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Archive for December 3rd, 2010
BP says spill flow lower than government estimate: panel
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 3rd, 2010
Reuters: BP Plc believes the actual flow rate of its massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico may have been significantly less than the government's final estimate, according to comments released by the White House oil spill commission on Friday.
The government has said BP's ruptured undersea well released between 53,400 and 60,000 barrels per day, but commission staff said BP orally told them those estimates were 20 percent to 50 percent too high.
"They rely on incomplete or inaccurate information,...
Posted in 
New BP debate over size of spill could affect fine
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 3rd, 2010
Associated Press: BP is mounting a new challenge to the U.S. government's estimates of how much oil flowed from the runaway well deep below the Gulf of Mexico, an argument that could reduce by billions of dollars the federal pollution fines it faces for the largest offshore oil spill in history.
BP's lawyers are arguing that the government overstated the spill by 20 to 50 percent, staffers working for the presidential oil spill commission said Friday. In a 10-page document obtained by The Assocated Press, BP says...
Chevron to pay $400,000 penalty in Utah leak: government
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 3rd, 2010
Reuters: Chevron Pipe Line Co has agreed to pay a $400,000 penalty in a June 2010 Utah oil pipeline leak as federal investigators probe a new spill from the same line this week, a government spokesman said Friday.
Officials have no projected restart date for the Rangely, Colorado, to Salt Lake City line. It has had no effect on Chevron's Salt Lake City refinery or the Rangely field, which are using storage while the line is shut.
The June spill of about 800 barrels entered Salt Lake City waterways....
United States: Climate change: Rising seas threaten coastal towns
Posted by Christian Science Monitor: Matthew E. Kahn on December 3rd, 2010
Christian Science Monitor: , Virginia is facing more flooding risk these days. Whether climate change is the cause of this problem remains an open question. But, FEMA is spending over $20,000 per home to raise them to protect them from the next flood.
"We are the front lines of climate change,” said Jim Schultz, a science and technology writer who lives on Richmond Crescent near Ms. Peck. “No one who has a house here is a skeptic.”
Politics aside, the city of Norfolk is tackling the sea-rise problem head on. In August,...
Britain has coldest year since 1996 (but it will be the hottest year since 1850 for the rest of the world)
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 3rd, 2010
Daily Mail: Britain has experienced its coldest year since 1996, the Met Office revealed last night.
On a day when most of the country was shivering under a thick blanket of snow, forecasters said average temperatures over the last 12 months had dipped after a run of warm years.
However, the UK appears to be bucking the global trend.
Members of the public enjoy the hot weather in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh this summer. Researchers say this year is set to be the hottest on record
According...
Goodbye grey skies, hello extra warming
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 3rd, 2010
New Scientist: LOW, grey clouds help keep the planet cool. But as the world warms they will shrink and temperatures will rise ever higher, according to a study that could help to resolve one of the biggest uncertainties in climate science.
As more greenhouse gases enter the atmosphere, more heat is trapped and temperatures go up - but by how much? The best estimates say that if the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere doubles, temperatures will rise by between 2 and 4.5 °C.
That's a big uncertainty...
China’s spreading sands
Posted by Hindu: None Given on December 3rd, 2010
Hindu: On China's western frontiers, a massive afforestation drive to battle the spread of the desert reveals fast-expanding efforts to combat climate change.
Ethanol in crosshairs as tax deadline nears
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 3rd, 2010
Agence France-Presse: Ethanol, once seen as an answer to US energy problems, is seeing political support waning as a deadline nears for Congress to decide on extending tax subsidies for the widely used biofuel.
US lawmakers have until December 31 to prolong the subsidy, which costs the US government an estimated six billion dollars a year, but the earlier broad support for the fuel from farmers and environmentalists appears to be wavering.
Critics say ethanol, made mainly from corn in the United States, has diverted...
Pakistan: Too Many Nets, Too Little Fish
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 3rd, 2010
Inter Press Service: The last time Moazzam Khan saw sawfish in the Arabian Sea was in 1984. "At one time, salted and dried fish formed a large part of our exports," recalls Khan, director general of the Karachi Fisheries Department. "In the last 30 years, there may be other marine life that may have vanished of which we may not be aware."
The state of fisheries may not be obvious from the busy scene at the Karachi Fish Harbour, where mammoth-sized arks in various stages are being built, and the loading and unloading...
Australia: More extremes for Australia as climate change tightens its grip
Posted by Washington Post: Juliet Eilperin on December 3rd, 2010
Australian Broadcasting Corporation: SHANE MCLEOD: It's been another extraordinary year for the global climate.
A report released at the UN climate conference in Mexico shows 2010 is on track to be one of the hottest years since modern records began, possibly the hottest.
It will cap off what will be the hottest decade ever recorded.
In some parts of Australia the impact of the rising temperature has been offset by strong rainfall this year and there are predictions that could be the way of the future for Australia - dry periods...