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Archive for July 9th, 2010
US government loses drilling ban appeal
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 9th, 2010
Business Green: A federal court yesterday rejected a government appeal requesting it be allowed to reinstate a six-month ban on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, paving the way for a partial resumption of drilling while a court case challenging the legality of the embargo is heard. However, the Obama administration immediately signalled it would impose a new ban on drilling activities in water below depths of 500 feet, arguing it was necessary in order to ensure enhanced safety measures in ...
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Millions face starvation as Niger prays in vain for rain
Posted by Water Conserve: Water Conservation RSS Newsfeed on July 9th, 2010
Independent (UK): To the north of Niger, the creeping Sahara; to the south, oil rich and agriculturally lush Nigeria -- this nation straddles the Sahel -- dry, hot and cruel. It has suffered catastrophic droughts -- 1974, 1984 and 2005. And now, another. Five times the size of the United Kingdom, Niger is one of the poorest nations on earth with child mortality worse than Afghanistan. The absence of regular rainfall throughout 2009 has led to poor harvests, lack of grazing for animals and food reserves ...
Feds say new cap could contain Gulf leak by Monday
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 9th, 2010
Associated Press: The BP oil leak could be completely contained as early as Monday if a new, tighter cap can be fitted over the blown-out well, the government official in charge of the crisis said Friday in some of the most encouraging news to come out of the Gulf in the 2 1/2 months since the disaster struck. If the project planned to begin this weekend is successful, it would simply mean no more oil would escape to foul the Gulf of Mexico. The well would still be busted and leaking -- workers would ...
BP set to install bigger cap on leaking Gulf well
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 9th, 2010
Reuters: BP was set on Friday to install a bigger cap that could contain almost all the oil leaking from its blownout Gulf of Mexico well, a top U.S. official said. The Obama administration has been pressing the British energy giant to install the new cap, which could capture up to 80,000 barrels (3,360,000 gallons/12,700,00 liters) of oil a day, versus the 25,000 barrels currently being contained. The government has estimated the well is leaking a maximum of 60,000 barrels a day, ...
NAACP: Minorities assigned tougher oil spill jobs
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 9th, 2010
Associated Press: The NAACP has sent a letter to BP expressing concerns that minorities helping to clean up after the massive oil spill tend to be assigned tougher, lower paying jobs than whites. NAACP president, Ben Jealous, says in the letter dated Friday that he wants to meet with BP's chief executive officer. E-mail messages left with several BP spokespeople were not immediately returned. The NAACP says minority contractors are not receiving equal consideration for opportunities to ...
Cairn Energy’s Arctic oil drilling plan condemned as irresponsible
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 9th, 2010
Guardian: A decision by a British oil company to start drilling wells in "iceberg alley" off Greenland has been described as "completely irresponsible" by environmental groups in the light of BP's problems in the Gulf of Mexico. Cairn Energy said it had begun the first of four exploration wells on the Alpha prospect in Arctic waters of up to 500m (1,600ft) having been given permission from the Greenland government. Greenpeace said the move was wrong, not least because Cairn was a ...
Climate change could drive crocs out of the water
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 9th, 2010
New Scientist: CROCODILES could find it harder to locate food and take refuge from predators as global warming bites. So says Hamish Campbell of the University of Queensland in St Lucia, Australia. His team recorded the dives made by 10 juvenile freshwater crocodiles in Lakefield National Park, Queensland, over 15 days in both summer and winter. Campbell's group tagged the crocs - which dive periodically to catch food, rest and avoid predators - with two recorders that clocked time ...
APA encouraged forest views being listened to by donors
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 9th, 2010
Stabroek News: -still sees gaps in plan for World Bank project President of the Amerindian Peoples Association (APA), Tony James says he is encouraged that countries and institutions involved in forest protection efforts seem to be listening to the concerns of indigenous peoples here. James, other APA members, representatives from Peruvian non-governmental organisations and a member of the Coordinating Body for Indigenous Organisations of the Amazon Basin, spoke about their concerns on forest ...
Sea turtle egg evacuations begin along oiled Gulf
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 9th, 2010
Associated Press: Biologist Lorna Patrick dug gingerly into the beach Friday, gently brushing away sand to reveal dozens of leathery, golfball-sized loggerhead sea turtle eggs. Patrick, of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, carefully plucked the eggs from the foot-deep hole and placed them one-by-one in a cooler layered with moist sand from the nest, the first step in a sweeping and unprecedented turtle egg evacuation to save thousands of threatened hatchlings from certain death in the oiled Gulf of ...
Farmed Fish, Food Fish; Wild Fish, Few Fish
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 9th, 2010
National Public Radio: On a rainy morning in New York City's Jamaica Bay, fishing boat captain Vinnie Calabro reflects on his game. "Striped bass are a hearty, vibrant fish that can endure a lot of crap," he says. "They're pretty much a mirror of our society." You figure if they can make it here -- right next to New York's Kennedy International Airport -- they can probably make it anywhere. But writer Paul Greenberg, who has joined Calabro on this pre-drawn fishing trip, isn't so sure. He's ...