortune: Water is the new oil. In the same way that the 1973 oil crisis forced Americans to scrutinize their reliance on fossil fuels, today's water shortages and rising occurrence of contaminated water supplies are shining a spotlight on our seemingly ubiquitous supply of H20. Only 1 percent of the world's water supply is easily available for drinking, but much of that is in jeopardy of growing contamination. It's time to start including water in the national conversation as readily and ...

United States: Big money drives up the betting on the Marcellus Shale

New York Times: Halliburton is building a permanent outpost here on the edge of a one of the 21st century's biggest energy booms. Southeast of here, on an old strawberry patch at a bend in the river, Halliburton's industrial dwelling rests against the lush landscape of hills and valleys. In July, the Texas oil services giant will start mixing cement and storing equipment for natural gas companies drilling in the tough shale rock of northeastern Pennsylvania. Halliburton is a ubiquitous ...

Concerns spread over environmental costs of producing shale gas

ClimateWire: Around suppertime on June 3 in Clearfield County, Pa., a geyser of natural gas and sludge began shooting out of a well called Punxsutawney Hunting Club 36. The toxic stew of gas, salt water, mud and chemicals went 75 feet into the air for 16 hours. Some of this mess seeped into a stream northeast of Pittsburgh. Four days later, as authorities were cleaning up the debris in Pennsylvania, an explosion burned seven workers at a gas well on the site of an abandoned coal mine outside of ...

Wild weather could tip global food bowl

Australian Broadcasting Corporation: China's health ministry is advising the nation's hospitals to gear up for a rise in the number of people suffering from heat-stroke and other heat related conditions. This week, the mercury hit 40 degrees in Beijing, the city's highest temperature for early July in 50 years. A month ago it was floods wreaking havoc in southern China, the worst in the area since 1998. The official Xinhua newsagency says the torrential summer rainstorms caused economic losses of an estimated US$12 ...