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Archive for July, 2010
BP oil spill: Michelle Obama urges US holidaymakers to support Gulf coast
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2010
Guardian: Michelle Obama today used her first visit to the Gulf coast devastated by the BP oil spill to urge Americans to support the local economy by spending their summer holidays there. However, after extolling the "thousands of miles of beautiful beaches" untouched by the spill and urging people to "do a few things [to] help this community", America's first lady headed back to Washington to prepare for a family holiday to a national park in Maine at the weekend. Conservative blogs, ...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on BP oil spill: Michelle Obama urges US holidaymakers to support Gulf coastUnited States: EPA seeks comment in Denver on fracking study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2010
Associated Press: Natural gas industry groups on Tuesday urged the Environmental Protection Agency to limit the scope of an upcoming study on the effects of a natural gas extraction process known as fracking. Some environmental groups want the federal agency to also examine eventual effects on air quality. The EPA held the second of four public meetings to gather comments about its upcoming study on how drinking water might be affected by a method of extracting natural gas. The process -- called ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United States: EPA seeks comment in Denver on fracking studyBP to begin slowly choking off Gulf oil geyser
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2010
Associated Press: A pivotal moment in the Gulf oil crisis hit an unexpected snag Tuesday evening when officials announced they needed more time before they could begin choking off the geyser of crude at the bottom of the sea. BP and federal officials did not say what prompted the decision or when the testing would begin on a new, tighter-fitting cap it had just installed on the blown-out well. The oil giant had been scheduled to start slowly shutting off valves on the 75-ton cap, aiming to stop the ...
Brazil: Amazon storm killed half a billion trees: study
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2010
Reuters: A powerful storm destroyed about half a billion trees in the Amazon in 2005, according to a study on Tuesday that shows how the world's forests may be vulnerable to more violent weather caused by climate change. Researchers at Tulane University in New Orleans used satellite data, on-site observations and computer models to calculate that between 441 million and 663 million trees were killed by the storm that swept through the region in January 2005. The destruction was ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Brazil: Amazon storm killed half a billion trees: studyUnited States: EPA public meeting in Denver focuses on fracking
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2010
Associated Press: The Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday was holding the second of four public meetings to gather comments about an upcoming study of how drinking water might be affected by a method of extracting natural gas. The decades-old process -- called hydraulic fracturing, or fracking -- pumps water and chemicals underground at high pressure to help extract trapped oil and natural gas. The fluids break open fractures in shale formations, and sand or another substance is pumped in to ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United States: EPA public meeting in Denver focuses on frackingOffshore Drilling: To Pause or Not to Pause
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2010
New York Times: Three weeks ago, William K. Reilly, the newly named co-chairman of the presidential commission appointed to investigate the BP oil spill, said he thought the six-month moratorium on deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico was necessary – and maybe even too short. Associated Press William K. Reilly, right, and Bob Graham, co-chairmen of a panel of inquiry, with President Obama last month. He said in an interview with The Times that the commission was unlikely to recommend that ...
Zimbabwe: ‘Holistic grazing’ wins sustainable practice award
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2010
SciDev.Net: A project hoping to reverse desertification through 'holistic management' of livestock has been awarded US$100,000 prize in a global competition on sustainable practices. By carefully planning the grazing of the cattle on fields, Operation Hope has reclaimed some 6,500 acres of grasslands at the Africa Center for Holistic Management, Zimbabwe -- where the project is based -- while increasing the livestock population by 400 per cent. The project's efforts won first place in this ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Zimbabwe: ‘Holistic grazing’ wins sustainable practice awardCrude from Gulf oil spill found on 2nd Texas beach
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2010
Associated Press: U.S. Coast Guard officials say test results have confirmed that tar balls found on a second Texas beach were from the massive Gulf oil spill. Chief Warrant Officer Lionel Bryant said Tuesday that tar balls found on a Galveston beach last week are from the blown-out BP well off Louisiana. Tar balls found July 5 at another beach, east of Bolivar Peninsula, were the first confirmation that crude from the massive BP oil spill had reached Texas shores. Officials say they may have ...
Cambodia: Mine plan threatens Koh Kong woodland
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2010
Phnom Penh Post: THE conservation NGO Wildlife Alliance yesterday criticised plans for the development of a titanium mine in Koh Kong province, saying the project would scare off ecotourism investors and derail implementation of a lucrative pollution-reduction scheme. Suwanna Gauntlett, the group's country director, said the United Khmer Group had recently obtained a permit from the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy for the mine, which she said would cover 15,000 to 20,000 hectares in Thma Bang ...
United Kingdom: 60 miles of canal closed in drought
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 13th, 2010
Press Association: Almost half of Britain's longest canal is to be closed in the face of drought conditions, British Waterways announced today. Some 60 miles of the 127-mile Leeds and Liverpool Canal will be closed early next month, by which time the reservoirs which feed it are expected to have fallen to just 10 per cent of their capacity. The closure to boating traffic aims to prevent the loss of water from the canal through the opening of locks, and maintain sufficient water levels in the ...