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Archive for September 15th, 2010
Kiribati: As a tiny island nation makes a big sacrifice, will the rest of the world follow suit?
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 15th, 2010
Mongabay: Kiribati, a small nation consisting of 33 Pacific island atolls, is forecast to be among the first countries swamped by rising sea levels. Nevertheless, the country recently made an astounding commitment: it closed over 150,000 square miles of its territory to fishing, an activity that accounts for nearly half the government's tax revenue. What moved the tiny country to take this monumental action? President Anote Tong, says Kiribati ("Kir-ee-bas") is sending a message to the world: "We need ...
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After blast, DOT seeks tougher pipeline oversight
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 15th, 2010
AP: Federal oversight of the nation's pipelines would be tightened and penalties for some violations more than doubled under an Obama administration plan sent to Congress Wednesday in response to a deadly explosion in California and a major oil spill in Michigan. The legislation would increase from $1 million to $2.5 million the maximum fine for the most serious violations involving deaths, injuries or major environmental harm, the Department of Transportation said. It also would pay for ...
United States: New Lawsuit Filed in Fracking Country
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 15th, 2010
NYT: More than a dozen families in Susquehanna County, Pa., filed a lawsuit late Tuesday against the Southwestern Energy Production Company asserting that a succession of "releases, spills, and discharges of combustible gases, hazardous chemicals, and industrial wastes" from the company`s nearby drilling sites have contaminated their drinking water and made them sick. In simpler terms, it`s the latest salvo against hydraulic fracturing -- a long-used and highly contentious drilling ...
Highway plan would destroy Serengeti: biologists
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 15th, 2010
AFP: Plans to drive a 50-kilometre (31-mile) two-lane highway into Tanzania's Serengeti would destroy one of the world's last great wildlife sanctuaries, top biologists warned on Wednesday. "The road will cause an environmental disaster," 27 biodiversity experts said in a commentary published by the science journal Nature. They urged the Tanzanian government to look at an alternative route that runs far south of the UN-listed haven. The planned road slashes right across the ...
Why the Gulf Oil Spill Isn’t Going Away
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on September 15th, 2010
National Geographic: Nearly five months after the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico (map), causing the worst oil spill in U.S. waters, BP is set to permanently cap the damaged well as soon as this week. But the discovery of widespread oil on the seafloor and studies of remnant undersea oil plumes suggests that the debate over the ecological impact and ultimate fate of the Gulf oil spill--which released an estimated 4.9 million barrels of crude--is just warming up. (One barrel equals ...