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Archive for November 21st, 2010
Environmental justice issues take center stage
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 21st, 2010
Washington Post: The winding Mataponi Creek looks clear in the sunlight, with marsh grasses lining its banks. But some of the coal ash waste from a nearby power plant is also coursing through its waters, and residents are worried it is contaminating their well water.
The area around the Brandywine ash storage site - where waste from Mirant Mid-Atlantic's Chalk Point plant containing carcinogens and heavy metals ends up - is a fairly rural community, with residents who are far from politically active and have little...
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Siberia’s Climate Time Bomb: Thawing Permafrost Could Spell Disaster
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on November 21st, 2010
Associated Press: The Russian scientist shuffles across the frozen lake, scuffing aside ankle-deep snow until he finds a cluster of bubbles trapped under the ice. With a cigarette lighter in one hand and a knife in the other, he lances the ice like a blister. Methane whooshes out and bursts into a thin blue flame.
Gas locked inside Siberia's frozen soil and under its lakes has been seeping out since the end of the last ice age 10,000 years ago. But in the past few decades, as the Earth has warmed, the icy ground...
South Dakota’s blizzard of bad weather
Posted by New York Times: A. G. Sulzberger on November 21st, 2010
New York Times: The storm slammed into this dusty prairie town with the clatter of falling bricks. Hail shattered windows, punched holes in roofs and mangled cars. The clumps of ice were left to melt, but one, an unusual spiked orb the size of a cantaloupe, was preserved in the freezer of an old ranch hand. Locals later claimed that it was not even the largest hailstone to fall that day, and added that it had shrunk a bit while in the freezer before electricity was restored. But when the official measurements were...
Illinois’ first clean coal project faces judgement day
Posted by St. Louis Today: Jeffrey Tomich on November 21st, 2010
St. Louis Today: Backers and critics of the proposed Taylorville Energy Center are ratcheting up campaigns to win legislative support as Illinois' first clean-coal project faces judgment day in Springfield.
Planning for the $3.5 billion clean-coal plant in Christian County has been ongoing for years, and work is finally scheduled to begin in mid-2011. First, the Legislature must give its OK - for a second time.
The Legislature is being asked to approve above-market prices for electricity produced at Taylorville,...
Kenya on the cusp of a geothermal energy boom
Posted by East African: Jaindi Kisero on November 21st, 2010
East African: Geothermal electricity generation in Kenya started in 1956 when two exploratory wells were drilled to a depth of 950m.The wells never discharged and were later abandoned.
It was not until 1985 that Olkaria I (45MW) was commissioned.Drilling continued in the Olkarai II steam field, with 30 wells being drilled by 1991.
In 1992, following the aid embargo by the Paris Club , donors pulled out and no work was undertaken until 1999.
Olakaria 119(70MW) was commissioned in 2003.
Right now drilling...
Leaking Siberian ice raises a tricky climate issue
Posted by Associated Press: Arthur Max on November 21st, 2010
Associated Press: The Russian scientist shuffles across the frozen lake, scuffing aside ankle-deep snow until he finds a cluster of bubbles trapped under the ice. With a cigarette lighter in one hand and a knife in the other, he lances the ice like a blister. Methane whooshes out and bursts into a thin blue flame.
Gas locked inside Siberia's frozen soil and under its lakes has been seeping out since the end of the last ice age 10,000 years ago. But in the past few decades, as the Earth has warmed, the icy ground...
California must prepare for climate change
Posted by Sacramento Bee: William K. Reilly and John Bryson on November 21st, 2010
Sacramento Bee: The science of climate change has grown increasingly sophisticated, driven by advances in technology and global collaboration. This has contributed to a much greater understanding of how rising air and ocean temperatures are affecting the world, from the desertification of northern China to the steady retreat and anticipated disappearance of the glaciers.
Scientists, for example, have only recently been able to measure with certainty what has long been more generally known – that the Arctic...