RSS Feed
Archive for July, 2010
Water: Act now to conserve the new oil
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 9th, 2010
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
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 9th, 2010
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 ...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on United States: Big money drives up the betting on the Marcellus ShaleConcerns spread over environmental costs of producing shale gas
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 9th, 2010
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 ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Concerns spread over environmental costs of producing shale gasWild weather could tip global food bowl
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 9th, 2010
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Millions face starvation as Niger prays in vain for rainFeds 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 ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Cairn Energy’s Arctic oil drilling plan condemned as irresponsible