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Archive for August 9th, 2010
Russian fires prompt Kremlin to abruptly embrace climate change
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 9th, 2010
Christian Science Monitor: Russia's ongoing heat wave, along with its disastrous fallout, may have finally persuaded the Kremlin to combat climate change. Russian officials, who have until now resisted dramatic action out of fears it would dampen economic growth, have lately issued strong statements linking global warming to the emergency Russia is currently facing. Some hope the abrupt change of tune will result in more effective environmental policies, even after the smog dies down. "There is no ...
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Rice yields falling under warming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 9th, 2010
BBC: Global warming is cutting rice yields in many parts of Asia, according to research, with more declines to come. Yields have fallen by 10-20% over the last 25 years in some locations. The group of mainly US-based scientists studied records from 227 farms in six important rice-producing countries such as Thailand, Vietnam, India and China. This is the latest in a line of studies to suggest that climate change will make it harder to feed the world's growing population by ...
Enbridge set to replace pipe on Michigan line
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 9th, 2010
Reuters: Enbridge Inc could begin replacing a section of damaged Michigan pipeline as early as Monday evening, but it still has no estimate on when it could restart the line, which ruptured last month and spilled more than 800,000 gallons of oil. Enbridge removed a 50-foot section of the line last Friday, shipping it to regulators in Washington D.C., who will examine a gash nearly 5-feet long in the pipe to determine the cause of the rupture. The company is ready to replace the damaged ...
BP spends $6.1 bln on Gulf spill response
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 9th, 2010
AFP: Energy giant BP said on Monday that it had spent 6.1 billion dollars so far in response to the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and confirmed that the damaged well was no longer leaking. "The cost of the response to date amounts to approximately 6.1 billion dollars (4.6 billion euros)," BP said in an official statement. The costs include spill response, relief well drilling, the "static kill" and cementing of the ruptured well, grants to Gulf states, claims paid and ...
BP plans to continue relief well work this week
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 9th, 2010
Associated Press: The oil that poured into the Gulf for more than 12 weeks has been forced back underground and BP engineers expect to spend this week drilling the final leg of a relief well to complete the "bottom kill" designed to permanently seal the leaking well. BP and the government have said for months that intersecting the blown-out well and shoving more mud and cement into it is the ultimate solution to making sure it never spews crude into the ocean again. The oil is already back at ...
Australia’s aboriginal communities clamour against uranium mining
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 9th, 2010
IPS: As a mining giant prepares to open a major uranium mining site in Western Australia next year, the clamour for the state to once more ban mining of the radioactive mineral has become louder. In fact, the Wongatha Aboriginal clan that calls this region its home does not see any wisdom in having uranium mining in Australia at all. "We don't need uranium mining in this country," says Wongatha leader and pastor Geoffrey Stokes. "We have sun, we've got wind, we've got people. Why should we ...
Russia: Moscow deaths doubled in heatwave: Ifax
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 9th, 2010
Reuters: The death rate in Moscow has doubled as wildfires have blanketed the capital with toxic smoke amid Russia's worst heatwave in over a century, Interfax cited the city's health department chief as saying on Monday. The official, Alexander Seltsovsky, did not give a specific time frame or number of deaths, but indicated heat and pollution were the cause of the increase, according to the report. "Mortality in Moscow has doubled recently," Interfax news agency quoted Seltsovsky as ...
China orders 2,000 firms to shut outdated plants
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 9th, 2010
AFP: The Chinese government has ordered over 2,000 firms in high-polluting and energy-intensive industries to shut down outdated plants in its latest efforts to cut pollution and restructure the economy. A total of 2,087 companies that produce steel, coal, cement, aluminium, glass and other materials have to close their old and obsolete facilities by the end of September, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said. Companies that fail to do so risk having bank loans ...
Conservationists begin mass ‘frog hunt’
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 9th, 2010
BBC: Conservationists are preparing to scout the world for traces of amphibian species that are believed to be extinct, but may just be clinging to existence. Many have fallen prey to a devastating fungal disease sweeping across continents. Richard Black reports.
Death rate doubles in Moscow’s smoke, heat crisis
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on August 9th, 2010
Reuters: Scorching heat and acrid smoke have nearly doubled death rates in Moscow, a city official said on Monday as a shroud of smog from raging forest and peat fires beset Russia's capital for a third week. Firefighters battled wildfires covering 1,740 square km (1,075 sq miles) in what the state weather forecaster said was Russia's worst heat wave for a millennium. "The average death rate in the city during normal times is between 360 and 380 people per day. Today, we are around ...