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Archive for July 29th, 2010
3,000 chemical barrels washed into Chinese river
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2010
Reuters: Water supplies were cut for a time to part of the north-eastern Chinese city of Jilin, after a flood washed thousands of barrels of a dangerous chemical from a factory into the area's main river, state media said today. A "small quantity" of two pollutants produced by the plant were found in the Songhua river, and a reporter smelt a strange odour as he watched dozens of the metal containers float through downtown Jilin, the official Xinhua agency said. It was not clear how well ...
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More frequent, more intense heat waves in store for New York, climate scientists predict
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2010
ScienceDaily: Heat waves like those that baked the Northeast in July are likely to be more frequent and more intense in the future, with their effects amplified in densely built urban environments like Manhattan, according to climate scientists at The City College of New York (CCNY). "Manhattan is subject to an urban heat island effect because its physical landscape is significantly different from the surrounding suburbs," said Dr. Jorge Gonzalez, NOAA-CREST Professor of Mechanical Engineering in ...
Majority of Californians oppose offshore drilling
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2010
Reuters: Three months into the worst oil spill in U.S. history, most Californians oppose offshore drilling, marking a strong shift in opinion on the issue, a poll has found. Some 59 percent of residents say they are against drilling for oil off the state's coastline while 36 percent are in favor, according to the Public Policy Institute of California survey released on Wednesday. Last year the same poll showed 43 percent were opposed to offshore drilling and 51 percent ...
Broken Michigan Oil Pipeline To Stay Shut For Now
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2010
National Public Radio: Federal officials say a pipeline that spewed up to 1 million gallons of crude oil into a river in southern Michigan earlier this week must remain closed, for now. Enbridge Energy Partners had hoped to fix the leak and restart the pipeline in a few days. But Transportation Department officials say that can't happen until it is thoroughly inspected and tested. That pleases Rep. Mark Schauer, a Democrat from Michigan whose district includes much of the affected area. "The company ...
Heat damage to Russia crop past worst-official says
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2010
Reuters: Russia's worst drought for decades is set to drag on for at least the next 7 days in some areas but further serious damage to grain crops is not expected, a senior government weather forecaster said on Thursday. Drought in some regions of Russia, one of the world's biggest wheat exporters, has sent global prices soaring to year highs in July, putting U.S. wheat futures on track for their biggest monthly gain since 1973. Grain traders say the rally shows signs of continuing, ...
Thailand Faces Flak for Backing Mekong Dams
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2010
Inter Press Service: Northern Thai villagers living on Mekong River's banks are poised to join a growing tide of opposition against a planned cascade of 11 dams to be built on the mainstream of South-east Asia's largest body of water. These communities, many of them from the northern Thai province of Chiang Rai, are drafting a petition to be submitted in the coming weeks to Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. They see this step as the first in a long battle to protect a riverine culture and livelihood ...
Palm oil group still destroying Indonesian forest, says Greenpeace
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2010
Business Green: Indonesia's largest palm and pulp group is still destroying critical habitats, claims Greenpeace in an investigation published today. The non-governmental organisation (NGO) has published new photographic evidence, aerial monitoring and field analysis which seems to show that the Sinar Mas group is continuing to break its own environmental commitments on protecting forests and peat land. And confidential documents obtained by the group indicate that the firm has ambitions to ...
Indonesian Sinar Mas-linked firms wrecked forest: report
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2010
Reuters: Greenpeace said on Thursday it had fresh evidence that palm oil firms linked to Indonesian agribusiness giant Sinar Mas have bulldozed rainforest and destroyed endangered orangutan habitats in Kalimantan. The charges were denied by palm oil firm PT SMART Tbk, part of Sinar Mas, which has already said it would stop clearing critical forests. The accusations, leveled by Greenpeace in a new report, is the latest chapter in a long and bitter dispute between the conservationists and ...
Russian subs dive deep for new energy sources
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2010
BBC: Russia has some of the largest energy reserves in the world, but it keeps searching for new sources - even if it means going underwater. Two Russian deep-water submersibles have once again taken a dive in Lake Baikal, to study recently found fields of gas hydrates, a possible fuel of the future. Baikal is the world's deepest, oldest freshwater basin and one of the most biologically diverse. Located in East Siberia close to the Mongolian border, the lake holds one-fifth ...
The BP Spill: Has the Damage Been Exaggerated?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 29th, 2010
Time: President Obama has called the BP oil spill "the worst environmental disaster America has ever faced," and so has just about everyone else. Green groups are sounding alarms about the "Catastrophe Along the Gulf Coast," while CBS, Fox and MSNBC slap "Disaster in the Gulf" chryons on all their spill-related news. Even BP fall guy Tony Hayward, after some early happy talk, admitted the spill was an "environmental catastrophe." The obnoxious anti-environmentalist Rush Limbaugh has been a rare ...