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Archive for July, 2010
State Dept. extends review of Canadian pipeline
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 27th, 2010
The Hill: The State Department is extending its review of a controversial pipeline project that would expand U.S. imports of oil from Canadian tar sands, a plentiful energy source that is under fire from activists and some lawmakers over its environmental effects. The decision to lengthen the review of TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL follows complaints from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and a senior House Democrat that State's draft environmental review was inadequate. The ...
United States: Severe local water shortages on the way due to global warming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 27th, 2010
Modest Bee: Sacramento County is one of four in California and just 29 nationwide that face likely, extreme water shortages by 2050 -- even if global warming were to mysteriously disappear -- according to a recent report by the Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental advocacy group. The report found that California and 13 other states face severe shortages under expected global-warming scenarios. Nationwide, more than 1,100 counties -- one in three -- were projected to face water ...
Posted in Water Conservation 
Comments Off on United States: Severe local water shortages on the way due to global warmingProposed law seen as new threat to Brazil’s Amazon
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 27th, 2010
Reuters: A proposed overhaul of Brazilian forest policy being considered in Congress is raising concern that the world's largest forest could be left more vulnerable than in decades to razing by farmers despite recent progress in protecting it. Destruction of the forest, which is a vital global climate regulator due to the vast amount of carbon it stores as well as a caldron of biodiversity, is driven mainly by farmers who clear Amazon land for crops and livestock. Supported by the ...
Carbon emissions threaten fish populations
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 27th, 2010
ScienceDaily: Baby fish may become easy meat for predators as the world's oceans become more acidic due to CO2 fallout from human activity, an international team of researchers has discovered. In a series of experiments reported in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), the team found that as carbon levels rise and ocean water acidifies, the behaviour of baby fish changes dramatically -- in ways that decrease their chances of survival by 50 to 80 per ...
Marshes ‘at risk from hurricanes’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 27th, 2010
BBC: Hurricanes in 2005, including Katrina, destroyed 527 sq km of wetlands in the US Gulf state of Louisiana Freshwater coastal wetlands are more vulnerable to erosion during hurricanes than habitats with higher levels of salinity, a study has suggested. US researchers say freshwater marshes have shallower root systems, leaving them at risk from wave erosion during storm surges. They added that the results could have implications for wetland restoration projects in ...
BP oil spill: taxpayers face clean-up costs
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 27th, 2010
Guardian: BP is poised for fresh controversy after it emerged today that the UK Treasury will lose hundreds of millions of pounds as a result of the oil clean-up in the Gulf of Mexico. The cost of the clean-up has pushed BP into the red, meaning the oil company will be able to book a near-$10bn (£6.5bn) tax credit, slashing its tax bill in the US and Britain. The loss comes on top of a plunge in tax revenues after BP halted its dividend payouts to shareholders. The news will dismay ...
United Kingdom: Transport research laboratory site: Wildlife at risk on Thames Basin heaths
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 27th, 2010
Guardian: The RSPB is contenting the development on the grounds that it will threaten vulnerable wildlife on the Thames Basin heaths. Describe the site currently, including details of protected or threatened habitat or species The application site is a previously developed site, including part of the old Transport Research Laboratory site, along with the former vehicle test track and skid-pan. Although the application site itself has little value to wildlife, immediately adjacent lies an ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on United Kingdom: Transport research laboratory site: Wildlife at risk on Thames Basin heathsVedanta rejects Amnesty International claims of human rights abuses
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 27th, 2010
Guardian: Mining company Vedanta today dismissed as "incorrect" an Amnesty International report that accused the firm of human rights abuses and damaging the environment. Chief executive MS Mehta claimed Amnesty had "jumped to the wrong conclusions" and that Vedanta was "very strong on sustainable development". His remarks come ahead of tomorrow's annual meeting of shareholders in London which is expected to draw protests from campaigners in support of people in the eastern Indian state ...
Posted in Water Conservation Comments Off on Vedanta rejects Amnesty International claims of human rights abusesExploring Algae as Fuel
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 26th, 2010
New York Times: In a laboratory where almost all the test tubes look green, the tools of modern biotechnology are being applied to lowly pond scum. Foreign genes are being spliced into algae and native genes are being tweaked. Different strains of algae are pitted against one another in survival-of-the-fittest contests in an effort to accelerate the evolution of fast-growing, hardy strains. The goal is nothing less than to create superalgae, highly efficient at converting sunlight and ...
Climate change linked to mass Mexican migration to US
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on July 26th, 2010
LA Times: Climbing temperatures are expected to raise sea levels and increase droughts, floods, heat waves and wildfires. Now, scientists are predicting another consequence of climate change: mass migration to the United States. Between 1.4 million and 6.7 million Mexicans could migrate to the U.S. by 2080 as climate change reduces crop yields and agricultural production in Mexico, according to a study published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The ...